FIEA or Guildhall? HELP!

IronCOOKARU · 2010-07-21T12:41:08

I am having an incredibly tough time deciding between the two schools. I was considering Level Design at Guildhall and Production at FIEA. I'll list positives and negatives of each.FIEA positives:-Even better facilities, office like work area that emulates industry-Largest MoCap facility on the east coast, rented out for commercials and commercial games frequently, makes for great networking-Allows students to take classes that arent in their concentration, I have a strong interest in art-ZBrush instruction and access to tablets-8:1 student faculty ratio-required introductory classes of all concentrationsFIEA Negatives:-Relatively short, 12-month program 16, including possible intern-only 30 credits-Production track doesn't seem to include as much design-Placement rate is high, but seems to be more limited to the same several studios that are local-most students aren't able to take advantage of the freedom to attend other classes because they are too busyGuildhall Positives:-Longer 22 month program (57 credits)-All students seem to get some production instruction in addition to whatever their concentration is-Level design students seem to get more scripting experience than at FIEA-Required introductory classes of all concentrations-Seems like more formal instruction overall in addition to team based projects-Seem to place more students around the country in more game development studios, less students at places like zynga or cartoon network.Guildhall negatives:-Smaller but still adequate mocap lab-no ZBrush or Maya, just 3ds Max-Seems to be more preoccupied with "modding" most student work is Gears mods-cannot take courses in other disciplines beyond intro classes unlike FIEA-slightly larger 12: student faculty ratio-no tabletsFIEA Curriculum: http://www.fiea.ucf.edu/joomla/index.php/curriculum/course-descriptionsGuildhall Curriculum: http://guildhall.smu.edu/Program-Outline.170.0.html"]http://guildhall.smu.edu/Program-Outline.170.0.htmlI visited both schools. I was very impressed at each. I preferred the facilities and environment at FIEA a bit more. The students also seemed to be more well rounded and socially apt. Both programs are accredited Master's Degrees. Both include powerful laptops. Both have outstanding facilities. Both require instructors to have a certain amount of game industry experience. I'd lean towards FIEA if I knew I could handle Production and a minor in Art but some of the production work can be very dry and if I was strictly limited to that discipline I may prefer the Design focus at Guildhall for its relative creative freedom. FIEA seems to be more open and flexible in general. There are producers who are also artists. Programmers who are project leads. Producers who focus more on management and producers who are more creatively involved in game and level design.I am a bit apprehensive about FIEA because of it's relatively small amount of credit hours. 16 months with little break is a long time and i know the classes are very demanding but when comparing the curriculum it just seems that Guildhall offers a larger spectrum of instruction despite FIEA's flexibility which can't be easily capitalized on. 57 credit hours in 22 months (with more break time) or 30 credits in 16 months (less break time ).Any thoughts of those of you with experience at either school would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Games Career Development Business

Started by IronCOOKARU July 16, 2010 09:10 AM

9 comments, last by IronCOOKARU 14 years, 4 months ago

IronCOOKARU

Author

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July 21, 2010 12:41 PM

Quote: Original post by Ycoseth
Hey there-

I'm also a Producer at FIEA, here's my comments:

Yup! You're busy as all hell. Some producers have the art chops to do both, but if you came in with no artistic skill or experience with the tools, you aren't going to leave here a 3D modeler. If you came in with chops and utilize them on their games, you'll get better naturally from the experience.

Thanks for the insight SLBoarder and Ycoseth as well. It is incredibly helpful. Part of my interest in FIEA is because despite my interest in production, I'd stil really like to pursue and develop at least some of my artistic ability, and FIEA offers more freedom to do so.

I have gotten pretty good at animating, modeling and rigging during my undergraduate program, though it is in a software package that FIEA does not use. My traditional skills, drawing and painting are probably a bit lacking next to many of the art students. I'll never be a concept artist but other than lacking any experience in custom painting textures, once I'm on a machine I can model, animate and rig very proficiently.

I realize the importance of focusing on a specialty in this industry but I guess with such a large financial investment, given the opportunity I should try to capitalize on as many resources available to me as possible. Maybe I can't do all the art classes but experience enough in them that would allow me to really hit the ground running if I ever decided town the road to pursue one on my own or move around more freely within a company is what I'm trying to achieve I guess.

Even as a producer, if I could capitalize on the mo-cap lab and get certified it can't hurt on a resume. You guys are the ones with the experience though I have not yet attended so I'm sure this all sounds incredibly ambitious and naive to you haha.

Thanks for the insight again it really is helping a lot.

[Edited by - IronCOOKARU on July 21, 2010 1:41:23 PM]

FIEA or Guildhall? HELP!

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FIEA or Guildhall? HELP!

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