University Game Design Courses

[supaste]

When you started the course what were you expected to know? Were there any people there who had never touched 3dsmax or photoshop ect?

[PaulH]

I did a similar course to Reeke at Teesside, and you can get by if you don't have any prior max or photoshop experience, they will teach you the fundamentals. In fact i never used Max before i went to uni and now i work with it. What i'd recommend though is either getting some practice in before you go, or working on it a lot in your own time while at uni, in order to guarantee a decent grade. I found that lessons took me through the max basics far too slowly, so ended up teaching myself at a much quicker pace.

Some people i know made the mistake of thinking all they need to know is what the university teaches them every week, and they did no work of their own in their spare time. They ended up with average grades and a relatively basic knowledge of max after uni, which didn't help them in terms of job hunting at all.

[Liske]

Its 24 days till i move into halls at Teeside Uni for Game design course, I went though this annoying process last year with UCAS and i posted something on here about it, My statement was pretty normal exsplaining all the reasoning behide choosing the course and what not, I had an interview in which i showed previous work and drawing as I had no Art A levels. I come from London so i got a pretty big move ahead of me im looking forward to it but I have no prior knowledge of MAX so far so shit scared atm hopefully ill crack on with it once im over freshers week and settled in.
Hopefully be white good. One thing I must say they love PaulH, there book they showed me on interview day has like a 3 page spread about him and his 1st pffft. Now he works for a funky looking game i gotta say the demo was sick just cant drive the dam cars :\

[Gazaraz]

The general advice I got whilst going through the whole UCAS process this last year was to be very weary of games development courses as they can be too general and I imagine games developers would prefer to employ those who learnt the skills by themselves (independent thinkers, motiavated etc.) I myself went for a computer science course instead to learn about the technical side of computing. It doesn't specifically relate to video games but it'll give me a lot more options when I hopefully graduate. I suppose what really matters is what kind of work you want to be doing. Also, I haven't started Uni yet so I might change my mind

[PaulH]

They have a book on me? Grab a copy and scan it so i can inflate my ego please

Oh and good luck at Teesside, i'm sure you'll enjoy it, just never call the locals smoggies!

[Duke Nukem]

Hm, all you guys say has a quite pessimistic view on studying game design. don't you think there will be some big progression in the complexity of the game design theory? i mean, is it really possible to learn everything by yourself at home? the industry is growing and growing each day and thousands of people want to become a game designer... in fact, wouldnt it be helpful to study game design just in case to know about all the cornerstones in the game design theory? do you think that stydying it just let you progress faster and/or not letting you become a better game designer than you would have been without studying?

[Habboi]

I will tell you now that you really will have to teach yourself a lot but if I hadn't gone to university, I'd have gone stale. They give you tasks and teach you stuff that you might not have known and it just helps overall.

I find it difficult to work on something unless it has a purpose which is why the tasks set really help. I want to make the best "thing" ever and it pays off.

I knew from day one my course wouldn't get me or anyone else a job but it gives you the time and the experience which is what matters.

[BlekksPoncho]

The general advice I got whilst going through the whole UCAS process this last year was to be very weary of games development courses as they can be too general and I imagine games developers would prefer to employ those who learnt the skills by themselves (independent thinkers, motiavated etc.) I myself went for a computer science course instead to learn about the technical side of computing. It doesn't specifically relate to video games but it'll give me a lot more options when I hopefully graduate. I suppose what really matters is what kind of work you want to be doing. Also, I haven't started Uni yet so I might change my mind

That was exactly my thinking, I was wanting to do a games design course when i was in a-levels then I decided a CS degree would be a lot better as you have much better job options afterwards and so many areas you can go to while at the uni so I'm currently doing the Computer Science (Games and Virtual Environments) course at Newcastle University and would whole-heartedly recommend it, even though you won't do any "Games and Virtual Environments" stuff until third year I don't think. I'm about to start my second year in a week.

[supaste]

I'm starting to think along these lines now because i've realised that i don't do to much games design, it's just a hobby. After i've done a more general study course i can decide if i still want to work with games.

[BlekksPoncho]

I'm starting to think along these lines now because i've realised that i don't do to much games design, it's just a hobby. After i've done a more general study course i can decide if i still want to work with games.

Excuse me, but did you just pull that out of my 2006 brain? That's exactly why I chose a CS course