The first question to ask yourself is why do you want to get into games? Contrary to the commercials it is not playing games all day (unless you are a tester and then I pity you writing reports on the buggy games you have to play all day). The hours are long and the pay usually isn't great. What is your motivation? If you do think that you want it and have the drive and talent to compete for the jobs (there are less jobs than there are applicants who want them), then I'd recommend going the 4 year college route and learning game programming on your own time on the side.

Why go to college then try to get in a gaming industry job .game/design,development or programming But why go to a regular college...

Heres what I think would be cool

Go for 2 yrs for a compuerscience degree..then Go to a gaming college..it will help me out then go straight out of high school to somewhere else...

And the pay isnt really that important to me now.

The comment: Sticking yourself in a closed lab surrounded by programmers for long periods of time isn't going to do good in making you a well rounded human being.

Wow... fuck you.

Quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
The comment: Sticking yourself in a closed lab surrounded by programmers for long periods of time isn't going to do good in making you a well rounded human being.

Wow... fuck you.

My comment wasn't meant as an insult, and it was certainly only my opinion. Feel free to disagree and support your side, but it is simply my opinion that if you put yourself in a homogeneous society for a long period of time, it will do harm when you try to interact in a heterogeneous society like the world (or the business world where you may interact with customers, marketing guys, managers, lawyers, doctors, whatever) in the sense that you may not be comfortable, or you may exhibit unacceptable behavior, even though it may have been appropriate conduct around your programming buddies.

I'm just saying, expose yourself to the world, and surround yourself by as many different people as possible, to ensure that your perspective on the world isn't unrealistic.

I'm not a sociologist, I'm just a programmer. I'm just sharing my opinion.

Quote: Original post by Jetto
Why go to college then try to get in a gaming industry job .game/design,development or programming But why go to a regular college...

Two reasons that I can think of right away.

Where I work, we take resumes from people with 4+ year degreed programs from good schools seriously when we hire. We know that an MIT or CMU grad got exposed to the correct stuff in school (and this includes stuff like English, foreign languages, history, and science). These off topic categories may not seem important to getting a game programming job, but it is competitive and sometimes the fact that you can write good user's manuals or know something about the details of the Franco-Prussian war might be the thing that tips the decision your way of another candidate (this is especially true for design positions). This may be unfair, but life rarely is.

Second, it's a safety net for you. There are less jobs in the industry than people who want them. What if you don't get in? With a regular 4 year degree, there are many other career opportunites open to you if your dream of a game job doesn't work out.

Quote: I've seen tons of Gaming colleges on commercfial and such...But how are they like DO they need 2 foreign languages courses in order to get in?

Most of the game school commercials I have seen have made the quality of the school pretty apparent in the commercial. I doubt you need two foreign language classes as you usually don't take generals at a school like that.

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I might be intrested in some game job in a career like design or programming...

If you are interested in a job programming or designing games I recommend doing it not because you like playing Halo or something.

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Hows it like at a college?? and do they teach you the basics or do they expect you to know stuff?? Like im trying to study C++.

You will get more of the "college experience" out of a traditional 4 year college.

Quote: But Regular colleges Breifly or if not do anything game realted..I know what yo umean as in Balanced in skill But i have things to fall back on.

With a traditional computer science degree at a four year college you will start out learning the basics of the chosen language of that college. After the first few classes you will have more advanced programming classes available to you, i.e. artificial intelligence, networking, graphics programming, etc. Anything you learn in a traditional computer science degree can and will be used in game programming. Most of the stuff you would learn in a 4 year college are general programming techniques and concepts that you will *need* to know for game programming; such as specific classes on object oriented programming.

Quote: But seriously..So its better iff i take a short course of college in computer science or whatever and then go to fullsail??

My only prob is which college around me has a computer class or C++ class...And won't I have to pay The some amount of money lik ei will at fullsail.

No, don't take a "short course" in a 4 year college, go for the 4 years and get a degree. Most every 4 year college will have a computer science degree. It doesn't necessarily have to be a C++ class, because a lot of the industry languages are very similar, and once you learn certain concepts and techniques that all languages use, its extremely easy to learn the syntax of another language and adapt your knowledge to it.

Quote: Why go to college then try to get in a gaming industry job .game/design,development or programming But why go to a regular college...

Heres what I think would be cool

Go for 2 yrs for a compuerscience degree..then Go to a gaming college..it will help me out then go straight out of high school to somewhere else...

And the pay isnt really that important to me now.

It would be extremely impressive(probably impossible?) if you could complete a bachelors degree in two years.

As others have said, you will learn a lot of things other than just computer science in a traditional 4 year school. You would most likely increase your spelling, grammar, and punctuation, as well as learn helpful things like critical reading/writing skills in a 4 year college. There are also a lot of things you *need* to know for game programming related to math and physics.

I am currently a freshman in a 4 year university getting my bachelors degree. At one point in the past few years I considered going to a tech school or a game school for only 2 years because it would have been "easier". Now that I am over a month into my second semester here, I am extremely happy that I decided to goto the 4 year college. The computer science classes are far better than I expected them to be. Right now I am using what I learn in the computer science classes and applying it to game programming in my free time. While what I am learning in my computer science classes isnt specifically about rendering a landscape or creating your favorite FPS, it is all a combination of things you need to know to create them in the end.

So my recommendation is to attend a 4 year school, and use what you learn to apply it to game programming in your free time. I'm also pretty sure that your professors wouldn't mind helping you understand game-related topics for your projects if you asked them. Buy a couple good books on game programming and combine that with what you learn in class. In addition, like others have said before, you will increase your knowledge in a variety of areas such as your sciences, mathematics, english, speech, history, etc. All of those are things you can relate to games and will be very helpful in the long run.

Thanks man.

I guess it would be best going for a 4 yr degree...It would look better on you're application.

However If I go to college It would be for learning some C++ and more comp related languages to get me a better understanding of game programming so when I go to a gaming college I could already know the BAsics and not be left behind.

I hate school and I would hate going for 4yrs learning completely nothing about C++ or game related situations to help me for my carreer ( if i choose it)


But thx camp..You gave me a nice tone to work I should lok or figure out to do.

I went to a vocational school (2 year college) before I started going to Texas Tech and I think it was a good choice, granted I'm now older than most of the students, but if your passion is for programming and you don't want to take all the BS requirements then by all means go to a 2 year college. I'm going to a University now because I like taking foreign languages, and philosophy and a University can provide you with many opportunities that smaller community colleges can't. I don't see either choice as being a bad one, it just depends on the individual. If you choose the 2 year college route I would strongly advise you to try to supplement your instruction with subjects like philosophy, history, and even the often maligned foreign languages (and Math, lots of Math). As a programmer you may be faced with a wide range of difficult problems, and having a background in a little bit of everything will benefit in solving some very strange problems. (Plato's allegory about the cave actually helped me with a chess program once)

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I hate school and I would hate going for 4yrs learning completely nothing about C++ or game related situations to help me for my carreer ( if i choose it)

I'm not sure how you can so completely miss the point.

Every single class you take at a university will help you in game development. Every Computer Science class will help you better understand Programming: Algorithms, Complexity, Data Structures, Application Design. Making an application is FAR more than simply knowing C++ syntax. If you somehow doubt that, take a look in For Beginners on any given day.

Every Math class which doesn't help with programming will directly help with Math heavy parts of modern graphics programming, or with rate modelling in character design, or in even the most simple physics common to nearly every game on the market.

Every Physics, Sociology and Economics course directly helps you model those things in games.

Every Literature course helps you understand proper character development and story progression in your game.

Every Psychology class helps you understand player drive in games, and how to best associate color and pacing to achieve the player reaction your game requires.

As well as being highly applicable to areas not involving games. Just because you haven't the imagination to make the connection to 'game related situations' does not mean they aren't immediately applicable.

I agree with Telastyn.

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Just because you haven't the imagination to make the connection to 'game related situations' does not mean they aren't immediately applicable.

And in fact, not being able to make that connection pretty much implies that you'll never quite "get it" and consequently, never be a very good game developer. It's understandable that a new programmer might not be able to make that connection right away, but you need to figure it out, and a four-year CS degree is the best place to do it.

Your logic is backwards. You want to get the four-year CS degree and then spend two years getting a supplimental (MS or AS) degree from a gaming school (assuming you are dead-set on going to one).