Computer Games Technology Course

[kyo_244]

I don't have any experience in the games industry, my trade is Web Design/Development. A friend of mine worked for Rockstar North as a games tester, he was one of many games testers on GTA3 for the PC, it was cool to see his name printed within the game credits (both in game and manual). It wasn't experience that got him the job, it was his passion for games!

Once GTA3 was shipped he was laid off and thus out of work, i'm sure he would've got another game testing job else where, but in Scotland those types of job are far and few between. He would've had to move down south to England as there's loads of game testing job's there.

He couldn't move down south as he's got kids and a wife, plus the pay in that type of role isn't great. He's now doing a computing course in Edinburgh and loving it.

As for yourself it seems you still don't know what to do? To be honest, i would do a Graphic Design or Multimedia course, rather than a course focused totally on Games Development. The reason being that when you finish doing your Games Development course your degree will be geared only towards games, but if you do a Graphic Design or Multimedia course you'll still have an opportunity to get into the games industry, plus you'll be specialised in other forms of media development!

Get this months Computer Arts (issue 117) it has a list of the best Graphic Design courses in the UK. It'll be of great help to you! If you don't manage to get a copy, then let me know and i'll give you the listed Uni's within the magazine, plus links.

Cheers

thats cool man ill look a copy up! in the mean time would u recommend any of these courses?

digital art: http://www.paisley.ac.uk/courses/ug-...p?courseid=340

computer animation: http://www.paisley.ac.uk/courses/ug-...p?courseid=323

multimedia technology: http://www.paisley.ac.uk/courses/ug-...p?courseid=593

multimedia with interactive entertainment technology: http://www.paisley.ac.uk/courses/ug-...p?courseid=588

[Boris_Grishenko]

Dude i dont think going to Paisley uni is the best option for computing studies... unless you messed up ur exams... there are plenty of other courses that would set you up better in the computing industry...

Such as

CS1002 - Computer Science - At St-Andrews (i recommend.)

Or Computer Science at Strathclyde...

[chaoticjelly]

I am also another "victim" of these "Computer Games Technology" degrees.

I took a BSc in Computer Games Technology at Liverpool John Moores University.

When I was coming near to the end of my A-Levels I was in the same boat as you mate.. I didnt really know what I wanted to do. Making/designing games had been an ambition of mine since an early age, I had been playing and thinking about games since the age of 5, it was all I really wanted to do, allthough I have always been good at the majority of academic type stuff.. english.. science, that sort of thing..

Checked out all of the games courses being offered at the time.. visited a few unis, ended up with a short list of Bradford, Preston (UCLAN), Liverpool John Moores and Salford.

Salford needed the highest grades, followed by John Moores, and Bradford & UCLAN needed very little.

I decided it would be either Salford or John Moores, but I was particuarly swayed to John Moores because of the presentation - we were told that after graduating, you could get a job in the games industry, but you were not just restricted to that, you could also apply for jobs in special effects (movies) and much more. The facilities looked good (games lab with lots of PC's, PS2's and a brown dev gamecube)

Whilst Salford needed more UCAS points, and seemed to be regarded as a better Uni, what put me off was when I went for an interview I had absolutely NO tour of the facilities - pretty crap, plus the course seemed to be advertised as pure programming, whereas the JMU one said 3D graphics, art, games design, some programming and much more...

Anyway, I'll put it this way, going there was the biggest mistake of my life, the majority of the staff simply do not care about games in the slightest, only one of the staff has experience in the games industry.

The course is computer science and programming, the majority of the time it is programming, which I find extremely hard and I have struggled greatly with it, and also the 3D maths.. first year grades were good, this years grades not so good..

The other parts of the course seem to be "filler" subjects.. these are usually not that hard and have OK size courseworks to complete, whereas the programming side of things has HUGE courseworks to complete where the sky is the limit.

The course has been badly designed, we were told to program a game in a high level programming language, after we had only studied C++ for 6 weeks. The C++ module was an optional module, you could choose either C++ or Java programming, so for the ones who chose Java, they had zilch experience of C++ and were asked to program a full game in it.

The tutors are unreliable and uncaring (majority). In the first year when I found I was having problems with the course I tried to arrange to speak to my tutor etc, he stood me up and left me waiting for him for an hour. I had a meeting with the head of the school, explained the issues I was having to the course, and he had worked out a response for every question before I had entered the room - I was not satisfied.

In the first year there must of been 200 people on the course.. I would be surprised if there are more than 50 now. I believe that they mis-advertised the course to get more money for the university (I believe they get more money allowance by the government per student that joins a course).

It's a sandwich course and I tried VERY hard to get a placement for this year (my third year) but to no avail.. the games companies didnt want to know. I even got turned down for a technical support job. I wrote lots of prospective letters to which 95% had no reply.

I'm now on a year out, the uni said that if we did not get a job, we would have to take a year out and would not be allowed to proceed to the last year of the course that year. When I didnt manage to get a job, I got phoned one Friday.. (the new year started on the Monday) and I was told that I could come for the induction for that year! (I had NO accomodation, NO loan, and NO arrangements made), so I just took a year out.

In short this has been the biggest mistake of my life, I could of studied a different course, at a better uni with the A-levels I got. I'm planning to go back next year to finish the degree, but reading this thread etc, I have been wondering if its worth it - they say that the last year is the most difficult and I don't know whether I'll be able to cope.

One of my uni mates reckons that to do well in one of these courses you need to study programming for a couple of years before you take it up. May I add that no programming knowledge was required to join the course, and A-Level maths was not required (allthough the first and second years is basically A-level math and beyond)

I dont recommend these Games Technology courses kyo...

Do you guys think I should continue with this course?

I sell on eBay and I do quite well, I was thinking of turning that into a fully-fledged business, but I'm not sure what I would fall back upon then if it wasn't successful...

Games has always been my passion and it was all I ever wanted to do

[kyo_244]

wow mate! seems like you've had a hard life at uni eh? well ive now decided that im gonna apply for psychology as my first option. (probably at paisley since the course is recognised by the British Psychological Society as conferring eligibility for Graduate Membership and the status of Graduate Basis for Registration) If that doesnt work out im gonna try and take up gaming but not through a "gaming" course. I'm gonna take up a graphic design/digital art course at strathclyde or caledonian in glasgow. IMO there both good unis. Im gonna try and get into designing NOT programming as i can see that its not my thing.

..something u guys might be interested in.. http://www.skillset.org/games/

apparently the games courses are really starting to get recognised.. a little to late for us tho eh? i found the site in this month's issue of GamesTM.

[kyo_244]

A new era for Games degree level courses?

Check it out.. http://www.skillset.org/games/

[kyo_244]

Get this months Computer Arts (issue 117) it has a list of the best Graphic Design courses in the UK. It'll be of great help to you! If you don't manage to get a copy, then let me know and i'll give you the listed Uni's within the magazine, plus links.

Cheers

Still havent got a hold of that mag dude.. Any chance of that info?

cheers

[the_dude]

Hi buddy, here the links to the courses you were looking for, all are located down south! These are the top 10 Design Degrees listed by Computer Arts (issue 117).

1) Blackpool and the Fylde College/BA(Hons) Information Illustration

2) The University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury/BA(Hons) Graphic Design

3) University of Plymouth/BA BSc(Hons)/Digital Art and Technology

4) Brunel University/BSc Multimedia Technology and Design

5) Cumbria Insititute of the Arts/BA(Hons) Multimedia Design and Digital Animation

6) Northumbria University/BSc(Hons) Computer Aided Product Design

7) Ravensbourne College/BA(Hons) Graphic Design

8) University of Salford/BA(Hons) Advertising Design

9) Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design/BA(Hons) Graphic Design

10) London College of Communication/BA(Hons) Graphic and Media Design


I would avoid the Multimedia Technology course at Paisley if i were you! I did the same course (Multimedia Technology ) at Glasgow Caledonian University and it wasn't that great, although i did complete it and got the piece of paper in the end.

Although i'm employed now, if i were to do it all again i would take a course in Graphic Design (HND) at the Glasgow Metropolitan College (I did the HND in Multimedia Design here, the courses name has changed though, to Interactive Multimedia Creation) then i would progress to the 3rd year in BA in Applied Graphics Technology with Multimedia at Glasgow Caledonian University

The next option would be 3D/2D Motion Graphics course at Glasgow School of Art. From what i've heard this is a top course with an excellent set up i.e. Silicon Graphics workstations, Maya, Graphic Tablets, etc, etc.

I hope this helps, cheers.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Also don't forget there are lot of competition for jobs in IT world. So it might be a good idea not to depend everything on IT.

Make sure the course you are doing are fun and interesting as you will have to study it for 3-4 years.

[kyo_244]

Also don't forget there are lot of competition for jobs in IT world. So it might be a good idea not to depend everything on IT.

Make sure the course you are doing are fun and interesting as you will have to study it for 3-4 years.

heh nowadays EVERYTHING is competitive.. don't worry ive always been interested in the digital world.. i could get lost in it!

[kyo_244]

Hi buddy, here the links to the courses you were looking for, all are located down south! These are the top 10 Design Degrees listed by Computer Arts (issue 117).

1) Blackpool and the Fylde College/BA(Hons) Information Illustration

2) The University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury/BA(Hons) Graphic Design

3) University of Plymouth/BA BSc(Hons)/Digital Art and Technology

4) Brunel University/BSc Multimedia Technology and Design

5) Cumbria Insititute of the Arts/BA(Hons) Multimedia Design and Digital Animation

6) Northumbria University/BSc(Hons) Computer Aided Product Design

7) Ravensbourne College/BA(Hons) Graphic Design

8) University of Salford/BA(Hons) Advertising Design

9) Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design/BA(Hons) Graphic Design

10) London College of Communication/BA(Hons) Graphic and Media Design


I would avoid the Multimedia Technology course at Paisley if i were you! I did the same course (Multimedia Technology ) at Glasgow Caledonian University and it wasn't that great, although i did complete it and got the piece of paper in the end.

Although i'm employed now, if i were to do it all again i would take a course in Graphic Design (HND) at the Glasgow Metropolitan College (I did the HND in Multimedia Design here, the courses name has changed though, to Interactive Multimedia Creation) then i would progress to the 3rd year in BA in Applied Graphics Technology with Multimedia at Glasgow Caledonian University

The next option would be 3D/2D Motion Graphics course at Glasgow School of Art. From what i've heard this is a top course with an excellent set up i.e. Silicon Graphics workstations, Maya, Graphic Tablets, etc, etc.

I hope this helps, cheers.

thanks for all the help mate i owu u 1! But studying outside Scotland isnt an option for me. So itll need to be either paisley caledonian or strathclyde. I doubt id get into glasgow uni though.. my grades are a bit average. (thanks to video games!) 8)

Everyone seems to be saying that paisley is ****e compared to other unis but is it really that bad?? surely at the end of the day a degree is a degree right?? i already know that i will be accepted in paisley and possible caledonian but it seems awfully hard to get into strathclyde or glasgow with my qualifications. i WILL try but what if i can only get into paisley at the end? that mean im doomed? it STILL is a university, a step up from college.

I wasn't so worried at first but hearing everyone else's opinion has me thinking now..

[the_dude]

thanks for all the help mate i owu u 1! But studying outside Scotland isnt an option for me. So itll need to be either paisley caledonian or strathclyde. I doubt id get into glasgow uni though.. my grades are a bit average. (thanks to video games!) 8)

Everyone seems to be saying that paisley is ****e compared to other unis but is it really that bad?? surely at the end of the day a degree is a degree right?? i already know that i will be accepted in paisley and possible caledonian but it seems awfully hard to get into strathclyde or glasgow with my qualifications. i WILL try but what if i can only get into paisley at the end? that mean im doomed? it STILL is a university, a step up from college.

I wasn't so worried at first but hearing everyone else's opinion has me thinking now..

You should speak to the lead lecturer/students/former students of the course your interested in! Get an appointment and ask as much questions as you can and make sure it suits all/most of your needs.

Also, you don't need to enter Uni at year one and work through to year 3/4. You could (like myself) do a HND then enter the 3rd year of your Uni course. And instead of leaving with one qualification, you'll leave with 2 i.e. the HND you did at college, plus the degree you did at Uni.

[kyo_244]

You should speak to the lead lecturer/students/former students of the course your interested in! Get an appointment and ask as much questions as you can and make sure it suits all/most of your needs.

Also, you don't need to enter Uni at year one and work through to year 3/4. You could (like myself) do a HND then enter the 3rd year of your Uni course. And instead of leaving with one qualification, you'll leave with 2 i.e. the HND you did at college, plus the degree you did at Uni.

how many years do u do at college for an hnd?

[Zanza]

A HND is usually 2 years full time.

[bangaio]

Kyo, sorry if this sounds a little harsh but you sound fairly unsure what course to go for. It also sounds like you don't understand degrees and other qualifications and also that you want to go close to home.

For a lot of employers out there a degree is, and always has been seen as more than an academic qualification, it is a life away from home, it is an experience that will shape you and much more as well as hard (ish) work.

Don't think so narrowly. You clearly like games and movies and so on but maybe these aren't the best bet as academic qualifications, you enjoy them - don't spoil it. If you are thinking about digital media and graphics then are you good at art? WHy psychology, most employers look at the uni and your a level grades, nothing else. WHen you leave uni you will enter a graduate job market (i'd guess) with 1000s of graduates and employers look at your a level grades and uni. It sounds crap and it is but it's how it works in a lot of companies. What a levels are you doing?

[kyo_244]

Kyo, sorry if this sounds a little harsh but you sound fairly unsure what course to go for. It also sounds like you don't understand degrees and other qualifications and also that you want to go close to home.

For a lot of employers out there a degree is, and always has been seen as more than an academic qualification, it is a life away from home, it is an experience that will shape you and much more as well as hard (ish) work.

Don't think so narrowly. You clearly like games and movies and so on but maybe these aren't the best bet as academic qualifications, you enjoy them - don't spoil it. If you are thinking about digital media and graphics then are you good at art? WHy psychology, most employers look at the uni and your a level grades, nothing else. WHen you leave uni you will enter a graduate job market (i'd guess) with 1000s of graduates and employers look at your a level grades and uni. It sounds crap and it is but it's how it works in a lot of companies. What a levels are you doing?

yeah well ive been living in cyprus for the past 16 years so thats why uim not too familiar with the system. so i dont have any a-levels i have an apoliteirion, what u get when u finish school in cyprus or greece.