New School bitches...

[paladin]

After a year attending the University of Washington, I was having mixed feelings about the majors offered by the school. Well, long story short i applied for DigiPen Institute of Technology....

I got my acceptance letter today.

The school is one of the most prestigious schools for video games and digital media. I am supper excited.

I just wanted to let you guys know.:dance:

[Limited]

Sweet great news :D Good luck with it.

What course you studying?

[flibitijibibo]

Awesome. So uh... what will your major be then?

E- Heh, what Limited said.

[Sel]

thanks for letting us know man

:mech:

[paladin]

Bachelors of Art in Production Animation

[mech]

Game design schools are bogus imho. But congratulations on your acceptance.

[thehoodedsmack]

Game design schools are bogus imho.

Agreed.

You're probably better off with a Computer Science or Fine Arts degree, depending on what area you want to focus.

But congrats on getting in, guy! I hope you do well!

[paladin]

Theres a 90% job placement for Alums at Nintendo, Microsoft, Apple, Pixar, Dreamworks and various other studios including Bungie, Epic, Blizzard, relic, and BioWare.

[mech]

Sounds like a great statistic.

[Limited]

Game design schools are bogus imho. But congratulations on your acceptance.
Depends what area you want to go into the video game industry.

[paladin]

I cant tell if thats sarcasm :smith:

[Reaper Man]

Uh, wasn't there a class of '09 thread a while back, where people could boast about acceptances?

Eh, congrats nonetheless.

[Warsaw]

Depends what area you want to go into the video game industry.

Based on all the "hiring" ads I've seen put up (Bungie, Tripwire, etc.), programmers, texture artists, and leads seem to be the most in-demand.

Personally, I would get a degree in engineering (and then get a job in the defence industry) and learn a video-game development skill off to the side as a hobby, while making enough dough to have a relatively cushy life. Game studios look at your portfolio; they care about experience and expertise, not arbitrary degrees on a piece of paper.

Congratz on your acceptance though. It is awesome...I haven't even applied anywhere yet...:smith:.

[flibitijibibo]

Uh, wasn't there a class of '09 thread a while back, where people could boast about acceptances?

Eh, congrats nonetheless.
http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=14602
:downs:

[RobertGraham]

Well, All I can say is I applied at Full Said in Florida. Looks pretty cool, and I had a nice chat on the phone.

Also, congrats on the acceptance. What will you be majoring in?

E: Forgot name of uni wtf

[Warsaw]

I myself was looking at Full Sail, also in Florida...and then I came to my senses and said "fuck it, not worth $78k for 21 months of school and an MBP." I am now looking at Rose-Hulman.

[Limited]

Based on all the "hiring" ads I've seen put up (Bungie, Tripwire, etc.), programmers, texture artists, and leads seem to be the most in-demand.

Personally, I would get a degree in engineering (and then get a job in the defence industry) and learn a video-game development skill off to the side as a hobby, while making enough dough to have a relatively cushy life. Game studios look at your portfolio; they care about experience and expertise, not arbitrary degrees on a piece of paper.

Congratz on your acceptance though. It is awesome...I haven't even applied anywhere yet...:smith:.Like I just stated it differs depending on the area of games industry you want to get into.

For animation then yes they will look at a portfolio, they may do tests to check you fully understand perspective and all the key fundamentals.

Having a degree will help you tremendously. One, it shows your dedicated and passionate about it, and its not just a hobby you hope to one day follow, you actually are following.

[Warsaw]

Point there, but actual proof of quality speaks more than a degree. If they had to choose between someone with a well-developed high-quality portfolio and no degree, and someone who has a degree but not as well-developed of a portfolio, who are they going to choose?

[Bodzilla]

Remember the new guy.

WHOS THE BITVCH NAO?

[n00b1n8R]

Wait wait wait.. $78,000????

O__o

[mech]

Having a degree will help you tremendously. One, it shows your dedicated and passionate about it, and its not just a hobby you hope to one day follow, you actually are following.

This is false.

Look I have a degree, hire me. Oh by the way no work experience. But I can make 500 tri characters and import them into Q1

[PenGuin1362]

Currently majoring in Game Art & Animation, it definitely helps. Taking 4 years of college will NOT give you the skill level you need to get a job in the game industry. It's up to you to take what you learn and apply it on your own and do a lot of work by yourself outside of class. Otherwise you won't get shit. But if you want to get into the industry, you need a game degree because it will teach you things you need to know, not just about art but about the physical process of game creation and all that shit.

[Warsaw]

Wait wait wait.. $78,000????

O__o

That includes everything including the MacBook Pro you are required to have. However, it does not include residence, because Full Sail has no dorms...gotta live in a hotel or rent a nearby apartment, which adds to the cost.


@PenGuin1362: I can see that's where the degree would help. I still think it's more prudent to major in something else first, and then later down the road get that game development degree if that's where you really want to go. That's probably what I am going to do. I'd like some security before pursuing my interests all the way.

Does anyone here know anything about UAT? They've courses similar to those at Full Sail, but cost ~$20,000 less.

[PenGuin1362]

First, from other gaming schools and students I know who attend full sail, it's perhaps not your best choice of school. It may be expensive but the education you get is sub par, from what I've heard from several sources.

Secondly, if you want to have a degree in something else just for security reasons for a different kind of job, than yes you may want to double major. Otherwise, the only other things you would want to major in in addition to game design is business, or marketing. Nothing else would really be of use to you in the art field, that is unless your school doesn't require you to take basic art classes in addition to your game classes. So if you really want to do game art or game programing, make that your major. It'd be a waste of time and money to major in, say engineering first. (I've met people who thought this was a better idea because they thought the industry would take them more seriously....WRONG)


And a bit of advice to anyone who's going into a game degree, there is an ASS LOAD of work but it's helpful. And the gaming industry is the most mother fucking cut throat, constantly changing industry there is, so be prepared.

[Corndogman]

Since I live in Florida, I would be able to get a Bright Futures scholarship and go to any school with 75-100% paid off, though I'm not sure if this includes Full Sail, as its not really a normal type of school.

I'll probably go to the local technical institute next year to take a 3d animation course, as a part of dual enrollment with regular high school. Oh, and its only gonna cost me about $300.

[Warsaw]

Since I live in Florida, I would be able to get a Bright Futures scholarship and go to any school with 75-100% paid off, though I'm not sure if this includes Full Sail, as its not really a normal type of school.

I'll probably go to the local technical institute next year to take a 3d animation course, as a part of dual enrollment with regular high school. Oh, and its only gonna cost me about $300.

Full Sail doesn't count towards that because it's a private school.

[Dwood]

Since I live in Florida, I would be able to get a Bright Futures scholarship and go to any school with 75-100% paid off, though I'm not sure if this includes Full Sail, as its not really a normal type of school.

I'll probably go to the local technical institute next year to take a 3d animation course, as a part of dual enrollment with regular high school. Oh, and its only gonna cost me about $300.

Colleges like to see AP classes more than dual Enrollment btw.

[MetKiller Joe]

College only teaches you so much guys, and really, most of the experience and teaching is up to you (like, for example, I know my best friend in Java class does a lot of research on his on when he's curious on how to do some such thing. He's mostly self-taught in programming and he's one of the best people there (in fact, he helped out somewhat when Modacity was getting DDoS attacked).

[Corndogman]

Colleges like to see AP classes more than dual Enrollment btw.

Yeah, well I'm going to community college anyways :rolleyes:. Besides I'm doing this just to learn a bit about 3d art, even if it doesn't take me anywhere, I'll still have learned that skill.

[mech]

Colleges like to see AP classes more than dual Enrollment btw.

Colleges like to see money and that's it.

[FreedomFighter7]

Hey, I'm new. I've been lurking for some time now.

I don't think I should listen to you guys on the topic of whether its a good idea to go to college for video game development. After all you are random strangers with the possibility of bias.

But I do wonder whether its a good idea. I want to get into the industry, games are my passion. I graduated, but I never took any of the more advanced math classes and math is essential for programming games. I can program some, but I don't know how to create games. When I graduated I had made it to Algebra 1, taken the class and passed.

I went to college, for one semester but not anymore. I couldn't stand the stress of getting work in on time, I always procrastinated and had to work hard to get the work done on time. Now, I was going to try for a different job training at school because the school shortened the classes I was taking, halved them basically, and made passing them very difficult. I quit my job to try and finish the course but in the end I dropped it. Other people had bad grades and were lucky to pass apart from a few. I couldn't find a job I wanted to train for, and apart from that the people at the school were absolute morons who were very unhelpful.

I need the math, and the help from trained instructors. You people make me worry about wasting my time and money on going to school, when I clearly need it. I just wonder if its a good idea thanks to you guys.

And seriously people, learn to spell, its beginning to affect my own.

[MetKiller Joe]

Here is the thing. If you want to do something, do it, damnit. Don't blame other people, or institutions.

My father never graduated college, yet he has patented numerous digital devices and sat as a the chair for digital standards in geneva. He has worked his ass off. Bill Gates did the same thing; when he had enough of harvard, he left and created Microsoft.

You don't get to be successful, doing what you love, what your passion is, without hard work. The argument against college here arises because most of these people are dedicated and they work a lot.

Myself, I find that school is mostly a needed distraction. I need the degree to tell a complete stranger that I'm competent enough to meet a standard (whether I am or not, is a different story).

[Limited]

Whether you go to University/College to get a degree or not, either way you are going to have to work your ass off. Theres no easy way out of it, if your passionate and really want it, then you will find the time to do it, you will find the necessary funding to do it.

One of the issues about learning by your self, is not learning the correct methods, not learning industry standards.

I'm not saying, that getting a degree will get you a job, I'm just saying it will definitely help as long as you put the effort into it.

It takes alot more, than just seeing a final product to get you a job. You may have made a great model for a game. But that doesnt mean you actually know your stuff. There is alot of underlining footwork that takes place, perspective, colour theory, composition, etc...All of this, you will need to get a decent job in the industry. If you can learn all of that by yourself then great stuff, but you really need these key basics under your belt.

Problem with learning yourself, is your likely to work on a whim, not exactly knowing what you need to know.

Like with programming, you need to understand why things do certain things, you need to follow industry standards in designing and planning along with all the revision control and testing. Now I knew a far bit about designing and testing before I started my course, the problem was it wasnt enough, wasnt extensive and wasnt industry standard.

Like alot of things in life, theres a difference between being able to do something, and actually knowing and understanding how to do something.

[PenGuin1362]

Regardless, if you want a job in the gaming industry you need a degree. With the rise of colleges that now offer it as a degree, they'll take someone who can do art assets/program with a degree over someone who can show off high poly models any day. There's more to the industry than the work you can show for.