Pursuing a Career in Game Design, Because only the serious people are willing to go there... Options

[Rune_Ocarina]

If you're considerind a career in Game design and development, what are the best schools out there?

Currently looking at DeVry and The Art Institute, but are there any others that might be recommended by others?

[Dr Strum]

I wouldn't recommend going to a school with a "game design" program.
Nor would I recommend going into the game design business, but since you want to;
-Decide what you want to do first. Do you want to be one of the artists, designing textures, models/sprites and levels; do you want to be one of the coders who gets down and nasty with the code, fitting everything together, programming AI and logic; one of the head guys like Kojima and Miyamota who come up with the game ideas and have thousands of slaves at their disposal to make their ideas a "reality"; do you wish to conduct/compose the music for the game; do you want to be a publisher, localizer or marketing agent, what?
-Go to college and get a degree that would more or less cater to your desires. For artist, get a degree in computer graphics/graphics design/whatever. Coder, get a degree in computer science, probably toss in a degree in a few other things as well (computer graphics for graphics engines, whatever degree that would require classes in logic for the AI, etc). Localizer, start taking language classes. Publisher or marketing agent, go for a business degree, going into marketing you should probably take some graphics design classes, too. Miyamato/Kojima-style employment... Good fucking luck to you, it is almost guaranteed not to happen.
-With degree in hand, or nearly in grasp, start producing stuff, maybe work on some shareware/freeware games - in a group because it's experience - build up a portfolio, and apply to various places looking to employ people of your expertise.

A last note; do not focus purely on game design in your pursuit. That may be your goal, but limiting and narrowing your capabilities is an awful thing to do, especially in such a crappy business.

[Rune_Ocarina]

Wow, that was a lot more helpful than I thought it would be. Now it seems I gotta meditate to see what I'd really like to do - currently leaning toward design and simulation (I guess military stuff would be ok there.)

[aerozero]

Have you ever done any programming? Because it is really, really, hard, you might want to take a computer science class and see if you like working with that kind of stuff before making a decision.

I took Computer Science AP A last year and it took me a very long time just to create a simple 2 player mod for Space Invaders for my semester project. I didn't even bother to take the AP exam...but that's just me and the fact that my teacher was way to nice (I spent most of my time leeching off of the school's internet and downloading anime and games >_>)

This post has been edited by aerozero: Jan 31 2007, 11:33 PM

[Christophen]

If you're looking at design, architecture could be interesting, too. Or you could try the COMPRU branch that they have in some hospitals, where you create synthetic ears/eyes/etc.

[Raijinili]

Game design? You realize, of course, you'll have to learn how to turn on a computer. And the letters of "computer" add up to 666.

[level]

same here i also wanted to have that as a career

[Rune_Ocarina]

It seems a job in game design isn't as, well, famous (for lack of better word) as I thought it'd be. >_< Too bad I'm already behind in my senior year to take Computer Science, since I really wanted to get to that class after my Computer Electronics Technology class. *whimper*

This post has been edited by Rune_Ocarina: Feb 5 2007, 03:31 PM

[aerozero]

Yeah, getting cash for game testing isn't as great as it seems either (well it depends, don't really know much about it). Writing essays, bug reports, etc. just take the fun out of gaming...

[Leyviur]

Don't go into game design. My friend works as a programmer for the game industry, and it is one of the worst industries to work for.

[Feral Phoenix]

A lot of colleges are getting programming courses lately, but I would recommend looking into DigiPen Institute in Washington state, at least in America. That's where I'm hoping to go to college myself.

The game-programming industry seems to be getting competitive lately; I don't know about art/graphic design or overall concept, though. DigiPen has courses in basically every step of game production, as it's the longest-standing gamers' college I know of in the US.

[Ryuji Kuro]

I'm looking into a career in Game Designing as well. And yeah, it's not very popular. >_< And I would look into DigiPen if I were you, that's what I've been doing lately.

[Dr Strum]

And I would look into DigiPen if I were you, that's what I've been doing lately.

I wouldn't, because DigiPen is expensive as all fuck, and they'll train you to make video games. I know that that's what you're going for, but, as I said above, it's a very bad idea. If you limit yourself to video games, if the video game business were to end, or you couldn't crack into it, you would be completely jobless and fucked, because you would have no practical skills, you'd only have skills that could be applied to the development of video games.

[Leyviur]

A lot of colleges are getting programming courses lately, but I would recommend looking into DigiPen Institute in Washington state, at least in America. That's where I'm hoping to go to college myself.

No, don't go to Digipen, as Sturm said. It's a monumentally bad idea.

The game-programming industry seems to be getting competitive lately; I don't know about art/graphic design or overall concept, though.

The real problem with the game industry is how their normal employees are treated. Dig up some of the old EA stories and you'll see what I'm talking about. My friend who has been bouncing from game company to game company says that the people he's worked with are arrogant assholes who, while not on the same level as EA, make work a living hell.

So before you even try to go into that field, I want to warn you that you're going to be very, very fucked unless you're very very lucky.

[Raijinili]

Try making a doujin. Learn programming, and train yourself in making games. I'd bet an actual decent game would look better on your resume than a school.