More Schools Offering Game Degrees Than Ever, Says ESA

[Jonci]

No idea about trade schools like Full Sail in Florida though.

Full Sail's game development degree course does a great job at great job at getting you ready for the coding side of the industry. Covers a lot of the basics and plenty of advanced topics. I know its reputation is 50/50, but I think learning from industry veterns and the two team game projects we had to do really give you some well needed experience to go with the book knowledge.

I know when I was looking for a game degree, there weren't as many colleges. And the one I found near me in Texas was just a generic information technology course with a single game design class tossed in. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the 300 "game courses" out there are the same. Just a computer science or art degree with a game-related course added in.

Anyone looking to really join the industry as an artist or programmer needs to seriously research good schools. Don't get sucked in by a lame game degree course. A traditional university with a respectable program will top any weak-ass game degree. And of course, the trade schools with good programs like Full Sail are always worth looking into.

And stay away from courses that focus on Design. There is no way you'd get hired as a Designer without a solid background in development or graphics first.

 

[BarkBark]

*Removed

 

[VanityGirl]

My dreams of becoming a game designer were crushed right out of high school. After I realized that going to school for 4 years for a 3D Design degree would cost me about $120,000 and I would start out make $25-30,000 a year. Yeah, that's pretty lame.
Schools like to jack up there cost of tuition because they have "Game Designing Programs". It irks me.

Also, until a BUNCH of gaming degrees are needed, then there's not much need for some many schools to be offering degrees. It is great, because I feel like gaming is getting bigger. The industry needs to makes more jobs to accomidate the influx of degrees I am sure they'll have.

Oh well, hooray.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Oh boy, this means I'm going to have to relive a hilarious part of my live all over again... In my basic programming class last year there was some guy that was going on about how he was going to make video games for a living at that was his only plan in life. Well, he couldn't get the basics of programming, or even write a program that counted from 1 to 10. He wasn't the only one, I've seen a few others that think that they can make games just because they play them a lot. Why do I feel that we are going to get a ton more of these people now?

 

[XT inc]

they might be viable courses but a one year course in computer animation for game design around here is like 14k canadian. For 1 year. What godly thing could they teach in 8 months that could possibly cost 14 grand.