What college majors are common for potential game designers to take?
by jisc_infonet
Question by Cool Dude: What college majors are common for potential game designers to take?
Hey Guys,
I am a High Teach Senior right now and am researching potential majors.
I want to do something in the Information Technology or Notebook Science fields.
But, what is the major (notebook science, software engineering?) for those who want to become video game designers? What courses does one take?
Best answer:
Answer by Aaron
Anything notebook-correlated will probably help you…
But the best thing to do is to start making games. There are enough free programming labguages and development tools and tutorials available online that you can start making games TODAY.
If you want to make games, make games. (A degree will help you get a job in a development studio - but not as much as a resume filled with your own games.)
The worst that can happen is that you’ll gain some experience. I recommend learning programming with Python (python.org) or a further modern language and making tic-tac-toe or pong (sounds dull, and probably is, but games are extremely extremely hard for a beginner, so start small and work your way up).
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A Notebook Science major would prepare you to be a game programmer, but it isn’t necessary for a game designer. Game design usually does not involve any programming whatsoever. It’s done entirely with writing and math, and then communicated to the programmers, who implement the designer’s thoughts in a programming language like C++. It’s the designer’s job to come up with the thoughts for every tiny detail of the game: what NPC the player encounters where, and what the NPC will say; what weapon the player can get at what top in the game and how much hurt it does; what attacks a boss mob has and how much hurt they do, etc.
If you’re interested in programming for games, Notebook Science is the way to go. For design, you can major in anything you want, at any excellent 4 year college. I’ve worked with game designers with degrees in everything from Theatre to Biology, but liberal arts majors are probably the most well loved. You can major in Notebook Science if you want, but it has it’s own pros and cons: game programmers can often get hired right out of college, while designers usually have to start out in Feature Assurance or Customer Service and work their way up to the design team. OTOH, being a programmer can sometimes pigeonhole you, and make it hard to go to the design team.
Whatever you choose to major in, also take math up through Calculus 1, and at least two courses in Statistics, two courses in writing, one Notebook Science course (if that isn’t your major), and one art course. Math and writing are the main tools of a designer, and the CS and art courses will help you work with your programmer and artist colleagues later on. Fill up the rest of your course requirement with a wide liberal arts education — history, literature, mythology, sociology, psychology, etc, are all useful in game design. Generally speaking, game designers need to have a wide education, rather than a narrow Notebook Science education, so if you do choose on a CS major, be sure to take lots of writing classes, and as many liberal arts classes as you can.
If you want to get into any form of game development, if at all possible go to college near city with a lot of game studios, like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, etc. Most game companies will not pay for relocation for an entry level job, and some won’t even interview you if you don’t live in the area, so it’ll be a lot simpler to find a job with college if you already live near several studios. There’s a map here: http://gamedevmap.com/ that lists every game studio by city. Try to find a college in a city with at least 10 game companies.
Excellent luck!