Bachelors in Game design/development: A good move?

Greetings from Nepal.

I've always been interested in designing a game and being a part of a game development companies like EA and Ubisoft. And after completing my school, I did some research on similar courses. But people advised me not to study game development straight away, and instead choose a course related to computing or IT field. They said it's best if I study game dev. on Masters level. Now I'm not interested in hardware and networking field and being a web designer myself, I incline more towards creative fields.

What should I do? And if it's best for me to study game dev., where do you think I should study the same (considering that I'm looking for universities providing free or cheap education to students like me)? If I shouldn't study game dev., which would be the closest and the most favorable subject that will lead me to Masters in Game Design?

Thanks,
Drift

 

Go with National University. This is the program my husband is enrolling in: National University • Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media Design

National University • MFA Digital Cinema Program, National University, Master of Fine Arts Digital Cinema

 

If you have an AA or AS this program is perfect. Cheap too.

Bachelors Digital Arts & Sciences

 

My husband is transferring from Arizona State University to National University - Los Angeles, California (online) to do his Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media Design:

National University • Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media Design

 

Computer Science with an emphasis on graphics programming using an object oriented language like C++.

 

This.

Computer science with the proper electives will give someone a better chance of getting a much needed internship in that particular field. With that being said, I can't believe how many people go into CS with the goal of working for a video game company. At least 1/3 of the undergraduate & graduate students at my on-campus school have that particular goal, and the school I go to is by no means "great". With a field as competitive as that, employers have the luxury of handpicking students from "top" universities and then pay them minimum wage as interns. I know if I was an employer with such a vast pool of talent to pick from, I wouldn't see the need to pay someone a high salary when I could pick people just as talented to work for free. However, if you know someone who will open a door for you into a game development company, then you're golden.

 

Quick profile of the kind of people getting jobs in the video game "industry";

Knows multiple programming languages, has already designed games, has completed many open source projects, good grades, and name school. Not all, but most.

Agree with someone above that noted supply far outweighs the demand. I had a friend who graduated from Carnegie Mellon, and worked at EA and his description was; "Low salary, boring projects, long hours, and abusive management"...and all of those things are considered normal in the gaming industry at the big companies.

Being a full-time game developer/coder is not any more glorious than producing yet another client address screen. It is easy to get excited by stuff like playing through Call of Duty, Halo or Fallout or by reading some nerd blog from a lead dev/indie dev/wanabee-dev-smartass, but kids should realize that they are not going to be the ones making interesting decisions or artfully crafting game worlds.They will however be peons building someone elses vision under incredible time constraint. Each company only needs few people who say "At this point, we will add x to enforce dramatic tension." Becoming one of them is unlikely. Especially with an online degree.

Good luck.

 

I worked as a game programming intern in 1995 at a local company and worked on a sprite decompression algorithm and added some minor updates to Polly Pockets. Yes Polly Pockets. I also researched 3d engine design and my recommendations were not taken seriously. I was paid $8.00 per hour and most of the full time guys all drove worse cars than me.

 

I would check out Digipen - they are located in Seattle - https://www.digipen.edu/

I toured there before. I don't think you could really do game design/development online, and I would be suspicious of any program that purports to do so. I believe the program at Digipen is very immersive and intense. I would not attempt a Master's until you got a BS in the subject first. I do believe they offer an MS as well.

 

I just found this program:

Online Game Design & Development Degree - Curriculum | BA-BS | SNHU

 

From one of their Bachelor's programs:

"Cost of Attendance

$160,436 for undergraduate students who begin in the Fall 2012 cohort (assuming a four-year schedule). For a more detailed breakdown see Tuition and Budgets."

For a NA school, yet! (ACCSC) Yeeowch! :sad:

Johann

 

Oh yeah - forgot - that's supposed to include room and board. Tuition for average F/T courseload is $12,800 a semester - a mere $25,600 a year or $102,400 in tuition alone for the full whack. Plus books etc. For a NA degree with no employment stats?

Yes - it might even be fun. But on an economic basis, it's totally ridiculous!

Johann

BTW - nothing wrong with NA, as far as I'm concerned - but it should be less expensive than this!

 

The school is not intended for people who wish to have academic careers. It is essentially a trade school to provide real, hand's on preparation for work in that field. I toured there in person as part of a computer science club trip. I personally have no interest in game design, but it did seem like they had good career placement. They are very well known and have been written about extensively.

I would not be concerned with NA status. If you go to a place like this, your intent is to actually perform this kind of work, and you are not going to be so concerned with transferability of credits.

I would certainly recommend investigating further before enrolling, but on the other hand, I do not think that any kind of online experience would be adequate preparation for this field. Some random RA state school that offers some rinky dink game design program versus a very well known school? You make your choice. Digipen is very expensive, and it does sound like it is a very intense and immersive experience, but that is what you would need to gain the skills and knowledge to succeed in that field.

Again, I am not knowledgeable about this field or this school in particular, but I did physically tour it, and I know a lot of people in the gaming industry got their start there, and I have seen some of what the students have done of it. It is also what you make of it as well. Some people on this forum tend to look for the cheapest school that is RA or that presents the quickest way to obtain a degree with minimal consideration for the actual content of the education received. If you wish to pursue this field, you want to have lots of practical hand's on experience and have been involved in many projects with other students, and with a meaningful portfolio.

 

Agreed. But a trade school that charges over $100,000 tuition? Wow! Rule of thumb: don't take on more debt for a degree than you anticipate earning in your first year of work. Might not be feasible, here. Are you going to make $100K or anywhere near it in your first year? No. You're not going to make half that, to start. Many well-known game companies are known for low pay, (and sometimes coupled with boring work and abusive management) in the starting years. When you have ten years in (if you can last) it might be WAY different. There are threads on here about toiling in well-known game-shops (EA comes to mind) for low pay and less-than-ideal conditions.

On their site, in the required space for employment stats, Digipen admits they have no employment stats for the game development degree. They say it is too new. This is in black and white, so I don't care what it "seems" like.

Not concerned? Well, maybe you SHOULD be. Nothing wrong with NA -- but you HAVE to realize the limits in utility -and those limits SHOULD be reflected in lower cost, as I see it, anyway.

Not concerned with transfer credit? Well, maybe you MIGHT be, if you find you really love the field and you want to earn a GRAD degree. Yes, there ARE Master's programs in this field and hopefully you might find one that will accept your NA degree. No guarantees!

I'm not saying Digipen doesn't teach well, or that it should not be considered. Just saying -- there are parts of the value proposition that seem to have been overlooked here.

Johann

 

I forgot to add -- here's a school you might want to consider: http://www.uat.edu/

It is RA, but as far as it gets from a "random RA State school that offers some rinky dink game Design program," as you put it. I wouldn't want a school like that, either. Perish the thought! :sad:

And yes - they have a Master's program in Game Design, too. :smile:

Johann

 

Just checked. On-line tuition at University of Advancing Technology is $18,000 a year (3 semesters). That makes $72,000 for a 4-year program. Not cheap, but 30K less than Digipen. That buys a lot of Doritos and Red Bull, for all-night game-coding sessions! :smile:

As I said - nothing wrong with NA - but if you can get a good RA school for considerably less, (provided it has a dynamite program) then we're approaching no-brainer status. And no - I don't work for UAT. I have no affiliation with the school. :smile:

Johann

 

UAT has a campus in Tempe, and it looks GOOD. We were looking at it for a minute for my husband, but the price is just to steep. They are well known and well respected around here, though.

 

20 miles down the road from me is a great school with a game design program - Sheridan College. My 13-year-old grandson is hoping to study game design there in a few years. My two sons - his dad and his uncle - are both grads of this school, though not in game design. Sheridan has some well-known and highly-praised programs, one of them being animation. Grads of the animation program have gone on to work at Pixar and pretty well all the well-known studios.

What will it cost? Well, a full academic year's tuition in the Bachelor's program is currently $8,941.97. For others with programming skills, there's also a Grad cert. in Game Development - Advanced Programming. It's three terms, each costing around $6,163 at present.

As I said -- darn good school. It's here: Sheridan College | Toronto Area: Brampton Mississauga Oakville


Johann

 

Point well taken, Steve ... but I don't think he'd accept that "fate" - as he would see it - in a million years. This kid is superbly creative. He will make his own dream job -- I know he will. :smile:

And if, at some point, he needs to do something else to make a living -- I think he'd sooner do something completely unrelated. I slogged away at work I didn't like for 30 years, so I purposely didn't give career advice to my kids - and they did fine without it. I'm not going to screw it up now by advising my grandkids. They might hold it against me forever!

Johann