Question on Gaming colleges and gaming development in general - Developers

Well obviously by the title, I want to go into Video Game Development. The only problem is, I don't really understand the category I want/need to go in. I want to go into the programming aspect less so than the art, but are they intertwined into one category? What does Video Game Design/Development really mean in terms of what's involved, like art vs programming ect. Any other information would be very insightful, even College/University suggestions as well. Sorry if this post seems uninformed, but I'm have a somewhat tough time grasping it.

Whereabouts?

Northeast, New Jersey close to New York

Sorry, can't help you with Uni suggestions, don't know much about US universities. However, I'm looking to do a course in Computer Science here in the UK, I am fairly interested in programming in general but also in games programming. Generally there are optional/choice modules in courses which is where you can specialise and find out more about a specific area. Fully 'game development' courses have been said to give less credit by employers than a standard computer science degree, but don't feel put off by that, it's still better than no course. Don't know about the US, but here in the UK the course generally varies from university to university so look around the different ones. Some unis here teach C++ whereas others offer things like Java or even Python. To answer your doubt, Design usually involves art and Development involves programming.

Oh okay, yeah I'm still doing some research on higher learning once out of highschool. Taking computer programming and learning C++, not sure how far that'll go, but it's a start. Thanks for the answer and clearing that up, does make things a bit easier now when searching.

An actual Game Development/Design course is most likely only going to be found at a 2 year tech school. Some kind of game job will always choose a 4 year Computer Science Degree over a 2 year Game Design Course certificate/whatever, or just over a 2 year college in general. You really want to go to a 4 year college, but your not finding a game design course most likely. You will want to major in Computer Science or Software Engineering if you can find it. Software Engineering is more along the lines of game making(engineering software/making games). I'm going through the same thing right now.

Thanks Darkest, thats what I figured, and which I was going to do anyway, cause I figured they were relatively similar

I'm at this same point, and I'm looking mainly at Computer Science... I recently read this: [url]http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson44.htm[/url] It's not too bad a read if you want to eventually work in the gaming industry.

[QUOTE=Darkest_97;28373533]An actual Game Development/Design course is most likely only going to be found at a 2 year tech school. Some kind of game job will always choose a 4 year Computer Science Degree over a 2 year Game Design Course certificate/whatever, or just over a 2 year college in general. You really want to go to a 4 year college, but your not finding a game design course most likely. You will want to major in Computer Science or Software Engineering if you can find it. Software Engineering is more along the lines of game making(engineering software/making games). I'm going through the same thing right now.[/QUOTE] You can specifcally major in Game Design at the Art Institute and get a 4-year degree. They also do internships with all their students as well so it might be something to look in to.

[QUOTE=Meller Yeller;28385606]You can specifcally major in Game Design at the Art Institute and get a 4-year degree. They also do internships with all their students as well so it might be something to look in to.[/QUOTE] All the Art Institutes are really shitty for-profit schools. Except the Art Institute of Boston, which isn't affiliated with the rest of them at all, but rather a school of Lesley University.

From what people say, a lot of people in the industry have Computer Science degrees, and since you're in Jersey, you could always apply for NJIT, which has a Computer Science program.

go to harvard

I'm going to Purdue to major in Computer Science in Fall.

Whatever you do [B]DO NOT GO TO A BUSINESS COLLEGE[/B]! online colleges and colleges like ECPI will get you know where, do a CC first then apply to the big schools

Important: [b]Game Programmers 10:1 Game Artists[/b] What programming language you wanna learn? Python? Java? C++? C#? If you learn it before hand, you don;t need to learn anything else right after school.

[QUOTE=joemomma53;28386547]From what people say, a lot of people in the industry have Computer Science degrees, and since you're in Jersey, you could always apply for NJIT, which has a Computer Science program.[/QUOTE] From what qualifications people have, a lot of people in the industry never got a degree in computer science. One of the lead programmers at Valve took their major in Law but they ended up doing programming on a side. Oh, and don't worry about the game design vs computer science course too much. Your best bet is to get educated and push something out the door, companies look for someone that has experience so getting a game out the door (Even something simple) will look really good. People like the inventor of DOTA, Braid, etc.

I was looking to take a game design course at uni, however I'm pretty much decided on doing a Masters of Engineering in Computer Sciences, either a 4 or 5 year course depending on which university I end up going to. Luckily the optional modules are quite varied so it can be tailored as game development centric if I choose to

You should probably learn a programming language first