Go for the CS degree. I went for a general game design degree (the Game and Simulation Programming degree (Bachelor of Science) from DeVry University) and honestly, I didn't learn anything I didn't already know from 20 years of programming and reading game dev sites. In the end, the thing that gets me is that I have no confidence in my abilities so I never try to get a job in the industry as a programmer anymore.

My diploma was specialized on networking and support, I did bits and pieces of programming and find it interesting. I'll definitely check out these links and see how things go and might look further into a course for next semester. Thanks very much for the advice, much appreciated.

Keep in mind the merit of pre-job learning is usually a combination of: a. paper to demonstrate your ability to stay focused and finish a course, and b. dealing with problems and schedules put forth by other people and having to learn to deal with them, similar to how you would be given work in a job.

What it really boils down to is that from what I've seen many people that have tried each path, the consensus seems to point more towards taking a general CS degree over a specialized one. Assuming you're doing programming you're going to be learning software development either way. One degree is more valuable in a wide array of fields while the more specialized one may turn some heads but will probably in most cases not garner significantly more attention than a standard CS degree.

Remember both of these things are just a way in the door, once you get a job most people will almost completely ignore your educational credentials over your work experience anyway, the same with getting a high GPA at a university, its all for that first job. I won't tell you that you HAVE to get a CS degree, but just think about your choices and which one would make you the most happy to actually work through.

Really you can get a job as long as you -really- want it, different paths just give you more steps to jump on.

Have you tried Googling this question? I mean, not like it's already been asked and answered a million times or anything...

Actually scratch that. Don't go into game development. If you can't be bothered to research issues yourself and instead expect everyone else to do the work for you, you're not going to make a good programmer.

I think you misunderstood the topic here. The OP was asking whether he should go with a regular CS course or a specialized game development one. Please read the question first.

I did. No part of my post indicates that I didn't. This question has been asked and answered countless times before. You seem to have the same disability as the OP.

Have you tried Googling this question? I mean, not like it's already been asked and answered a million times or anything...

Actually scratch that. Don't go into game development. If you can't be bothered to research issues yourself and instead expect everyone else to do the work for you, you're not going to make a good programmer.

I think you misunderstood the topic here. The OP was asking whether he should go with a regular CS course or a specialized game development one. Please read the question first.

I did. No part of my post indicates that I didn't. This question has been asked and answered countless times before. You seem to have the same disability as the OP.

Actually, your link indicates that.

Go online learn a few tutorials and use your knowledge to make a game. You may need to keep researching the meaning of stuff but it will only make you a better coder. After you've been through some tutorial you should finally start making you're game but work off of someone else code first. I feel real proud of the AI I struggled to create over the month but I understand everything so much better now.