Computer Games Technology Course

[MikeRox]

placement year is a MUST!

It's alright so long as ur at a half competent uni that can actually help u arrange one, sadly I had to go straight into my final year, but then having spent the last 2 an odd years at uni doin E-Commerce I can well an truly say I've been put off any form of job involving programming etc :P Tho the main reason I did E-Commerce was because it taught me the skills required to set up and manage my own business (even offline) as it's half a business course too.

[abigsmurf]

My experience was doing BSc Computer Science (graphics and games). Basically a computer science course with an emphasis at the end of the course towards advanced Object Oriented Programming and Graphics programming. I breezed the first two years, failed miserably on the third year and had to drop out (luckily my uni offers a HND if you get two years of credit). Games programming using true OOP is extremely tricky and hard to get your head round, especially in C++ where your coursework is to write a raytracing engine...

Personally I'd say go the computer science route then make a demo to wow potential employers. This is talking about going the programming route though, not design

[SubparMario]

A "computer games technology" degree is the same as basically doing a computer science degree except your coving a module on games each semester. This doesn't make you more employable in the games industry, and it only gives you a very broad set of skills.

I don't think it's fair to bad mouth all of these courses. Sounds like you were one of the many poor ones that have popped up just so that the university has something kewl to put in the prospectus. The likes of the Abertay degree are wholey focused on games and graphics from the start, with all students being taught to use the PS1 and now PS2 dev kits amongst other things.

[Zanza]

Abertays course is one of the only courses I know of that really concentrates on games technologies and graphics from the first year, rather than being a hybrid comptuer science course. I know afew people who have been through it and have had nothing but good praises for the course, I'm not badmouthing all the courses, I'm just saying that the majority of them are utter bollocks. That said Abertay Dundee is one of the UK's worst univerisities.

To be honest my course isn't that bad, in the first year we started out with Java programming followed by DarkBasic, and actualy had the guy who made darkbasic come in to teach us lectures. We've also had quite afew conferences with games companies coming in to give us lectures and stuff. The problem with my course is that its run by a **** university, and as such the staff are totaly useless and un-reliable.

[M.M.S.]

all these "games" courses are just scams by Uni's to get people through the door and lots of money rolling in. Don't learn this the hard way. Only they top 5% of people will get 'games' jobs (if that), and it's unlikely to be you.

Anyway, look on the bright side, becoming a games programmer is ****e anyway. Does Computer Science, work reasonable hours and get paid twice as much

[Flabio]

This is talking about going the programming route though, not design

Game designer is not an entry level position, it's extremely rare for someone without several years of industry experience to be even considered for a designers post.

[peeveen]

Rather than go for a games course, your best option is probably to do a standard Computing Science course, and, in your spare time, read websites about 3D graphics programming, DirectX, etc, and work on a small scale game project of your own devising. You will undoubtedly learn a lot more that way.

[mrsquare]

Codemasters used to be particularly awful, though I understand they've changed recently. They used to shut you in a room for what seemed like hours with a load of test papers (games industry, programming, logic, IQ and that sort of thing), then gave you a quick 10 minute chat with an HR person and that was it.

Yeah, they've changed that now cos it was scaring people off!

This year I finished a 3 year Computer Science degree at Manchester Uni and landed a job programming at Codies, and another guy from my course just joined a few months ago. I'd go with most people in suggesting the CS route - you'll learn all you need for an entry level position, and always have something to fall back on if games programming isn't your cup of tea.

There are some good 1 year MSc courses to do with gaming if you want to give your CV a game-related boost too - I started with two other graduates, both of whom had just finished a Games Programming MSc at Hull. Codies, Rare etc. actively targeted it for new recruits, so its definitely well viewed by the industry.

Don't worry about not having programmed before - I went to uni with no prior knowledge. In a way, its probably better to do CS if thats the case for you, as you'll get a better grounding rather than being thrown into quite a specialised area. Be prepared to work fairly hard though - its not an easy subject if you're entirely new to it. If by the end of it you still want to make games, just do one for your final year project - its a hell of a lot more fun than the projects most people do, and it gives you something to demo to companies and demonstrate your enthusiasm for the industry.

G'luck!

[Flabio]

Yeah, they've changed that now cos it was scaring people off!

When I interviewed there about 8 years back, it was the abysmally low pay offer that scared me off

[abigsmurf]

how can you call 18k a year for long hours and extremely hard coding low!?!?!

:P

[JamesS]

I have to say, I'm not totally sold on these game programming degrees either. I've been a game programmer for just under 10 years now, and I still absolutely love the job (well, most of the time, anyway), but I've seen a lot of people leave the industry to go and get "proper jobs". I'd imagine that a game degree would be a problem if you found that it wasn't the thing for you.

FWIW, I've interviewed a fair few graduates over the years, and I don't think I'd really see a games-specific degree as a particular advantage in any case. As projects get bigger and more complex, I'm a lot more interested in how good somebody is at general software engineering type stuff than I am in how good they are at DirectX. I'd much rather employ somebody who understands how to produce solid, well-tested and documented code and who works well in a team than somebody who can hack up an impressive 3D demo.

[Grim Reaper]

FWIW, I've interviewed a fair few graduates over the years, and I don't think I'd really see a games-specific degree as a particular advantage in any case. As projects get bigger and more complex, I'm a lot more interested in how good somebody is at general software engineering type stuff than I am in how good they are at DirectX. I'd much rather employ somebody who understands how to produce solid, well-tested and documented code and who works well in a team than somebody who can hack up an impressive 3D demo.

I'm delighted to see that some areas of the industry recognise this. My experience "on the fringes" of the industry suggested to me that solid engineering is too often overlooked.

Jim

[Flabio]

how can you call 18k a year for long hours and extremely hard coding low!?!?!

I was offered a lot less than that (this was back in 1998 mind...)

[kyo_244]

http://www.paisley.ac.uk/courses/ug-...p?courseid=350

the course in question.

[kyo_244]

Rather than go for a games course, your best option is probably to do a standard Computing Science course, and, in your spare time, read websites about 3D graphics programming, DirectX, etc, and work on a small scale game project of your own devising. You will undoubtedly learn a lot more that way.

Yeah it would be probably better doing computer science rather than games technology. But on a similar note, If i still don't like the math i should probably give it some thought first.. What about computer animation or web design? Hwo do they compare to programming?