I'd like to roll out of bed onto a computer and be a games journalist.

The real underlining problem is that if you get a gaming degree from somewhere like full sail or digipen, you end up pigeon holing yourself. If for some reason you can't get that job in the industry, whats your backup?

A non gaming company is going to look at your gaming degree (and probably lack of experience) and laugh. Those are the true implications of spealized degree's. You always need a backup thses days.

I've never worked with someone who actually got in the industry by having one of these degrees. They usually just got their experience starting in QA or have a degree in something else, like programming or business or marketing.

Not to say you couldn't get in with one of these, but I agree with the Golden Avatar, I think maybe these schools attract those ignorant of how the industry works.

"I've never worked with someone who actually got in the industry by having one of these degrees. They usually just got their experience starting in QA or have a degree in something else, like programming or business or marketing. "

Here in Vancouver (the 'mecca' of video games creation), you need one of those degrees to even get into QA. I've done it at EA, Radical, and now Slant Six, and am (slowly) moving into design as time goes.

The problem with those degrees is that people think those alone give you a job. You need to have skills ahead of time to augment with said education.

My first job was because of my 'advanced diploma,' but really, you can go pretty much anywhere and get the same basic (useless) education.

All schools are like this, you generally will get hired based on your latent skill, not your fancy plaque on the wall. Going to Yale or whatever fancy place doesn't train you better, it just attaches a better name to yourself.

lol I hate that commercial.

No wait, actually I love that commercial.

"Make sure the sound fits in level 4."

The real underlining problem is that if you get a gaming degree from somewhere like full sail or digipen, you end up pigeon holing yourself. If for some reason you can't get that job in the industry, whats your backup?

A non gaming company is going to look at your gaming degree (and probably lack of experience) and laugh. Those are the true implications of spealized degree's. You always need a backup thses days.

Really most of the info one needs to get in the industry *as an artist* is all online for free. I went 3yrs to college learning all the shiznit mostly from online sources and the first chance I got to get a job I jumped ship. Sad that so many people get suckered into it considering there isn't enough information out there readily available for the ignorant *like me* to know any program with the word "game" tied to it is a fail.

art institute is one of these schools. :P

That quote has just pretty much summed up the games course I took for the past two years. We learnt the bare minimum for each area, and even though I managed to come out top of my class, I still wouldn't have the first idea of where to start on working on a title of today's standards.

The real problem here? The 'tutors' they get in to teach the courses barely know anything about it themselves. All the folks who are qualified are already busy working in it industry itself, and if the tutors were really that good, they would be too.

I might try to get into the games industry, but there's no way in hell I'm going to a shitty "game school".

I'm about to graduate from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's Online Division at the end of September with a Bachelor's in Game Art and Design. And I have to say, while the courses were all over the place to give us a taste of every aspect, I am thoroughly happy with the education I received. I learned everything there is for the artistic side of games: concept art, 3D modeling and animation, 2D animation, storyboarding, script writing (which is what I would like to go into one day), and here's the thing: You can fuck off all you want, scrape by doing whatever, and in the end you'll come out with a shitty portfolio. And no matter what kind of flashy and sexy degree you have, you're worthless without a strong portfolio.

It's pretty much up to us to take what we've learned and run with us and make ourselves better. I learned a lot at this school and am hoping to have a relatively impressive portfolio ready for the months after I graduate.

As for now though? I just recently applied for an internship at Harmonix, because I'm not putting my career and my future in the hands of my school. I'm going in myself, doing everything myself, but I'm taking everything I learned at school with me.


And yeah, fuck those "TIGHTEN UP THE GRAPHICS!" commercials. I didn't learn a lot in the way of coding and programming, but I can't imagine anyone with even a trillionth of a brain thinking that's how you program games -- by randomly and furiously pounding away at buttons on a controller in front of a TV.

These courses should involve a dog-eared manual for C++ and a bunch of onlie tutorials and forums so these guys can make their own games and release them on the internet for free and build a resume/portfolio that way. It shows passion and dedication and ability all at once. I hear of more success from this method than any other, to be honest.

Any "college" or "technical institute" that advertises on TV is full of shit and isn't worth your money. Why do you think they advertise in the same blocks as the Braidini and the Ped Egg?