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Majoring in Video Game Design
valdean writes "The New York Times has an article on how video game design is slowly but surely finding its way into mainstream academia. Whereas fewer than a dozen North American universities offered majors in game design five years ago, now that number is more than 100. From the article: 'Traditionalists in both education and the video game industry pooh-pooh the trend, calling it a bald bid by colleges to cash in on a fad. But others believe that video games - which already rival movie tickets in sales - are poised to become one of the dominant media of the new century.' Are video game design majors just slackers, or are they pursuing a lucrative and legitimate career?"
It's so true. When I learned Prolog in my undergrad, the first project I did was to develop a text-adventure game. Man, that was sweet. It had like 16 different places you could go. Although, maybe it's kind of sad that this was only 3 years ago...
Sometimes I feel like +1 Reasonable should exist.
NYTimes is up to their old tricks again.
I'd have a hard time suggesting that working in the game industry is a good way to make money. There's far more money to be made other places, except for a handful of lucky developers and designers.
Plus, I'm not certain gaming companies are looking for game-related degrees. Instead, things like computer science, English, and business are often more desirable, depending on the position people are looking for.
Most important is the ability to demonstrate your talent. After my Neverwinter Nights mods were released, I got three job offers, one from Bioware themselves. My background is in biology education, of all things. Still, I'd be foolish to take a job in the gaming industry. Working as a developer in the healthcare industry has less stress and pays better. I prefer keeping my developer tendencies as a hobby.
Like any industry, particularly entertainment, there's excellence and there's shit.
Some video games contain the most innovative and brilliant code - think AI and shader routines. Not to mention some of the fantastic artwork, both 2D textures and 3D sculptures.
If people can study film-making at uni, why not game-creation? I'd argue some of the techniques needed for the latter are far more academic.
Argh.
...I hope it's okay if I dupe myself! I actually started my major in game design (Bachelors of Entertainment Software Development) at the University of Michigan almost 4 years ago now. Because it was not offered in the regular curriculum, I had to make it up. I included english, film, animation, programming, media violence, and other classes in my custom concentration. I was supported and endorsed by the chair of the CompSci dept and noted AI researcher John Laird. Even if your school is not one of the 100 that do offer these classes now, chances are you can come up with something to suit your educational needs!
And so my question is, how many game designers trained in the high art of game design itself do we realistically need in the modern world? We certainly need lots of modelers, graphic artists, coders and testers who will often employ their skills working on game projects for game companies, but by comparison, what kind of market is there out there for a 'game design' graduate who isn't an expert either in the business end of game design (a gaping hole in the collective expertise of many a small game company, who believe they can succeed in the market on design talent alone) or the particular areas in which one needs well-developed specialised skills. There are certainly great designers out there who just do design and they're the ones we tend to celebrate most from the various great dev teams of history, but is shooting for 'designer' shooting for too small a target market?
Universities offer degrees in film making, screen writing, music, and a host of others that were probably looked down upon at first. As games become more and more complex, I definitely see the parallels to film degrees. I'm sure if a university offered a degree in film in 1930 its accreditation would have been yanked; The Tisch, the nyu school of film, was only inaugerated in 1965.
I'm sure the degree will be more useful than a BA in Art Therapy, or some other nonsense. (Of course the people drawing pictures with victims of traumatic brain trauma say the same thing about video games. Maybe what we really need is a degree in Video Game Therapy!)
The CS department where I graduated a few years ago started up a game design major. It pretty much guaranteed that I'm not going to give them any money if they're going to waste it on BS like that. I still give money to the school, I just earmark it for things that aren't the CS department.
If you want preparation for a specific career, try ITT Tech or DeVry or something. If you want to actually learn things, that's what real schools are for. My old school, theoretically a real engineering & science school, has already veered disappointingly towards the ITT path in other things too, even while I was there. The video game major is just the latest in that trend.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
The Army reading list
Makes me wonder what the least-offered majors are...
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
To me, the best thing you can do is to get a CS degree and then come out of school with some major, game-related project to show off to people. I was lucky enough to get this experience through a job while I was in school. A lot of people won't be so lucky, so work on a mod or a tech demo or something.
The real think to remember is that there's nothing magical about working on video games. It IS a particularly cool job, but that doesn't change the fact that you are making software for a customer. Be smart, work hard, apply yourself and it will all work itself out.
Also play a lot of games, that always helps.
What some people seem to think here is that 'design' is a combination of programming, artwork, etc... vocational skills. But what they seem to overlook is that video game design has established theories - risk/reward structures, psychology, genre bending being the basis of it. You can't expect a talented programmer to churn out a good game without suitable level design. I applaud these programs, it's just a damn shame that they didn't have them when I was in school...
Well, sure, "designers" are like directors in film -- there aren't very many of them, and "breaking in" can be darn hard to do, especially for people who have no experience.
But I'm not sure the article presents a fair picture of what happens in these programs. I know folks who teach at DigiPen Institute of Technology -- one of the original 4-year schools concentrating in Computer Game Design, and they do more than simply bark abstract theory about how to conceptualize World of Warcraft. Much of their instruction is in typical 4-year-school stuff: Math, Physics, Computer Science, Programming. On top of that, they're expected every year to form a dev team and produce some sort of game. It's part vocational CS, part engineering and part artistic development. Most graduates of these schools will never be Will Wright. But they do go on to the game industry, and when they apply for jobs, they have the qualities that are valued most in the IT world: the ability and discipline not merely to conceive a project, but to work as part of a team to bring it to fruition, and the tangible experience of actuagolly having done so.
As far as the CoE dude goes, as a Ph.D. in history myself, with a good friend who dropped out of the Ohio State classics dept. years before him, when they folded in the Modern Greek department (giggle), I gotta say, "Useless degrees? What the hell are you talking about dude?"
... but I would never work in the games industry. I like spending time with my family and earning a decent living too much to replace it with perpetual crunch time and "this 18 year old will work for half what you want, so a decent wage is out of the question" mindsets. Business software development may not be glamorous, but it pays the bills and I can (sometimes) spend time with my family at night.
If these kids going to video game design schools think they are going to play video games all day, they will be quickly disabused of such a nonsensical viewpoint. Game development is hard work.
Sig under construction since 1998.
Over the past two years, the local Tech schools (I won't name names) have been coming to us looking for instructors for their new "game design" programs. I like to help out, but as I did I found that their approach to this wasn't realistic... and soon I found out why:
Essentially, for the tech schools, this is sort of a scam. I heard straight from one of the directors... Mom and Dad bring billy to a tech school because they don't want his slacking-ass sucking them dry anymore. He looks at the programs offered... oooow communications... that sounds easy... and dull. Then he sees "game design" and BINGO he's excited, enthusiastic... he envisions making Grand Theft Auto XXII or whatever... mom and dad see their son enthusiastic about school for the first time... and the school tells them about how the game business is a multibillion dollar industry... it's a done deal.
But who's teaching these courses? So far, in this area, they have little to no teachers who can do this stuff. No one who's A) an industry vet and B) who would put up with the academic BS, and C) who has a masters degree (most of the best have no degree at all) and D) willing to do it basically for nothing pay wise. There are people who have A, B and D... and would be invaluable in teaching kids exactly what it takes... but with no masters, no dice.
From what I hear, most of the big tech schools simply had this decision to have a game program handed down from on high (at the corporate level)... "You shall offer this program... ENGAGE!" In some areas, this isn't too hard... in others it's darn near impossible due to a lack of game deveopment company representation. They don't seem too concerned (except for the individuals responsible for starting up the program).
A lot of kids are going to waste time in sub-standard programs until this works itself out.
David Whatley
The good news is that there are starting to be opportunities in the industry for "smaller" developers and designers. With digital distribution methods, the widening audience for games, and the failure of the large publishing houses cranking out endless sequels, there are ways for a handful of people with good ideas to make a difference.
Don't aim for making the next Unreal Tournament game or the next big RPG. Instead, consider making something like Bedazzled, getting a contract with Bioware making a module for thier Digital Download project, or signing up for a new development group.
You'll end up working long hours, have little job security, and paid a minimum wage. If you love that sort of thing, that's great. Before you get too gung-ho, you might consider working on a game for the fun of it. Few people have the sort of maniacal focus to debug day after day, work around the personality quirks of teammates, and the willingness to cut features to meet a shipping date.
I decided to take the safer route, working a steady job and having game development be my after hours hobby. It's fun and challenging, and I love having the creative freedom to do whatever I want. The world needs more wacky creative game designers, despite the challenges it takes to succeed.
While getting my Associate's degree (on my way to a Bachelor's in Business Admin.) I picked up a certificate in Game Design. Not because I want to be a game designer, but because I want to have a grasp of how they think and part of the process, because my ultimate goal is to become a Game Producer.
:)
I don't know what the quality of these programs is like elsewhere, but at the school I got my certificate from, one class was taught by Jennifer Boespflug from Microsoft, and the other was taught by Hardy LeBel (on the Halo and Halo 2 teams).
So what did I learn? I learned a lot about the background of the industry (most of which I already knew as a journalist and fan), and I learned a lot about how much research a good game designer needs to do to make sure that they're really getting to the core of what will make the product resonate with gamers. But more than anything, I learned that I don't want to be a game designer.
Well... lets just put it this way, we all call it "Full Sail and three sheets to the wind" for a reason. Not a weekend goes by where you don't hear bottles smashed and drunken fools falling into the lakes. If these guys are "pursuing a lucrative and legitimate career" then crack whores must be CEO's in training.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
I'm fairly sure that the schools offering this are doing so to get the money, but I know that at least a few of the students who take those curses are truly trying to make it into the game world. When I went to school, I went for computer art, (NOT graphic design) and the only two collages who offered a computer art degree east of the Mississippi were Savannah College of art and Design and Ringling. When I talked to the other schools about there computer art program they said I would be learning things like Photoshop, HTML, Illustrator, etc. While SCAD and Ringling said I would be using things like 3DSMax, Flint, Maya, etc. Once it was all said and done I graduated from SCAD and ended up getting a job in the Game world out here in the sunny West cost. If you're looking to go to school for gaming... ask about the crosses and what things you will be learning about. And if you can't find something that sound good enough take the best thing and use it to your advantage. It's also good to have your out of school studies in games mods and the like, so you get a small taste of it all. (Plus playing games always helps)
That's one hairless bid!
You'd figure the NYT would have a couple of proof readers in their ranks.
Anyone going to college because they think they can get a job doing what they study there is going for the wrong reasons. I happen to have worked in online games for the past 4 years, and before that worked in factory automation. My college degree has nothing to do with what I do for a living, but it helped me develop ways of thinking that would never have been available in the working world. My undergraduate degree is History/Mathematics/Classics, my Masters degree is in Late Ancient / Early Medieval History. Thanks to my education I can read a half dozen languages. Due to the work I've done outside of school, I can also program in a dozen programming languages, using a lot of the linguistics I learned studying ancient history.
College is an opportunity to grow as an individual and discover different ways of thinking about things. Trying to teach kids how to produce today's crappy games, is only going to result in kids who have massive ammounts of debt and preconcieved notions of what can be done and how it will be "fun". Many of the worst programmers I've met "in the real world" went to top tier schools, were at the top of their class, knew lots of lovely theory, but had to be totally retrained when it came to making applications actually work. And unlearning is much harder to do..
But that's just my opinion and personal experience, YMMV
I'm currently attending Full Sail and getting my bachelor's in Game Design and Development... so yes, it is entirely possible, and I plan to make a career as a game programmer (maybe designer, but I doubt it).
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'.
The game development field is probably the hardest field to get into, and enjoy it. You have to have both strong programming skills AND a creative edge over the millions of people that want to design games for a living.
No college degree is going to give you that.
Game companies are looking for people that don't learn how to design games from a book or from a degree, they want those people that started designing games on an old TRS-80 in basic at the age of 6, text adventures and stick graphics. They want people that started early in life learning the nuts and bolts of game design by ACTUALLY making their own games, spending hours and even days hobby building games from scratch, learning the basiscs without any other outside influence, except perhaps to play their favourite games over and over again to gleen some tidbit of knowledge into how that game was made and how they could dupliate or improve upon it.
I.e. they want people with passion about making video games, not just those that think it would be a cool job.
For those people, those that get a degree in "Game Design", or those looking to enter the game industry just because they think its cool or will get them rich, there are LOTS of menial programming jobs in the game industry for those kinds of people. And from what I have heard, these are not the kinds of jobs people want for a career. Some may be able to move on and actually get into the main development team, most drop out and get a job in some other industry. These kinds of jobs are troubleshooting and game testing or meanial game programming (i.e. your told exactly what to develop, you can't impart any creativity or originality in the code, only develop by spec).
Colleges that claim to be able to give you an edge over the competition and get into game design are simply banking off the fact that people today don't believe you can get rich quick, but if you take a 6 month diploma course then you have "earned" your right to get rich. Devry has made a mint telling people that their 6 month IT program will get you that high paying 80K a year job in a server room. Everyone knows education is important, but few realize that these 6 or 12 month crash-courses in the buzz technology/field of the day seldom impart enough practical knowledge that the industry you want to get into will look at.
In any regards, if your looking to get into the game industry, and never at least sat down and thought about how to design a game or actualy write your own game software, forget about it. There are going to be at least a few dozen or so applicants for any job you apply for that spend thousands of hours pouring over Quake's source code and writing their own version, or spent weeks moding half-life because they are actually passionate about game design, they just don't think its a cool job, but its their life.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
On the other hand, having the right degree is becomming more and more important. I'm a tech writer with a resume that includes experience at some of the computer industry's leaders. But there are lots of companies that won't even look at me. OK, I neglected to finish college, but they don't just want a Bachelor's, they want a major in CS or Tech Writing. And in some cases, it's "Master's degree preferred".
The problem is that high-tech industries have gotten big and bureaucratic. Where once you could get a job just by convincing a manager that you knew your stuff, now you have to deal with an HR bureaucracy that insists on standardized credentials. Perhaps the gaming industry is not as bad, since there are so many small design studios like Bioware. Then again, how many people do those small design studios hire, as opposed to the big companies?
i suspect, rather, that computer game development degrees are a combination of two things.
1) supply and demand: there are lots of geeks who'd like to make games, so colleges are selling them degrees in it.
2) jaded, cynical business: encouraging point (1) above and offering subsidizing/donations/$$$ to college who do so is a good way for companies, like, oh, say, EA, to keep up their herds of programmers that they can abuse for 80 hrs of work a week until they break and then throw away. or, in other words, drive the programmer supply way up so any trouble they might cause is outweighed by the sheer number of them clamoring at your door. keep 'em replaceable!
eudas
Blessed is he who expects the worst, for he shall not be disappointed.
I have just started taking a bachelor's program in Game and Simulation Programming, and where I am taking classes I have been fortunate enough to be instructed by an industry veteran who has been with the industry from the beginning and teaching skills related to it from the beginning.
I haven't been at it long enough to determine whether the skills I'm learning are different enough from a less specific degree, but it is clear that the school isn't fooling around.
The same cannot be said of most of my classmates, roughly half of whom signed up thinking that it would be a cakewalk and they'd get to play video games all day. I'm counting the weeks until they drop out and the rest of us can learn something. I can't imagine how much worse it must be in, say, a community college.
Game design does require a degree of creativity that many people simply do not have. The professor knows this, and so instead of trying to teach creativity, he has focused on teaching students how to turn that creativity into a full design document, and then how to turn that design document into a finished product.
You can't overlook the importance of modelers and animators - which is where the real demand is - and, noticing this, a number of institutions have begun "Game Art" programs, focusing on creating practical computer models. The game industry is becoming a highly-employing field for talented artists.
Ultimately, yes, I believe there are more people than normal who started taking programs like these because they thought they'd be easy and cool. But you can't overlook the people who joined them expecting to work - and found their expectations fulfilled.
...but is it art?