Is A Game Degree Worth It?
polycounter lvl 13
So I'm in school now, I hate it. At the same time, I know if I were to start applying, I wouldn't get far because my skills aren't really up to par. I'm really frustrated with school, right now, and I see so many people with out Game Design Degrees in the industry that it makes me wonder if I'm really just wasting my time.
So my question is, is the degree even worth it? Does it even matter? Or should I stay in school and get the degree?
So my question is, is the degree even worth it? Does it even matter? Or should I stay in school and get the degree?
Replies
Badass skills + no degree = job
You can either work through your frustrations and gain the needed skill set or you can drop out and apply yourself to learning said skill set.
What are you hating about your school?
@VelvetElvis: right now I'm at decent skills + unrelated degree, so no job. My biggest frustration is that I'm learning more outside of school than through the school. I know 'art school is what you make of it' but right now i'm putting in the time (a whole lot of it) and not seeing results. Its nerve-wracking to say the least.
First post you said your skills are not up to par. Now you say you are decent. So time to up the pot. Post your work.
Otherwise it is mostly a waste of money, and often a waste of time.
I'd say it's worth it if you pick the right course, but remember it won't automaticly make you hirable without the effort you put in, a big perecentage of graduates don't get jobs after graduation, it's down to your portfolio and a few other factors, but mainly portfolio IMO.
If you truly hate your course (yes there will be somewhat useless modules, usually comes with university territory, but there are also good and relevant ones) to the point where you're not seeing any benefit then it may be best to leave and go solo.
If you want to join a course I would recommend doing something more intensive in a shorter time, like the Gnomon Courses or a dedicated games art institute, rather than a full blown degree so you can get up to speed and jump start your career. If you want to network loads, go to games events like GDC or similar, meet people and get your work seen. Even posting your work on these forums will get you good crits and you can start improving quickly. Good luck
If you're not, probably yes.
artbydenmark.com
From what I've seen, being decent wont get me a job, and that's why I say not up to par.
From what I've heard, most game art programs aren't really that great and do a poor job of both teaching the students to make quality work and preparing them for the industry. Not to mention most are expensive. And if you hate the program so much that you're in, it might be better to get out.
If you still want a degree, you could pursue a BFA rather than a degree in game design. That's actually what I'm doing. If not, you'd have to try and find a job doing something else and hone your 3d skills during your free time at home.
get a degree, it's the only way you'll ever set foot in the US within any kind of reasonable timescale.
To build off of this...
The 2 unfinished high poly models are nice but are technically unfinished and nothing in your portfolio tells me you know how to create low poly models, unwrap or use materials wisely. So there is an information gap that leaves questions.
The environment is not really up to industry standards. It reminds me a lot of Half-Life (that came out in 1998). Very blockly and straight with lots of simple primitive shapes. It tells me you aren't ready to work on titles that shipped 2-3 years ago let alone titles that will ship 2-3 years from now with even more jaw dropping quality than before.
Take a look at other western style games that have come out. That's where you need to be, not 6-7 years in the past. It's obviously made out of very simple primitives and no one has been doing that in a long time. The repeating geometry is very obvious also. It's a good idea to reuse geometry and work modular but the key is to not have it be so obvious.
You'll have to step it up and you'll need to toss this one out because its holding you back. Even with a degree this portfolio isn't going to land you any jobs.
I would say well over half the people who finish them are not even close to ready to work in the industry (and thats not all the uni's fault) and most never will. So yeah its down to your own hard work
You went to staffs right? I would be curious to hear you thoughts having finished it.
Mark and Supa: Thanks I appreciate the feedback. I've been working on the golf cart and the plane for a while off and on, but now that school's done for the semester I have plenty of time to dedicate to getting those done and posted. I know the town is sub par, but as of now, it's the ONLY full environment I have. I'd planned to redo one or two of the buildings in that scene to make them more next gen appropriate (with real normals, no crazybump, and with much less blocky geometry).
I hate to make excuses but the only reason I haven't finished that stuff is because of school, which is where the frustratio arose from .
Im only halfway on the first semester of a 3 year bachelor degree, and i already lerned a lotand it contributes greatly to my motivation which was the most important thing for me, beeing in an environment which promotes me
Here is my portfolio, theres only 1 piece i made while in school (well im only
3 months there now)
http://sgfx.carbonmade.com/
The Gamesacademy is one of the best in europe tho, maybe the ones in USA are not so well.
Its still always up to you, how hard you work and what you make out of the environment.
Here are enough people in need of a lot of improvement aswell, but you need to start somewhere.
Btw, change the font and leave the drop shadow from your portfolio header, no good choice ; )
The other point to make, is when I went to school there was not the same amount of resources as there are today. Sites like http://eat3d.com/, http://www.3dmotive.com/, and http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/ have so many resources available to you at a fraction of the cost that going to a school. Also, just being on the boards and trying to emulate cool stuff you see, what we tend to call Polycount U, can be a huge learning benefit.
All in all, going to school isn't bad, but you need to be motivated. You could always self teach yourself and if you're good enough you can cut your teeth that way too. It just depends on how self motivated you are. There is also the 3rd option, which is to go to school for traditional art for a strong foundation and learning the 3d on your own. If I could do anything over, that is the option I would have gone for.
Yes i did.
I don't feel like writing a huge post about it but the TL;DR is this:
Course doesn't give the opportunity to specialise early enough. - Still being required to jump through hoops on an animation project when i had long since decided to do environment art, how fun!
Too much written/theory work even though there is a separate course which eliminates all 3d work in favour of it, but the majority of it was left in mine. - Come on even friends who do so called "academic" degrees aren't required to do a 10,000 word dissertation!
Only having 2/3 modules which result in relevant portfolio pieces at the end of 3 years is not good. - Yeah..
The teaching and facilities i have little to complain about (other than the teaching having to cater to the lowest level people which slows down the rest, but that's always the case in teaching). It's just the course structure that really needed a lot of work.
Yeah sounds about right to me their flag ship course in way too general and a bit too much focus on the written. They appear to change a lot of the modules almost yearly so I have to hand it to them for constantly working to make it better and as you say the teaching is pretty good.
It would be awesome if after the first year you could pick a job route and only do modules related to that path and not the likes of animation when you want to be an Env artist. Though I guess budgets and red tape make that sort of thing difficult.
But it seems like you guys have pretty much confirmed what I was thinking: I can do without the school as long as I put in the work (which I am more than willing to do). I do want to be 100% sure before I leave tho, so I'll probably end up toughing out one more semester since that will mark my halfwaypoint in the program.
My mindset for this next semester will be different however. No worrying about good grades, more worrying about good portfolio pieces. Completed (modeled, baked, textured, and lit) portfolio pieces.