I know you are all probably tired of these threads, but I really need your help. I was checking the job requirements for a lot of the major game companies, and they all seem to want a BS in Computer Science or equivalent degree. Right now, I have two plans for college and I'm hoping you can help me decide what to do. Plan 1 Go to a local community college and get an Associate's degree in Computer Science Attend the University of Advancing Technology and get a BS in Game Programming Take continuing education classes from the in computer science major from UAT to fill the gaps there Plan 2 Go straight to UAT and get a BS in Computer Science and then take the continuing education classes from the game programming major Which path do you think would be better for getting a job in the industry? Right now, I want to do gameplay programming (if that helps).

Honestly, I would go with Plan 2. Game development degrees are in their infancy right now, and the general consensus is that they are not well respected. Most schools are just making up a curriculum at the moment until the industry has had enough generations of graduates to give feedback. It will still be a while for them to be shaped out. A CS degree with a portfolio of your own game-related work will do you just fine.

Personally, I think getting a game programming degree would be like getting a mechanical engineering degree that focussed specifically on F1 racing. Sure, that's glamorous and everybody wants to be an F1 designer when they start out, but you'll probably find out that in reality it's actually a hellava lot of work and not really as glamorous as you first thought, it's really competitive to get an actual job designing F1 cars and you can probably make more money in some other field of mechanical engineering anyway (and design race cars on the weekends if you still want to). But now you're stuck with your "F1 degree" and no opportunity to find another job.

My advice is to get a "regular" computer science degree. There's nothing in a Computer Science degree that will hinder you in getting a game programming job, and a standard CS degree will still work for you if you decide you don't want to work as a game programmer 60-70 hours a week after all* :-)




* Not all game programmers work insanely long hours, but that's the stereotype...

Computer Science + [Mathematics | Physics] + [individual|group]achievement = win.

See Tom Sloper's game development FAQs. The ones that apply to your questions are:

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Moving to Breaking In.