Next year I hope to be studying game design/development in college. I was just looking for input from the community into the idea. I'm not doing this on a whim, Game-design is a career choice I've wanted to do ever from seeing games for the first time. I'm intrigued by the inner-workings of games, What makes a good game? what makes a better game?
So I was curious if the community has any tips, any insight into what needs to be done. For studying game design and for building a better game.
I don't want to come off as the kid who thinks "Games are so flecking AWESOME, I wanna make my own games and improve my l33t hacking skills, lolol" I view video-games as one of the best mediums for story telling, and inciting emotion in people.
As well as college and how that is going to be, How is the world outside the walls of structured learning? I dont expect to finish the course and get given a great job in a good gaming company, by any means. But what should I be doing now, while in college, and after to help myself further myself along the path towards being able to say "Yeah i do make video games, It's what I do for a living"
I should also say that I live in Ireland. Which I think limits choices alot.
Find a college with a good program (there's loads of them).
Be original.
I was thinking of doing game design, but I'm kinda put off by the fact that the requirements for college courses are really simple. If you do a game design course there's only one profession you can do, and it's not exactly a safe one.
go to DeVry because "I PLAY GAMES FOR A LIVING? SWEET"
I too would like to know some more about this.
I've wanted to make a career of games, but I'm not sure if I want to specialize in Animation, Programming or Mapping/Modelling.
Right now I'm working on Grades though.
Also Playtesters get paid more than Animators and Programmers.
It's incredibly hard to get into the games industry and right now is a really bad time to be trying.
I was thinking off doing it but I've decided Engineering would be better as you get a ton of opportunities, money and lots of work.
I considered doing this, but I lost ambition in the end.
[editline]5th April 2011[/editline]
O woe is me.
[QUOTE=Thom12255;29003761]I was thinking off doing it but I've decided Engineering would be better as you get a ton of opportunities, money and lots of work.[/QUOTE]
Me too, I'm thinking about going to UofArizona, because they have a really good aeronautical engineering program, and you leave college with many "recession proof" Job opportunities.
I mean if you really love game design do it, but in a bad market, your job won't be 100% secure.
My friend is doing engineering in Dublin. But I'm not that mechanically minded and really, a little dim. I had thought it would be hard to find work after I finish as well.
[QUOTE=Galoi;29003894]My friend is doing engineering in Dublin. But I'm not that mechanically minded and really, a little dim. I had thought it would be hard to find work after I finish as well.[/QUOTE]
An engineering degree is just as useful as a medical degree*
*Doctors have the most stable jobs of anyone.
[QUOTE=avergejoe;29003954]An engineering degree is just as useful as a medical degree*
*Doctors have the most stable jobs of anyone.[/QUOTE]
I wanted to be a doctor once, But I just barely scrape through my school work. And even If I got straight A's in my leaving cert I don't do enough subjects to receive the required points for entry. Which is a sad enough thought on its own.
You should be building a portfoilo of game design related things.
So stuff you've coded, concept art, modelling, animations, character design, stories etc etc. Going to a studio for the first time with a degree, and a huge porfolio of work will set you ahead of others
Im thinking of engineering. Gaming industry is already packed.
At college, I'm doing English Lit&Lang, Mathematics, Sociology and Programming.
By doing this, I'm keeping my career/university options very open so I can join a variety of careers and not force myself into one employment niche.
Get really good at Source SDK
Apparently, you'd be better off getting a degree that can help with game design but is also a good degree, maths or english would be good starting places. Game design degrees are equivalent with forensic science- they're not actually very good degrees and people looking for game designers aren't really [i]that[/i] interested in them.
[QUOTE=Benf199105;29004022]You should be building a portfoilo of game design related things.
So stuff you've coded, concept art, modelling, animations, character design, stories etc etc. Going to a studio for the first time with a degree, and a huge porfolio of work will set you ahead of others[/QUOTE]
Didn't even think of a portfolio, I'm going to get started on that after my leaving cert. I have 4 years to fill it with interesting things. concept art and stories I can do in my sleep, hell I do that for fun everyday at the rate I'm going. I've already started to learn coding, Its just on hiatus till after June to allow me time to study.
Don't do a Games Design course. Nobody I know has been satisfied by it. What part of game design are you interested in?
Okay? So take a course in programming, 3D character building or story/script writing.
Generalist courses are useless for the industry.
Do a degree in computer science or software engineering and build up a portfoilo of game design related things in your spare time. At least this way you still have a great chance of getting a job outside of the games industry and if you look at most game developer positions they all look for computer science or related degrees.
Do Computer Science at Uni/College, and make big and popular mods. That's the way into the industry, really.
[QUOTE=Galoi;29004118]Didn't even think of a portfolio, I'm going to get started on that after my leaving cert. I have 4 years to fill it with interesting things. concept art and stories I can do in my sleep, hell I do that for fun everyday at the rate I'm going. I've already started to learn coding, Its just on hiatus till after June to allow me time to study.[/QUOTE]
Portfolios are one of the best ways to show employers you are useful. In any field. If you can walk into a job with a stacked resume your going to get the job. In most places, even if your resume is fresh out of college with a couple of part time jobs working in a store, a potfolio jam packed full of art, design, and more will look really good and show your commited.
[url]http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/courses/[/url]
All the courses in the country. I do believe that Ireland's gaming companies aren't quite so developed as the US's or even the UK's
I wouldn't try to get a job now right away, but if you're making a game for college, I think I can give a lot of tips regarding good design.
I'm not a professional or something, but I've played a load of games, and since I also aim to become a dev, have always had a very analytical view on about every game I play, I dissect them literally.
I was actually thinking about making a few threads on game design in the GGD section, but you can just PM me if you need to know something specific.
[QUOTE=Numidium;29004360]I wouldn't try to get a job now right away, but if you're making a game for college, I think I can give a lot of tips regarding good design.
I'm not a professional or something, but I've played a load of games, and since I also aim to become a dev, have always had a very analytical view on about every game I play, I dissect them literally.
I was actually thinking about making a few threads on game design in the GGD section, but you can just PM me if you need to know something specific.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I dissect them brutally as well. everything from a model that isn't aligned to the world properly, textures, tiling and even story. I have a great many ideas that I'd like to make, If my friends could speak here they'de complain that I never shut up about concepts and ideas.
Don't do it at college level
I like to think my expectations of games we're defined by games such as Black&White, Deus-Ex, Die hard and other games whose names escape me.
old games, which are still played today.
I'd study computer science to make yourself more appealing to potential employers, you'll learn more problem solving and programming that way.
I'm aiming for a career as a 3D artist.
Right now, as I'm in High School, 3D art is just a hobby but after I'm done with High School and after a two year internship in the Armed Forces' Media Graphics department (for numerous reasons) I plan to study it abroad, most probably in the United States.
I've found a couple of school's that interest me and the one that interests me the most is most definitely Gnomon School of Visual Effects.
It's pretty fucking expensive though, but with all the praise it has been receiving perhaps it's a price worth paying.
I don't know.
You should have seen PAX East this year, every other panel was about game design and how to get into the industry.
From what I hear it's not a very easy position to get, or to be in, but it's super popular right now because people think it is.
You have to work your ass off.
[QUOTE=Chickens!;29003740]
Also Playtesters get paid more than Animators and Programmers.[/QUOTE]
I have to disagree with that.
Playtester is amongst the most low paid in the game industry
the animators has a quite ok salary
and the programmers is like rockstars
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.