Digipen Game Design And Comp Sci

Ahh... Had these questions myself a month ago. I decided to get into the game industry and get serious about it (even though I knew it would be a very hard road), and I was at a turning point and having 4 years of a community college under me.

Here is what I decided for myself and why.

Computer Science Degree: After looking at the "game design" schools, for the most part I wasn''t impressed. The amount of schooling and classes you take compared to college on the fundimentals is severely lacking in some areas, some schools more then others (I.E. Full Sail and UAT). Others, such as Digipen, did not skimp one bit, and gave full degrees with classes focused in the same areas. I considered Digipen, however the cost of moving there and taking classes when I could take similar classes here for a CS Degree and AS in Art at my state college. After emailing companies, and checking around what is required, I decided "skimping" and trying to find the fastest shortcut into gaming simply was fooling myself and would bite me in the long run. One of the replies I got was from Bill Roper and one of the Diablo Programmers, and from the way they spoke, taking this career lightly is a good way to end up a loser out on the street. Want to succeed? You need an education, and you need a serious college level education. There are no short cuts, and an AA will not cut it no matter how fancy the site the school has. Not to say Full Sail like schools don''t have something to offer, they just don''t have enough. I''ve considered going to a place like Full Sail AFTER my degree if they provide classes in areas that I haven''t already covered by the time I finish.

Minor in Japanese: I love the language, and I love the culture. Japan also tends to be a pretty major influence in gaming! From everyone I have talked to, knowing Japanese in the gaming industry will make me stand out plenty. That seems to be the key to getting in the door as well. You must make yourself stand out, to have a skill that someone else seeking the job might not. For some it might be a degree in art and 3d graphics. For me it will be Japanese, and I hope to work with company relations if possible maybe in translating games or who knows what. Either way I already learning the language anyway as a hobby, so I''m throwing in the extra classes to finish up and have a minor.

Personal Study: While the college I am going to has plenty of great classes, I have no false ideals that they will teach me everything I need to know. They use Java in all their object oriented programming courses, and I need to know C++ for gaming. What am I going to do? Simply learn C++ too by myself, and so far it is going pretty damn well (already taught myself C). I tend to learn a small amount of 3d design if possible, and won''t for a second trick myself to thinking I''m "done learning what I need to know." Every person in computer related software design knows you must NEVER EVER stop learning.

That is MY plan. I''m sure it won''t fit you exactly, but I hope my reasoning helps you make up your mind. The best overall advice I can give you is this.

"Take what you do SERIOUSLY! And KNOW what you''re learning."

College is hard as hell, and computer science is a brutal major, many times wanting fairly high level math a bit short of an engineering degree. Expect to learn up to Calculus 2, and math based physics, and expect to take many classes you may never need or use. Do well in them though, and do your best. Someone may always be better than you in the world, but when a company is hiring they can tell right away who is really trying, and who is just a sluff off. If your grades in college and schools suck, you can never finish or complete anything you do, you will never make it.

Don''t give up. If you really want to do this, go for it all the way. If it was easy then everyone would be a game designer.

Good luck