I''m thinking about going. I loved the tour... the school seemed amazing. But before I pay a ton of money, I need opinions from people who would know. (BTW... I''m talking about game design). If anyone''s been, I''d like to know a little about your experience there. Especially, WAS IT WORTH THE MONEY? If you know someone who went through it, what did they think?

Although I don''t even live in the country I do have some second hand info. there was a thread discussed over on GamaSutra.com sometime last year about Full Sail and it appears that there were mixed reactions. One person though it was the worst choice of thier life while another thought it really wasn''t that bad.

You might want to go over there (sign up if you are new to it) and check out the Game Design forum of the Discussions section. A search might prove useful (I saw it a LONG time ago...)

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - The future of RPGs Thanks to all the goblins in the GDCorner niche

I know one person who went to Full Sail. I know that he enjoyed it but he doesn''t have a game developmnet job yet. Although he hasn''t persued it at all yet either.

I''ve read their literature and I''m pretty skeptical. They seem to turn out modelers and animators by the truck load. Game design grads appear nonexistant in the industry though.

Personally, I feel that if you want to program games you''re better off in front of you''re computer with $1000 worth of books.

Hikeeba
Yes that person I know leared animation and modelling at Full Sail.

I think you''re right. I think you really probably could learn as much or more from a book accompanied by hard work and a few good forums and it would be much cheaper

Well, the game design program has only been there for about 2 years now... so that could explain the lack of graduates in the field. It also has a really low enrollment since it is a very, very technical program.

The thing that struck me as very cool about the school is that when you leave you have a full game that you have written, with a beautifully and professionally printed manual and everything. I would think that being able to show that to a potential employer would give you a HUGE advantage in the industry. Dave Arneson (the Dungeons and Dragons guy) did the presentation when I went, and the game manual and stuff he showed us looked like something you might buy in a store.

The final project presentations two months ago (September) looked pretty good. There was a 3d shooter/adventure game with a 3rd person view, a 2d side scroller, and a 2d MMRPG. Definately better than I could have done in two months time. Just having someone sit me down and force me to actually FINISH a game is worth the $25k.

i am a friend of wayfarerx and i attended full sail real world education. i took the film and video degree program and was friends with many of the gamers. i was a tour guide as well and have to admit we put on a good show for the tour. the gaming degree program is one of the hardest programs there. many student who go there with no programing experience fail the C++ course a few times before they pass. if you fail for grades you can take the course again with no charge but if you fail for attendance (which is 90% attendance) you have to pay to re-take the course which is a few hundred dollars. i dont know of too many student have done for jobs after graduation. for your own sake, please dont become a full sail lab instructor after you graduate. your life will consist of awful hours of work. i definitely think you should attend this school if you are passonite about game design. check out the computer animation program for really cool animation stuff. **By the way, if you are a D&D fan, the creator of D&D teaches at full sail in the game design program.
peace,
THE WB

Edited by - wayfarerx on November 21, 2001 1:21:40 AM

Hello fellow gamers. I am currenly enrolled in the game design degree program at Full Sail. I am in the general education of classes right now, and starting my 3rd class (multimedia productions) on Monday. Here is some advice for anyone wanting to goto FullSail...
First of all, if you are serious about gaming, know what it takes, have done your research, and know about computers, skip as much as general education as you can. ''Computers, Media, and the Internet'' is a joke. you will be dissapointed if you know a wealth about computers, and your learning how to use ''PowerPoint'', and the difference between SIMM and DIMM memory is. FullSail will teach you what you need to know to expand on game development. It is up to YOU to expand on what you have learned. People have a mis conception of this place, it IS a college, you do study, and you DO get grades. Game development DOES involve MATH. Since the game degree is fairly new, not many people here in it, and it is refered to seldomly in class. From what i have heard, people who just goto class, rarely study, and party, are the ones who fail, and they have to blame someone. All colleges are the same, if you goto a 4 year, all you get is a piece of paper saying to passed all the requirements, here they have a career placement department, to HELP find your niche in the industry. People have been successful, a few guys got a job at red storm in march, one guy landed a job at Konami Hawaii, Hawaii folks. So it is possible. Chances are if you are serious about gaming, you would have done alot of research on your own. I picked FullSail because you graduate in 15 short months, so i cant get into the industry and gain experience. You seldom get breaks, but who cares? Most real gamers will be programming and studying games and playing them anyways. Also the instructors are pretty famous, the "Real time 3d" guy, Shawn Kendall, does amazing work with java 3d, and d&d creator Dave Arneson (as mentioned below) teaches "Rules of the game", and you construct game bibles.
As far as the facility, its very ...spiffy, and new. The program comes with a very nice laptop (geforce2go), but you dont get it til the 4th month. The first months are frustrating, especially for an avid gamer, but everyone who ive talked to , who is serious, says it gets way better, and time flies.
But remember, its up to you, they are not going gurantee you a job, but there is a whole department of like 20 people in career placement, to help, if you want... Well enough of my yappin''

Justin

Digipen is twice the school full sail is. From what i''ve heard of full sail they aren''t really producing industry ready graduates. While many/most of the graduates of digipen have gone on to work in the industry.

They are a 4 year "accredited" university, wich means you actually get a batchelors degree at the end. The prices seem compairable and they are right on the nintendo campous and across the way from microsoft. Can you say Xbox and Game cube. Lots of oppertunities here in little old Redmond Washington.