I am going to be transferring to Sac State in about a year. There are several degree programs I have considered before I attempt to enter into the game industry. The reason I am asking this is because all of these degree programs cover the very core of CS, I am just wondering which degree would be the most optimal for game design.

1. Traditional CS

This will be the obvious choice as it will cover a good deal of math (vector calc, diff eq, linear alg, discrete math combina, etc) as well as all of that fun algorithm stuff and so on. This also has a co-op.

2. Comp Eng

This goes into the hardware portion as well as the fundamentals of CS. It also has a co-op at Sac State, adding an additional year to the program.

3. Applied math/CS program

This program is what has caught my eye. I can focus on the maths that are relavant to my field and it includes all of the CS courses that would still seem to give me a great grounding in CS. In fact because I do not have to take a bunch of general science clases in this degree (bio, chem, physics) I can add even more CS and math classes to my course load. It basically alows me to tailor my degree more so than the other 2 options. It also has a blended program that will allow to get my masters in 5 years. No co-ops though.


I would really like to do the applied math/cs blended program, both for personal enjoyment and the flexibilty in making my program, but I am coming here to see what you think the industry wants to see and what would best help me obtain my first job in the biz. Please note, I am not going to be doing anything else with my life. I am either working for a game company actively making the games or I am flipping burgers while making games in my spare time. Either way, its gaming or bust!

I might throw out Comp Eng if you're dead set on game programming. Sure you get a few CS classes, but if you're going for a programming job I think CS would probably give you more education in that area.

If you go for comp. eng, you're trading off additional programming practice for the following:

1) Embedded system programming (tiny 1-khz processors with few kb of ram)
2) Microprocessor design
3) Analog electronics
4) Circuit analysis
5) RF design
6) Electromagnetics
7) Signal analysis (radio waves, electrical signaling, etc)
8) Semiconductor fabrication

Not that there's anything wrong with these things, but its certainly a large chunk of your major that you'll be ignoring. If there's anything special in the Comp Eng curriculum you really wanted, you can always pick it up as an elective as well.

Okay, so that knocks out Comp Eng. How do you feel about the applied math/cs program? Please keep in mind that particular degree can be tailored quite a bit to configure to my asperations for gaming. I do plan a solid well rounded education, with good focus on the fundamentals of CS. My only concern at this point is can I still get a prefectably acceptable education with applied math/cs or is am I best served with a full CS program?

Okay, so that knocks out Comp Eng. How do you feel about the applied math/cs program? Please keep in mind that particular degree can be tailored quite a bit to configure to my asperations for gaming. I do plan a solid well rounded education, with good focus on the fundamentals of CS. My only concern at this point is can I still get a prefectably acceptable education with applied math/cs or is am I best served with a full CS program?

I would vote AMCS. So much maths in most game programming. I would argue that not only is AMCS perfectly acceptable, but that it is more beneficial to a game programmer than a standard CS program.