Derby Uni or Teesside Uni
polycounter lvl 13
I dont know which one to choose!! please help, does anyone go to any of these or heard anything about them?
these are the courses at each Uni that I would take
http://www.tees.ac.uk/Undergraduate_courses/Animation_Games_&_Computer_Graphics/BA_(Hons)_Computer_Games_Art.cfm
http://www.derby.ac.uk/computer-modelling
thanks
these are the courses at each Uni that I would take
http://www.tees.ac.uk/Undergraduate_courses/Animation_Games_&_Computer_Graphics/BA_(Hons)_Computer_Games_Art.cfm
http://www.derby.ac.uk/computer-modelling
thanks
Replies
I've heard nothing about derby. The art shown on the webpage ain't exactly inspiring either.
Plus you'll experience more than just modelling in Teeside by the looks of things.
But between the 2, I've heard more (negative) things about teeside than derby (which I've never heard of at all in these discussions).
Looking at that link, the interview with the female student seems like a poor marketing attempt and it doesnt seem very relevant or helpful. Yay for very very large developers/publishers and plasma tvs to see our work.
My honest advice is go with a traditional arts degree. From what friends of mine going games courses told me about their course (and experience with mine), they don't teach you much of what you actually need, and end up cluttered with a bunch of other stuff that is more or less irrelevant.
I work in Derby now (never been to the uni),though, but I think typcially it's Teesside and Bournmouth in England that are the main ones for CG. Animex is great, and the computer facilities at Teesside were good too.
A Traditional Arts degree might be what you are looking for. That said, if you (for whatever reason) have to study in one of the two, I can tell you that Teesside's Games Art degree is decent, plus it has a traditional arts module (continuing class going throughout your 3 years of studying).
I haven't heard about Derby uni so I can't comment at it. Also, I know a guy who's a new student at teesside, and they have updated their curiculum (sp?) since I was there to more recent stuff and techniques.
Disclaimer: I've been drinking, so this post might not make too much sense. Also, I'm Greek. This is a very good excuse for bad English in it self.
But as others have said, I've been 75% through the course at Tees and I regret it. I wish I had done a traditional art degree and learned the 3D stuff in my spare time (because anything of use that I learned about game art during my course was self-taught).
Well, I have applied for teesside and derby and need to choose which one to be a firm choice and an insurance choice... so have to make a decision soon.... so it is really about just them 2 unis. these 2 seemed to specialize in the art of this subject and didnt involve any programming or anythin else I didnt want (i think dundee does some programming). Oh yeah and they had placements as well which should be good as a lot of jobs require experience, I dont think colleges and traditional art courses will do this, (im not sure).
I teach myself 3d in my spare time (which i don't get enough of) which is why I want to go to university for it... and it seems fun, etc
Anyway, no one seems to have heard of derby lol; although I went there, and it seemed like a decent course.
I havent been to teesside open day, but went to an interview... it was saturday morning, so the university and city was pretty much dead, but they seemed like they knew what they were doing
Iv been leaning towards teesside from the start tbh, so I think Ill make that my firm choice... any final words? lol
And then subtract 95% of the game companies because they dont offer art placements for students and you'll find that only a few lucky people will get such a opportunity (maybe 10 art placement positions for 2,000 students, according to my numbers).
I dont include programmers in these numbers because I believe thats a slightly different story (more chances, but still low).
Come to think of it, my numbers look outrageous. Someone please tell me I'm very wrong on this
Edit: aha forgot a very important number, 90% of art-based game design students dont give a crap (as in they will try to get a placement, but havent put in the work to be good enough for it), so the competition isnt between 2000 students - more like 200. Still, the numbers are low, but you are within the 10% of good students since you're already at Polycount
What would be a better marketing attempt to draw attention to the course? Derby games student goes missing? Games student at Derby cracks the Da Vinci code? etc.
No, make a better video that provides relevant examples or just remove the video and keep the text like most other universities. All she says is the course is great, you get taught all the latest stuff, the place is great, etc. Those are generic statements that anyone can say about anything.
I feel the same about most "testimonials" actually.
How about adding a forum on the university website itself. Increase the communication between all students of the university and allow newcomers to join the forums and discuss with actual students what its like. Of course this will be useless if the university sucks, which is even more reason to do it, to prove they don't suck and have a active community of students and lecturers who frequently post online.
Afaik no university does this, maybe its seen as unprofessional or maybe they are just old fashioned. Dont know, dont care, not my job.
Heres a video that I recently watched and thought it was a "good" example of the kind of video you should use to tell you what the course is about; http://www.animationmentor.com/school/
Unlike the other video, this one guides you through all the aspects and what to expect, the software used, the names and positions of the industry mentors that they claim to have and doesnt focus on a single girl explaining her generic thoughts.
Sure its a different kind of school, but it sounds a lot better than most of the things game design courses at universities offer.
Solent university has this, it's not part of the uni website though but external - run by graduates who went on to get jobs in the industry, for the usage of current students / graduates. Some lecturers post on there.
Quite a good course actually, I'd recommend it over Teesside or Derby.
http://www.solent.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/computer_and_video_games_ba/course_details.aspx
It seems to be very enlightening.
Well.......Talon and a few others have been very vocal about the negative aspects of the course. I wouldn't take this as the de facto be-all and end-all. There are good parts and bad parts in every course; what people gotta know is that its up to you to decide how much you are going to profit from the three years or so you spend in college. None of these places are going to hold your hand, and not many of them will have really amazing artists, because they are all off actually working in the industry. When I was in Teeside a few weeks ago, I was very impressed with the place.
If the course teaches you very few usable skills (as I've said in the linked thread, my housemate graduated the Teeside games art course without even being able to unwrap UV's at all - he now works in a bar, no joke) how are you supposed to maximise your time?
100% of crap is still just crap. You cannot polish a turd
On top of that, you land yourself into sizeable debt as well as paying tuition fees when, in my experience, the tutors don't always turn up. You might be able to take that in your stride, but a lot of people get pissed off about it. With that, I'm quite interested in your experiences of studying at Teesside that makes you think it's ok to downplay other people's honest, earned opinion.
Teesside was named the roughest place to live in the UK last year. It's a town, yet it has the same insurance rates as London. That might put it into perspective a little. I'm not sure what's changed since September (when I moved away from there) that impresses you.
"my housemate graduated the Teeside games art course without even being able to unwrap UV's at all - he now works in a bar, no joke"
Sure the school is shit, but what you excpet from a business ? thats how it works, they make you believe you need the product, you fall for it, you pay up with a nice little contract that forbids you to stop paying , and then they can pretty much do what they want to keep the bare minimum not to get lawsuits.
And also if your friend didnt know how to unwrap etc and now works in a bar , its his choice.
Don't know if I worded it weirdly or I rambled, but we've both ended up saying uni sucks in one form or another.
As for my friend, he can't get a job in the games industry and that's not for a lack of trying (and he's been trying since he finished uni, not just since the new year when the layoffs started). Even the devs in Teesside won't give him a shot, because he's not aptly skilled to be able to come in and work from day one. They'd have to retrain him, which is the main crux of him being stuck in a bar job. That's obviously his fault. Agreed. But saying that he was graduated by a university should go some ways to giving him a skillset that he can use.
To also make a point about Derby VS Teesside OP, my hometown is right next to Derby and I've never heard anything about it. Derby itself has a couple of dev studios, but the schooling there is off my radar, and probably with reason :P
Visit both places yourself, see samples of student's work and try to make an informed, unbiased decision yourself. Remember, you don't HAVE to go to uni to learn game art
Reading that thread at game artist, I hope more recent graduates post their positive opinions on the teaching quality of these courses. Actually it would be good to see lecturers posting in these kinda forums more often, it seems like the lecturers themselves aren't that enthusiastic about game art and thats partly the problem too.
I had to figure out how to get by off my own motivation for self teaching which is, funnily enough, the very best thing uni did for me.
It's sad to read that thread, honestly. It's also sad that the only post the tutor made was to defend the course - It'd be great if tutors got more involved with our forums. In my experience, they tend to be pretty secular (private uni forums, emailling them personally for membership, etc).
He works in a bar because of his choices. Not because of any shortcomings that the faculty of Teeside may have.
I can't really say anything bad about Animex
Oh yeah? Where does he work at, the Libertys in Town?
It's full of Boro's single mums, and THEIR mums.
But yeah, everything I know today about game art is self-taught and learned via forums like these. That cost me nothing. Not a penny.
Uni so far has me in about £11k of debt for absolutely fuck all return. I really mean it when I say I wish I had done a fine arts or illustration course and learned the 3D stuff on my own (which I did anyway - the uni coursework was nothing but a hindrance to my learning).
Bingo. In my course almost all the stuff I had to do was basically irrelevant to the job I wanted afterwards, so had to spend time doing the coursework, instead of spending the time learning/improving the skills I'd actually need.
If someone gets a 2.2 it means they're doing alright and have passed the course with a decent mark. If they have a 2.2 and don't know key things invovled in the job the course was supposed to be teaching them for, then there is a problem with the course.
You certainly should be learning in your own time, but if the course teaches so little that you have to learn pretty much everything in your own time, what is the point of the course other than to have a bit of paper? This was pretty much the case in our house; I was studying forensics at the time, and ended up teaching 3D stuff to some of my housemates. In all honesty if I'd started 3D in a course instead of free time I'm not too sure I'd have even stuck with it, the CG course I ended up doing put me off a bit.
I was at animex a few years ago and one of the people talking asked the crowd if they went to all their lectures, few people said yes. He said you have to go to all of them if you plan on getting into the industry. If uni courses were the way they are supposed to be, I'd agree. But they're not, and I'd honestly say for the most part you'd be better off practicing at home than going to what is most likely a lecture that isn't going to help you get a job you want. But if you keep doing that you fail the course, which means you get absolutely nothing for the money you spent on it.
(I think I actually met Talon in the pub one of the days of that Aanimex)
I guess ill go with teesside anyway.
its not like everyone couldn't get a job rite?
n i dont plan on fuckin around.
also, at my interview the interviewer told me something about a library of DVDs like gnomon workshop, cg academy etc... so... u know
Well yeah you might have been better off with a fine arts degree...if there were really good ones in your area. Some of them are probably far worse then Teeside. Courses like that tend to be taught by washed up hippies who have no real intention to teach you well (or can't). I know £11K debt sucks, but it means one day you can work abroad in a studio, because you have a degree.
that my friend is utter bullshit
I strongly advise a fine arts course. I was in the same boat as you (was going to do computer games something or other at solent) till sand games (swansea animation days). Neil thompson sony art director in Liverpool said that he wants a student to really know tradional arts as its then very easy for him to teach them a 3d package, the student can then imediantly put his skill in fine arts into the package after a week or two intesive learning.
This would not work if the student did not know tradional skills as what would he do? Sure he could use the program but he could do sweet f all with it after all a 3d package is only another "brush" ( said by Neil thompson) in your fine arts skills.
I hope this has help
Chris
No Valve for me
?
?
Um, its actually a fantastic resource. I wish my college shelled out for Gnomon DVD's. Most lecturers in college are there because they don't have the mad skillz to be anywhere else (like actually working in the industry). Ever gone to college yourself? Because thinking that artists talented enough to make DVD's for Gnomon are going to be working in universities borders on delusional.
Oh and well done on the job Talon, didn't know that. Work on Lost and Damned much?
Degree. Lets you work on other continents.
all the dvds add up to about $3400, thats alota beer money left over :poly121:
Anywho - i go to Derby Uni, & there is an open day on Friday of you haven't already been to look round?
If you can't make that one there is a list of others at this link http://www.derby.ac.uk/opendays/book/derby
I would definately recommend open days for a few reasons. The main one being you get to talk to students and lecturers to see what the course has to offer. The lesser but still important one is free stuff! And a good feel of what the uni has to offer you.
If you can make friday make sure you come say hi! I'll be in a bright orange t-shirt with DERBY written on the back & i have bright red hair!
Until you can make it, I'll also answer any questions you have, or find someone who can.
Wicked peace!
Leoni
what about the work placements (I know not 'everyone' gets one, but I honestly think I will be good enough by then XD),
and the interviewer said its possible to go abroad for them as well; that's awesome rite?
It's not something you'd want to be pinning your hopes on by going there, tbh.
I rememeber looking at solent and wondering, dam 3 three years and they are creating models not much better than what I can do, from then on it kinda put me off, and that I really didnt like the campus- reminded me of a 70's school i.e. wayyy to crammed in.
Hope you make the best choice for yourself
Chris
but firstly, is this a good idea here:
1. Take this course instead because it feels like its something they can properly teach and seems interesting and useful if I even want to make my own game lol (which I do):
http://www.tees.ac.uk/Undergraduate_courses/Animation_Games_&_Computer_Graphics/BA_(Hons)_Computer_Games_Design.cfm
2. and practice 3D and traditional art skills in my spare time using them DVDs and all of Teesside's other resources
Anyways, looks good to me. Just keep in mind it is your own performance that decides how worthwhile your college experience is. Join a mod or too, watch those dvd's in the library religiously, pour yourself into your assignments, and you'll be fine.
there's game design and game art at this uni
im making the choice either today or tomoro, should I put down game design (like in my latest plan lol) or game art?
i gota choose accomodation aswell, anyone know which ones to avoid/go for
thanks for all the help btw everyone!!