Video Game Degrees and Breaking into the Video Games Industry

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Washington Post: Like Video Games? Now you can major in them.
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*"At Carnegie Mellon, students will have to take classes such as Intro to Entertainment Technology, Building Virtual Worlds and Game Design, as well as many others. But it's hard to measure the significance of these sorts of degrees. "*


It seems to me that the value in these classes is as preparation for the games industry -- these are the basic principles that one should know, and that one may even know intuitively. Like any other academic field, it's important to know the basic concepts at work, and to get a general introduction to games. Classes in this subject matter are at least as useful as "The Works of Shakespeare" or "Writers of the 19th Century" would be to a magazine editor -- that is to say, it provides helpful background, but is by no means a requirement.


I would think however, that anyone who wants to make a career in the video industry would naturally be an avid game player, and would have played as many games as they could have. I think there's a lot of value in playing the games, particularly in the games industry.


*"The idea of a video game education is so new that, even within the gaming industry, the jury is still out on whether these degrees are worth the sheepskin they're printed on."*


It's very true that the jury is still quite out on it -- and it seems to me, from the applicants I've seen that what matters most is not where you went to school, or what degree you attained or majored in, but rather what your abilities are. Going to one of these schools and getting a degree won't ensure a job in the games industry.


In the games industry, I've seen people who didn't finish high school and I've seen people with Ph.Ds. It really comes down to two things and I think it's true in anything that people work towards: patience and perserverence. If games is really what matters to you, then you'll find a way into it. The degree may help opening some doors a bit easier (the value of networking) but there's no substitute for experience or ability. The article has a quote from Mark Jacobs, founder of Mythic Entertainment Inc who said: "Degrees are good, experience is better."


The article ends with Ahmed, a games industry job seeker, saying about doing it on his own: "I need a team of 100 people and millions of dollars, I don't have that."


I don't agree with that. Anyone can make a game on their own. I was making my own when I was 14. Getting it published and selling millions of copies, that's another matter entirely.


The extended entry includes tips on how to get a job in the industry without experience.

**"How can I get a job in the video games industry when I don't have any experience? It seems like all the games companies want experience."**

This is the question I get asked the most by people wanting to get into the video games industry. I've answered this so many times, I feel like I should be giving a course on it. My answer is this: Create your own experience. There's nothing special about creating a game. A game is a collaborative effort between two main components: artists and programmers. Pick any modern game in your current game library. Each piece of art in the game, done by artists. All the programming that makes the game work, done by programmers. If you can do what they can do, you're at least as good as they are quality-wise. The other thing to watch out for is time. You don't need to be fast, but it helps.

**Programmers**

If you want to be a programmer, learn DirectX and start programming a game. It doesn't have to be a new game. In the old days, the programmer did both art and programming for the games. Start simple. Build Pong. Then build a demo level of Super Mario Bros. 1. Both of these will teach you sprite based programming, but it'll also teach you the basic functions most games have (such as displaying graphics, taking inputs. Sprite programming is useful still for many of the web-based games. Once you have sprite programming down, learn 3-D programming, because that's the main core of today's game industry. Network Programming and Audio Programming are also useful to know, and DirectX includes a library for that as well. Learn it.


**Artists**

If you want to be an artist, learn Maya (or 3DStudio Max) and start modeling, animating and texture mapping. Learn how to rig and weight things properly. Take a current game, and pick a character (or environment) and build it. Reproduce it as fully as you can. It should have Walking, Attacking and Jumping animations at the very least. Now do that for 5 other characters (or environments). For extra work, take a sprite based game and do a set of 5 characters (or environments) and their animations.


**Game Designers**

The most valuable advice I can give those who feel that game design is their calling is this: Play as many games as you can. Then, after playing them, think about them. Think about what you liked, and what you didn't like. Think about how the game worked, or how the game didn't work, and then think about things that you would do differently if you were in charge of the game. Think about things that could be improved, and what things you would add if you were making a sequel. There are many tools that exist to modify current games. Use those tools and create your own. Game designer is one of the hardest jobs to get in the industry -- because there just aren't that many of them needed -- for a team of 20, you maybe need one game designer. Some studios consider artists and programmers their game designers, and there are few people in the industry who do solely game design.


**Apply for the Job**

After you've done all this, it's time to send your resume and your portfolio of stuff away for game companies to look at. Standard rules for applications apply, meaning have a real person spell check your resume and view your demo reel. Apply everywhere. Gamasutra always has a listing of openings.

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Now that's neat. Better sharpen up my gaming skills and creative streak then, college, here I come! Who'd thunk it? Video games made me want to go to school?

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