During my application to a school I wanted to go to, it asks me for an URL to a portfolio that I intended to give to the school for assessment. Here are some questions I have about this:

1. Can I just provide a Github account URL to them? This is the account that I'm about to provide: https://github.com/tommai78101
2. I wanted to know what else I can do to provide an URL. While I was applying to Github for Student plan, it mentioned that I can use Github as a portfolio. I don't know what that means.
3. I'm sure there are things I'm missing out on, perhaps one can help me criticize about my "portfolio"? Does a Github account work as a "portfolio" as it intended to be?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Can I just provide a Github account URL to them? This is the account that I'm about to provide: https://github.com/tommai78101

I don't know, can you? That is a question only the school can answer with any value. If they want to see your work and github allows you to show that, than it might be so that it's alright. Perhaps they're expecting something more visual, like a video that shows how stuff is working. Contact the school if you want to be sure.

I wanted to know what else I can do to provide an URL. While I was applying to Github for Student plan, it mentioned that I can use Github as a portfolio. I don't know what that means.

You can make a website that shows stuff (screenshots, videos, descriptions, etc) and provide a link to github if they want to see the full source. When Github mentions you can use it as a portfolio, they mean you can use it for just like that, showing your work. You can specify enough stuff on a per project basis to solely rely on it I guess.

I'm sure there are things I'm missing out on, perhaps one can help me criticize about my "portfolio"? Does a Github account work as a "portfolio" as it intended to be?

I quickly went over the github page, There are a couple of projects that go in to a good amount of details, where others just have one line that doesn't really say that much, Just make sure people don't have to go through your code to figure out what something is doing.

Showcase your stuff, screenshots and videos etc.

I personally like a "stand alone" portfolio more to give everything a more personal touch and perhaps some people do not understand the concept of github and never get to see the potential you have.

I'm sure others have more input of value for you. Hope it helps! :)

I'm curious which schools would be wanting a game portfolio before entry. Please read the forum FAQs, especially about the problems that come from for-profit or very expensive "game schools". Many programs are not worth the money, and they are very career limiting, especially if you choose to leave the industry or have trouble finding a job within the industry, where a game school trade degree does not transfer to graduate studies, or to non-game fields.

I'm curious which schools would be wanting a game portfolio before entry. Please read the forum FAQs, especially about the problems that come from for-profit or very expensive "game schools". Many programs are not worth the money, and they are very career limiting, especially if you choose to leave the industry or have trouble finding a job within the industry, where a game school trade degree does not transfer to graduate studies, or to non-game fields.

To a certain degree, I think it wouldn't be that bad to already have some experience with game development (and perhaps have some simple projects to show for it) before you step into an education that's going to get you ready for the real deal.

I'm currently graduating from a "game dev school" and when I applied I needed to do an intake project (different depending on the variation) and ideally show some stuff I have worked on as a programmer. For artists they also wanted them to show their work. The reason they did this is because they know the games industry is very competitive industry and the education reflects that and if you would come in without any experience, the chances of failure is fairly high.

I'm curious which schools would be wanting a game portfolio before entry.

I imagine a lot of them would. A school needs some way to filter the applicants. I'd be wary of a school that isn't in the least bit picky about whose applications they accept.

It is just that most schools I'm familiar with will request academic transcripts and major test scores (SAT / ACT for undergrad, GRE and similar for graduate school).

Wanting to see a game portfolio before attending the school seems like putting the cart before the horse; if they could already make games, why educate them on it?

When I applied for Digipen (12 years ago now), I recall that they looked at my academics and test scores, and they required a short essay from programmers on the topic of why they wanted to be a game developer and what they thought that looked like. I already had a small portfolio of projects by then, so I included that as well. Artists had to provide a portfolio for review (and were also assigned homework immediately upon acceptance to fill an entire sketchbook by the start of freshman classes.

You really want to speak to someone at the school and ask what format they expect. Do they want binaries? Source code examples? Entire projects that they can pull and build? Videos of your projects in action?

I github link could be vague, particularly if you've contributed to or maintain an open-source project, because its hard to judge the provenance of the code.

if they could already make games, why educate them on it?

The games the student can make after college are worlds beyond the games the student can make after high school. The high school student's portfolio is not expected to be college graduate level stuff.

I have updated my portfolio, and would like someone to give feedback of it.

I have added more info for all of my public projects, and have added screenshots for display.

Is there anything else that may need a look?

Thanks in advance.

http://github.com/tommai78101

I have updated my portfolio, and would like someone to give feedback of it.

I have added more info for all of my public projects, and have added screenshots for display.

Is there anything else that may need a look?

Thanks in advance.

http://github.com/tommai78101

For as far GitHub pages go, it seems fine to me. The only thing I might change (personally) is placing the abstract at the top, before the images so it's a bit more clear what they're looking at.