Game Development Colleges: yea or nay?

All right, so I am currently enrolled at my local community college seeking an Associate's of Applied Science degree (programming concentration.) For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to develop games and in my mind that meant going to a specialized game design college. However, after looking at the difference in tuition between, for instance, Full Sail University and my local state university I'm wondering if it's truly worth it.

My question is this, will I be better equipped in the industry after attending a more specialized university? After looking over the curriculum at both colleges, I notice a lot of overlap. Would I be better off just seeking a Bachelor's in Computer Science from my state university? My main fear about this path is job placement. I live in Tennessee so game developers aren't exactly in high demand here...

I welcome any advice, but I would specifically like to hear from graduates of these institutions or those who work in the industry.

Thanks in advance!

I think you're better off looking for a generic computer science degree from a non-specialized university. There are a few reasons for this:

1. Many of these "specialized" institutions that you see in advertisements (Full Sail, DeVry, etc.) are "for-profit" universities, which generally offer lower-quality programs than those of established state-funded or private universities. This isn't always the case, but it's always a good idea to verify the credibility of an institution before applying to one - the recent downfall of ITT Tech can be thought of as a negative example.

2. University programs, especially for CS degrees, are geared towards a generalized overview of the concepts and processes behind the programming world, in order to develop a skill set that can be applied in any type of development job - it is normally the employer's job to train new hires on the specific technologies utilized in their line of work. You might later change your mind on focusing on game development, for example, and having a non-specialized but comprehensive understanding of the principles will go a long way in giving you flexibility on what you want to focus on in your career.

3. Going to a university with lower tuition can greatly reduce the impact of student loans later in life. This topic is all over the news because (especially in recent times) students often take on more debt than they might be able to handle after graduating and getting an entry level position.

These are my takes on the situation, and I do have personal experience with these matters as I went though similar things and I now have a CS bachelor's degree and work in the programming field full-time.

i would recommend a more general cs approach than a program that is tailor made for game design. you never know what the future holds.

i believe a number of colleges / universities do offer concentrations in game design as well.

College is a scam. I was crushed back in 2004 when I figured out my dream of designing video games wasn't realistic. Luckily I knew people in the industry that sat me down and told me the horror stories.

1 - Take out as few student loans as you possibly can
2 - Find a marketable degree in a field with growth (healthcare is a big one)
3 - Do what ever you can to find opportunities to get hands on experience. This is far more valuable than any piece of paper

I pretty much agree with this. There are some good game schools out there but many of them are for profit and that means there are a lot of really crappy ones out there that are focused on making money over you getting an education. None of these paths will guarantee you a job in the games industry but at least a CS degree from a decent school will open more doors for you while you build real world experience if you can't find a job at a game developer straight out of college. Education is good but experience trumps that every time in this industry. Pretty much any employer will take the candidate who has prior industry experience working on legit, known projects over someone who has a piece of paper that says they know what they are doing.

But here's a video by the Extra Credits guys on how to identify good game schools versus bad game schools.

-Byshop

also

@metalman0616: Thank you so much for your detailed response. I really appreciate it and certainly helps in my decision making process!

@holystriker68: You're welcome. Best of luck!

@comp_atkins: Came here to post that.

Being a video game player is a much better thing to be than a game maker... unless you've already self-taught yourself C++ or Java, have made several games already and have more passion for making them than actually playing them.

All good advice in here. Something I'd like to add:

getting a degree is not about being trained (as said, the employer will train you) in a specific thing in a specific field, but being prepared to be trained. It's about big picture concepts; employers generally look at college graduates and think "Hey, this person has a vision, ambition, and capacity to learn and absorb things".

So do some research and fine something that runs parallel to both gaming and one of your strengths, but is a practical degree in it's own right.

If you're good at math and enjoy working with software, computer science might be good. If you enjoy writing (creatively or other) maybe get a degree in journalism or something along those lines.

And realize it will be a lot of work. You'll need to do some solo work just to produce a portfolio, so not only will you be working your day job (which might not be a gaming job, not initially) but you'll have to put in a few hours every day on your portfolio. And don't be afraid to work on something that is not up your alley; you might want to make the world's best shooter, but if a children's software company is hiring you might want to consider applying.

If you really want to be a game developer, one of your best routes is to start with making mods. Learning how to use the tools that game makers use is a big part of it be it Photoshop (to make textures), 3D Studio Max, Maya, Unreal Ed, UDK or Unreal 4 to make characters, levels and other in game objects (assets) to If you want to work in the game development field, you are better off with making mods to start with. Build a portfolio of them to show that you know the tools used to make games that the studios use. Learning Photoshop (to make textures), 3D Studio Max, Maya, Unreal Ed, UDK or Unreal 4 to make characters, objects, levels, or other art assets for mods goes to show prospective you know those tools. I can think of at least 3 people who started as modders who went on to get employed at studios. If a game has an game editor, use that to create missions or campaigns. Learn scripting. That is as big thing, especially in games that feature Coop or SP campaign modes as AI need to know what to do.

Many studios have professed to preferring to hire those who have shown the ability to create verses having a degree when it comes to making games.

Nay. You'll save money getting the important classes at a regular university.

@WhiteKnight77: Very good advice. I've messed around with every in-game editor I could get my hands on ever since I got Halo 3 forge mode (I was 13 at the time.) I'm also decently comfortable in Blender and Unity as well as C# and Java. Perhaps these can give me a bit of an edge when it comes time for job hunting.

Thanks for the reply!

Good luck with the modding part. Moddb is slowly becoming a inactive site with just a few mods. Modding was at its highest in the early 2000s and mid 2000s, modding isn't large as it used to be back then when BF2 other games were active full of modding potentials including of making total conversion mods.

Game Colleges are good if you want to make friends or make a network. But if you want to be a game developer. I would say the best routes is to start with a indie game. It can even be a simple game at first.

Have you not heard of fan sites? Many mods are hosted through said sites.

fan sites > small mods your contribution to those mods will be very little. If you're on steam and u see workshop there will be some mods there made by players and a few extras for games. But the total conversion mods like in the old days are all gone.

Again even if you're on those mod fan sites, the contribution that u do will be small. The bests chances to get into the gaming industry is if you have a really good or great portfolio web site or blog of all things that you do. Including if your making a game on ur own or with a team.

You would be surprised. Mods are still being made for a 15 year old game. Ghost Recon has so many mods that they are spread out over 7 DVDs.

Nay. Go to the cheapest, respectable college you get accepted to for CS/CI and work on the side on gaming related projects.

@holystriker68: About 6 years ago I was pretty much just like you. I had recently gotten my AS in Game Development from a local Junior College and I wanted to design and develop games for a living. At the time I was in school this seemed like a potential career since I lived in the Chicago area and Midway Games and EA both had huge offices here. Sadly things didn't work out that way for me, EA closed their Chicago office and Midway went bankrupt right as I was to start my internship.

Since my 'foot in the door' approach with Midway Games never materialized, I went on a small tour of gaming schools to see first hand what my money would buy me in the specialized educational world. I visited both Full Sail and DigiPen over the course of 6 months. BOTH colleges are very professional and have a really good track record of preparing their students for the real world post graduation, but they've also got a few cons that led me to decide to forego continuing my education and fall back on my backup career, web development(ALWAYS have a backup plan).

I visited Full Sail first, they were willing to accept a few of my classes I had already completed at my local Junior College, so that was a pretty big plus, but they require you to take out a loan for the full tuition plus all living expenses you think you will need for the duration of your time in their school. I was basically told that I would be working on my craft from the moment I woke up until the moment I went to bed, and that there would be absolutely ZERO time to get a part time job to cover the cost of living. So the loan they wanted me to take out was a ridiculous $140k for an 18 month program, but that wasn't really the reason I decided not to go to Full Sail.

When you take the tour of the University, there are a lot of things that will impress you. They show you their recording studios and millions of dollars worth of equipment, gold and platinum records recorded on site by famous artists. They show you their TV & Video recording studios, editing studios, including one of their million dollar HD Cameras loaned to them by Sony(iirc). Then you get to the area of the college for students in their gaming program and... *sigh* it's just a bunch of computers in a lab like every other college. There's no special tech, there's no training in popular engines and frameworks used by much of the industry, it's just the fundamentals you learn in just about every other major college across the nation. I'm sure that Full Sail gets looked at by local developers(i.e. EA Tiburon or even Epic up in NC), but for the most part they lacked that special item that the other programs had. I didn't feel like I could walk out of that school and into a new job and already be acclimated to anything I would be asked to do as a game developer.

The only other place worth mentioning is Digipen, we got a similar tour of the school, though on a smaller scale. Where Full Sail was all flashy and full of hype, DigiPen is all business. One thing that sets DigiPen apart from the other schools is the fact they do things a bit differently. They're very cozy with Nintendo(literally in the same building), and they train you to build games from the ground up, literally. You will learn and understand how to build the hardware, you will learn to build a game engine, not just use someone elses, and most importantly you will learn how to build a real game from start to finish.

When I was checking out this school they had an insane amount of graduating students getting hired almost immediately after tossing their cap. Some students ended up getting hired before they even graduated. Remember the game Portal? The team that created Portal first created a game called Narbacular Drop as their senior project while students at DigiPen. It's been a while, but I remember the school was very proud of this and part of the tour they stopped to show us ND and told the story of how Valve stopped by the school and hired the whole team to work for them on the spot. It also helps that the facility was located right next to the Nintendo of America HQ and across the street from Microsoft, so a lot of students get jobs there due to all the familiarity between the two companies and the school.

The one 'con' I found was that literally all of my formal education so far would be ignored going into this school. It didn't matter that I had already completed the entire middle half of their program, I was going to have to do it all over again to graduate. For me this was a more important issue than it may be for some. I got kicked out of college when I was 19 because I thought I was too young and dumb, playing around hacking local pcs and fucked some shit up. Didn't get back in school until I was 26, so 4 more years of college at age 30 was not acceptable to me. It's a lot easier to swallow when you're 10 years younger.

Keep in mind, these experiences are 6 years old. Full Sail may very well have improved their gaming program in that time, and DigiPen might have taken a step or two backwards(though they're listed in the top 5 by most major college rankings). If anything, do yourself a favor and visit both schools(and any other school you think may be in your best interest) and take the tour. Find out first hand what the school is about. It may be hard to check out both, so do your research on them. DigiPen is in Redmond, Washington(near Seattle), while Full Sail is down in Orlando Florida. I believe at the time both schools wanted roughly the same amount of money in tuition, can't say for sure, it's been a while.

Hope this information helps you come to a decision. Video game development is really tough and stressful, but if you love it, go for it. I'd rather regret something I did than regret that which I did not.

Edit: I would also add that if you don't get into video game development it doesn't mean you can't be a part of the video game industry. I took my skills and used them to create a video game news & review site similar to the one we're on. http://gamelust.com I'm also working on indie games on the side while working to build up gamelust. Pretty sure I'll be able to get an invite to E3 this year and beyond.

Either way, good luck on your future career, hope I'm playing games you made in the near future.

@suicidesn0wman: Thank you very much for your in-depth reply! I never realized that Portal's team came from DigiPen, that's quite interesting! I believe that no matter what, I would like to finish my A.A.S. at my current community college. That way, if nothing else, I have some sort of education to fall back on. Since I'm only now heading into my second semester, I may have time to tour some of these schools before graduating. I also recently found out that my community college will be offering a game design course next semester. Obviously this course won't be to the caliber of Full Sail or DigiPen, but perhaps it will make for a nice introduction to the field.

Thanks again!

@holystriker68: Since you've just begun your college education, I'd recommend focusing on your basic courses and getting them out of the way. Chances are 2-4 years from now you might find yourself wanting to pursue a completely different major. At least that way you'd have your requirements out of the way and could focus on electives for the final few semesters. Plus all of the basics(math english sociology psychology) should be transferable, where your game dev 101 might not be.