College Question.

Grandma

So I'm currently finishing my 6month diploma in screen and media with a major in animation, and I'm looking to continue my study next year but abroad next year, and I'm still trying to decide if i want to do a game design course or do a bachelor in animation.
dose anyone have any suggestion on which course i should take? i really like the artsy side of the game industry but i am also torn up because of the fact that I've always wanted to be the head of a game project or develop my own game. i can't decide:poly127:

any college suggestions in the world? always wanted to study abroad! currently live in aus

Brian "Panda" Choi

If you want to do game design, I'd recommend USC.

We've been rated the #1 game design program for some years now from the Princeton Review.

http://www.princetonreview.com/press/game-design-press-release

Kwramm

be prepared to spend a lot of money for any US colleges. Unless there's no good college in Australia, it's probably not worth the money. Canada or the UK may be cheaper.

If you ever want to develop your own game or be the head of a game project, you might rather want to study project management (producer role) or software engineering. If you want to be a creative lead then game design, writing or art subjects should be your pick to make it to lead designer, art director, etc.

Maybe you should read up on the game making process, its roles and job descriptions.

LRoy

do not go into massive debt for a game degree.

Count Vertsalot

A true game design course has nothing to do with art. It's game theory and programming. If that sounds boring then stick with animation. If you get really good at animation there is nothing stopping you from working on game animation. Plus you'd have the option to branch out to film or whatever if need be. If you want to learn from some of the best animators then you should look at CalArts.

skyline5gtr

Not worth it, i went to school years ago and just got my first job. Almost 60k in debt and I do not even make that much yet, could have learned it here

VelvetElvis

If you went to a school or are thinking of going to a school that advertises during daytime TV and/or has AI in the name, then it's probably not worth it. If the school is for-profit, then it's not worth it.

However, if you go to a traditional university that everyone knows, say like USC, the degree itself carries some weight. However, USC as an out of country student is going to be ridiculously expensive, let alone the living expenses. This is your standard student cost for 1-year at USC.

Tuition: $49,464
Fees: $813
Room and board* $13,855
Books and supplies: $1,500
Personal and miscellaneous : $1,000
Transportation: $580

Total (add $350 New Student Fee for your first semester): $67,212

So yeah, USC is a great school to go to but is it really worth almost $68k a year? Probably not considering you will be 100 by the time you pay off your loan. Unless you are fortunate to have parents who will pay your way.

I'm sure that there are some great art schools that are much more local and less expensive.

Grandma

I'm thinking towards more of the game design and have animation as a side skill

Brian "Panda" Choi

@Grandma: Do you feel it absolutely necessary to go to school for this?

I mean, imagine what it means to learn game design?

I'm friends with a lot of game designers, growing up with them at USC. The ones I perceived as good designers were basically people who made games on their free time to completion. Do the classes help? Yeah, but if I'm paying someone for guided help on something I was going to do profesionally anyways, why pay for that and instead just brute force do the project already? There are theory classes, and if you find those useful, do it. I can't attest to other school's qualities, but USC has a handful of theory classes that actually do teach things.

But most times, as I have seen, the strong game designers that came from USC were basically people who were making games when no one asked them to. Asher Vollmer, Travis McLain, Jared Greiner, Kevin Wong, Alex Beachum, etc. Those guys are kicking butt I think mostly since they weren't depending on uni to do it for them.

Autocon

Here is a tip for you that will help a lot. Do some basic intro to animation techniques. There are tons of free ones or paid ones on like 3d motive. Try those out, see if thats something you actually indeed love to do.

Same with game design, design a game, a SMALL game. Not even the full thing, design out what the type of game it will be, what the player does and then create a basic first level. First do this on paper with maps and written accounts of the rules of the game. Then do some practical test. Use Unity or Unreal.


These things should only take 1 or 2 months really to get your first tests up and running and to see if its worth while and something you actually like. To many people who are like "oh I like art in games, I can be artist" or "I like games, I am going to be a game director!" and then when they actually try this stuff out they realize, oh wait I cant do this or I dont like this. I just like playing video games.

Grandma

My animation skills are already pretty decent i do really enjoy doing it, i also agreee that the best of the best get where they are from doing what they love when not asked to and just doing it for fun.
Animation is something that i would love to do as a full time career at a big studio but as far as i know there isn't much job "security" in that department, sure there are people looking everyday but they are looking for the best of the best. I'm still exploring what kind or art i want to do i haven't tried eviromental/ level design but it is going to be the next thing that i attempt.
I am going to be working on my art skills everyday just incase that path ever opens for me or if i follow my dream and make some kind of a game.

Basicly i know what everyone is saying about the game design degree like it can be a waste of time for a lot of people, as it is something that can be picked up naturally, so as a second choice I'm going to look into games programming, those skills from as far as i know are very flexible in terms of job field. i have tried to learn types of programming before but have never known where to start or have been quite confussed starting it

Grandma

another thing to add on is that Australian government pay for a semester transfer as far as I've read up. USA also isn't a locked in place that i want to study I'm looking about but thats where the "best" ones are as by reviews that i have seen

thank you all for the help/replies so far has got me thinking a lot

littleclaude

Have you thought about studying in the United Kingdom (UK) and do a (BA/MA/PhD), here is a list of courses from the Skillset website.

The cost is around £10-11K ($15-16K) for international student but fees change a little from Uni to Uni so you will need to call the administrator and ask for this years fees to get an up to date cost. Also the UK is about to vote in 4 weeks time and if the Labour Party get in there is talk about fees going down by £4K so watch this space.

Games Art/Design/Programming
http://courses.creativeskillset.org/pick_the_tick_degree_courses/accredited_computer_games_courses

Animation
http://courses.creativeskillset.org/pick_the_tick_degree_courses/accredited_animation_courses

There are more subjects to review on the Skillset website.

Grandma

http://sae.edu.au/courses/games/bachelor-of-games-development/
For those who are following sae is the school that I am currently enrolled in I'm thinking about bridging into this course next year but I'm not sure? Opinions.

And uk is definitely a optician as a lot of my relatives live there so accommodation is sorted