Hey there, I am 16 years old and I am having a hard time choosing what college to go to and for what. You see, I've heard that the game development major is more of a joke, due to it's lack of teaching fundamentals like how the OS works and not really learning the language of choice (C++). Well the school I've wanted to go to for a while is DePaul, a pretty nice private school. They have a game development major with a programming concentrate. Well, after looking at the actual academics of it, and I think it would easily pass as a nice degree, but I need your input. Here is the website containing the needed classes:
http://www.cdm.depau...lopment_GP.aspx
On top of that, you need to a total of 5 major electives and 3 open electives.
The 5 major electives have the things that I assume game development major is missing, which can be found here:
http://www.cdm.depau...rseCatalog.aspx
On top of that, DePaul students for the last 2 years (that I know of) have won independent game awards for Octodad (this year) and Devil's Tuning Fork (last year). I personally think that it would be more beneficial to me to go to this college so I would get more information in the field that I am interested in, versus just general computer science.
Am I right, or am I completely off?
Thanks a bunch,
Brandon
PS: What major electives should I choose? I'm not that interested in animating/modeling, I'm more into maybe networking/multiplayer programming using WinSock or something (I'm a complete noob at networking ;()
College Choice?
SUNY Stony Brook has a Game Programming Specialization in their computer science program. Carnegie-Mellon has a grad program in game dev that I have heard is pretty intense and is pretty much an automatic in wherever you want in the industry. Honestly any computer science program and some time on your own would be good just stay away from the ITT tech type of places.
There are a few courses which are missing from the curriculum you linked that i think are important: Discrete Mathematics, the math of programmers, linear/non-linear data structures or any course on algorithms/algorithmic analysis. The math isn't entirely important--i find the course interesting, but i haven't found anything in it that's truly relevant to me except set theory, but i think it's math with many applications in programming. The data structures class is very important because you should know the difference between a single or double-linked list, an array, a tree, and in what situations each is best for. Maybe they include that knowledge in pieces throughout the curriculum since it is important.
The reason a game design is a joke IMO is because to be able to program games, you must first know how to program, which takes four years (according to most colleges) on its own. Logically, any college offering a game design career should make it take five or six years. I would respect a college if it offered a program like this designed only for post-grad students, like for a masters. Computer science itself is relatively new, compared to physics, English, etc., and i don't think schools have learned how to teach it yet. Game design, academically is younger than me and i feel it's only offered in order to draw people in and take advantage of how many people want to be game designers. At least i can say that it's not a "matured" subject.
Though, i suspect that it's getting better every day. When i was looking for a college, 4-6 years ago, DigiPen seemed to be the only college offering a respected degree in this area. They're also the only educational institute that i see consistently posting student projects on the web that are genuinely interesting and unique. (And they're very proud of Portal, made by people Valve recruited from there, from what i heard.) I'm not sure if anything's changed since then, if perhaps any other degree in games is worth much.
The reason a game design is a joke IMO is because to be able to program games, you must first know how to program, which takes four years (according to most colleges) on its own. Logically, any college offering a game design career should make it take five or six years. I would respect a college if it offered a program like this designed only for post-grad students, like for a masters. Computer science itself is relatively new, compared to physics, English, etc., and i don't think schools have learned how to teach it yet. Game design, academically is younger than me and i feel it's only offered in order to draw people in and take advantage of how many people want to be game designers. At least i can say that it's not a "matured" subject.
Though, i suspect that it's getting better every day. When i was looking for a college, 4-6 years ago, DigiPen seemed to be the only college offering a respected degree in this area. They're also the only educational institute that i see consistently posting student projects on the web that are genuinely interesting and unique. (And they're very proud of Portal, made by people Valve recruited from there, from what i heard.) I'm not sure if anything's changed since then, if perhaps any other degree in games is worth much.
Well I was looking at DigiPen (just now) and it looks pretty respectable, with all of the games students there have contributed with. I requested an information packet, any other schools you would recommend?
Hmm, I just ran across SMU Guildhall, which also looks respectable, and it closer to where I live currently. So right now my choices are between: Depaul, DigiPen, and SMU...
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts?
Well I was looking at DigiPen (just now) and it looks pretty respectable, with all of the games students there have contributed with. I requested an information packet, any other schools you would recommend?
Could look at Full Sail. Where I attend, really nice school. It's accelerated so you will get your degree in 2 years, but you half to be prepared to work for it.
Getting a degree is game programming is very limiting. You go for a job interview for Company X and they see you have a game programming degree. Well, that doesnt mean anything to them because they need someone to maintain and write code for their servers. Game programming is a very specialised area, and if you get a degree in Computer Science, that will cover both game programming and everything else under the sun. So, if you chose to go with game programming, you will be pissed later on because now you have a degree that is only good for a specific purpose of game programming. You might say, "Well, that is what I want to do." If that is what you want to do, why would you limit yourself by getting a game programming degree when a degree in Computer Science will give you what you want, but give you more. So, a degree in game programming is not a good idea any way you look at it.
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