FFXI - Fighter: watch the trailer, then play it!

[noodles355]

You say that there are many different aspects of computer game design of which pure programming is only one. I was advised to not do CGD and do a pure programming Comp Sci degree which I ended up hating.

Had I stuck with my original choice of doing CGD the chances are I would have been able to explore the different avenues within it and then later decided which area I wanted to specialise in. As it happens because I was pushed to do Comp Sci, I completely alienated myself from the rest of what you could do within the CGD umbrella.

Maybe had I done CGD I would have found I loved virtual modelling and wanted to specialise in that, even if it eventually modelling for something unrelated to CGD. But I never got the chance to do that. I never got the chance to see all that there was available within CGD and see which I liked. I was just pushed into straight programming and hated every minute of it.

Doing Comp Sci instead of CGD would have opened up more doors in different industries sure. But it also closed many doors in CGD, which was the direction I wanted to go.

How can I be happy with that choice?

[Kohan]

How can I be happy with that choice?

How long ago was this? Would you consider yourself to no longer be in a position where you can return to school?

The problem with a Game Design degree is that it requires spending years of your life—and, most likely, thousands of your dollars—determining something that you can find out on your own. If you wanted academic credentials that could then be used for a specific aspect of Game Design, you would likely wind up going to school again. Yet, if you ask a lot of people in the industry—hiring managers, producers, et al—they'll oft tell you that degrees aren't as important as real world experience. Considering, a better investment into your future is to explore the various facets of Game Design, find the one you like, and then start building a related portfolio, as well as (if you so choose) a related degree.

You said, for example, that you may have loved modeling. Why not try it? There are plenty of comprehensive freeware programs, and the Internet is positively littered with tutorials, courses, and the like. You already know that you don't like programming, so that's out. What about high level conceptualizing? Creating a game world, and then fleshing it out? Could you do that?

To give you a bit more detailed information, I Googled around, and found a collection of FAQs related to Game Design. Here's one of the opening quotes on the site, and I'd say it goes along with my own feelings:

If you can find a school that offers a program geared for game design, fine -- go for it. But it's best to just get a 4-year Bachelor's degree, at any good college or university, in any topic that interests you. And take classes in the topics above. After you have your Bachelor's degree, maybe then go to a game school. If you have to choose between one or the other, go to the regular college/uni (not the game school). Read FAQ 44. But most schools that offer degrees in "game design" are actually programming or art schools (many of them do not teach "game design" at all)!

For the interested who wish to read more:

http://www.sloperama.com/advice/designprep.htm

[noodles355]

It was seven~ years ago. My career now has nothing to do with it whatsoever. And whilst I am planning on going back to school (mainly for a student visa) it wont be for a 3yr degree and wont be related to it whatsoever.

Comp Sci turned me off game design completely and made me not want to explore the other aspects of it. That is why I don't think saying "do a more broad comp sci degree" is a good thing. Comp Sci is only one avenue in it and telling someone to focus on that one avenue because it might open more doors isn't something I agree with because you do not know that programming will be the route within games design they wish to follow.

Do one year or term of it, explore the avenues within it, pick the one you enjoy the most, and choose a more broad degree in that subject would be much better advice I feel. Some may say you're "wasting" a year of your life figuring out what to do but that's bullshit. If it means you figure out what you want to do then congratulations - after one year of university you are more confident about your career choice than the majority of undergrads. You want to talk about wasting time at university then talk to those people who did some degree they didn't give a fuck about and then haven't used since - people like that are everywhere.

[Kohan]

When I stated that I was originally impressed by your school and its suggestion, that was due to the fact that many academic institutions haven't any idea how to properly teach Game Design, not to mention anything else related to the video game industry. As far as future counseling goes, they did not say anything misleading, but sadly, they were not knowledgeable enough to set you on a path that you would enjoy. It's unfortunate that being burned out by Computer Science classes made you give up on your dream, and we'll never know whether whatever Game Design course that university offered would have actually given you useful guidance or not.

For anyone else, however, it bears repeating: Game Design courses are largely unhelpful, too broad, and are not looked upon as being all that great in the video game industry. If you want to get into this—and originally, one of the main people I wanted to aim this at was the originator of this thread, Sovereign—you are much better off exploring the many flavors of Game Design on the Internet, experimenting with them, and then determining which you like most. Really, since we're talking about programming and the like, we're using Game Design very loosely, as a top-level designer most likely won't be doing any coding at all. This should really be broken down into whatever people precisely want to do, which can take some determining.

I suppose we've talked enough about the relevance of Game Design degrees. I believe that it was related, since this project was started to facilitate Sovereign's learning, but we may have chased everyone else out of this thread.

(Maybe I'll write some blog posts about this whole business. I should do something with it, lest I continue filling threads like this one and Media's Official Forums thread.)

[noodles355]

For anyone else, however, it bears repeating: Game Design courses are largely unhelpful, too broad, and are not looked upon as being all that great in the video game industry. If you want to get into this—and originally, one of the main people I wanted to aim this at was the originator of this thread, Sovereign—you are much better off exploring the many flavors of Game Design on the Internet, experimenting with them, and then determining which you like most.

Just to stress that this I do agree with and that what I'm against is being pressured into doing a more broad, related degree (Such as Computer Science) without having explored the options within Game design. Whether you want to take a course to find out what interests you in it, or just read up on the internet is up to you.

[Rionel]

Wow Kohan, your posts have been quite informative and insightful. As a guy who's about to finish his bachelors in animation, I've always had an interest in what being part of the game design industry would be like. Er, at least more on the art / conceptual / animation side of it anyway. The closest I've ever come to programming is Spellcast for FFXI with templates and what not if that even counts, haha. It seems like a tough job, programming.

Most of my knowledge so far stems from watching a lot of Extra Credits on Penny Arcade. It really is quite fascinating.

Thank you for such valuable insight!