They've been around for a while, but it looks like they're finally settling down here in the Netherlands: education programs aiming directly at the computer game industry. I was wondering how these game-specific programs compaired to general computer science programs? They obviously focus more on the creative and artistic side of software development, but how about the technical side? Game development is always said to be the leading area of software development, because it pushes the limits of new technologies. My question in short is: what do you think are people's chances to get a job outside the game industry (doing "regular" software development instead) when they have some kind of grade in game design (or something similar), how do they compair to people with a grade in let's say... computer science?

hi. well i'm studying computer science, and i think that a good cs engineer can get a job in any software area he wants. the game programming part you can learn in parallel(that's what i do). the game design is more about art, and you should more compare it to an art college then to computer science. in computer science you basically learn how to design and build computers, and how to program them. there is a more wide area of topics to learn(from designing microprocessors, operating systems, to engineer and build sophisticated software solutions).

to give a straight answer, i consider moving from game design to computer science much more difficult then in the other way.

Computer Science and Game Design are WORLDS apart. Firstly, Computer science is a technical endevour, while game design is much more artistic (that is not to say that computer science isn't an art as well). People who write the code for games are computer scientists, those who design games (levels, gameplay concepts, etc.) are game designers. Computer scientists have many employment opportunities outside of the game industry in everything from word-processor design to programming for google. Game designers pretty much only have employment opportunity based on their game design knowledge within the game market. They are two separate things. It depends on wether you want to write or design games. Also most universities offer a CS major while most don't offer anything in game design.

So even if you want to be a game programmer, a cs degree would be better than a game design degree (or any other game related degree)? That actually makes sense, thank you.

well, personally i think yes. for example(me again :D) i study cs at the university, but, as a passion i have since i was a child, now i'm graduating the art school(not college, just a school where they teach anyone-it doesn't matter the age-a specific art, in my case it's graphic). Well, if you really know how to draw, and you have some artistic talent and you practice alot, you can teach yourself design as well. ofcourse you won't be as good as those proffesionals who are graduating design schools, but you can be good enough. and there are a lot companies which are looking for good people that have excelent skills in a specific domain, but know something in other domains. for example, you would have an advantage know programming very well, but know a little bit of digital art too, so you can help the artists optimize there models for the game(that's just a very small example). there was an article on Gamasutra.com about this guys and there advantages. just take a search on there site.