Games development degree?

petegavin

Hi all hoping someone could help me with choosing a college course in games development, i've been making games with game maker over the last year and i am pretty good at using Maya as it is. I just started a level 5 course in games development and trying to figure out where to go next with this. and of course studying in UK is an option too.
I'm looking for something that will get me a job in the industry as soon as possible but will allow me to get a college grant at the same time. so no private colleges

Tom Dunne

http://www.itcarlow.ie/study-at-itc/science/computing-networking/cw208.htm

petegavin

thanks bro looks like a great course did you study there?

Tom Dunne

No, I didn't, I just heard about it.

You may want to ask over on the IT Carlow forum. I'm sure some of them over there will have.

wnolan1992

Current student of Computer Games Development in UL (LM110).

The course has only this year changed to focus solely on game development (it used to incorporate a Multimedia element with audio and video).

It's a fantastic course, brilliant lecturers, brilliant resources, excellent variety of subjects.

You start off in First Year learning Java as a grounding for programming, you do bits in C++, OpenGL, C, UML Designs, and others.

One of the modules in second year tests how good you are at coming up with game ideas and implementing them by having you create a mod for Skyrim/Oblivion. That's the entire module, design and implement a level of a mod.

Of course there's hard stuff there too, data structures and the maths modules can be difficult if you don't work your ass off.

One piece of advice though, if you're thinking of doing a course in Games Development, be sure it's what you want. They have some of the highest drop-out rates in the country because people come in thinking it'll be all about playing Xbox and having a laugh. Trust me when I say, you'll have less time to play games than most of the other people in the college because you'll be working on projects. But I'm assuming since you're already doing bits in GM you're at least moderately interested in how games are made as opposed to just wanting to play games.

If you want more info on UL's course just ask.

Procrastastudy

OP expect to work your rear off and you will have to set yourself apart from your classmates in regard to producing mod/content etc. Next you will likely have to move abroad to find work - which may or may not involve learning another language.

If you have the commitment you'll make it! I wish you the very best of luck.

PS Be careful of the institution you pick. Bear in mind that while a lesser known IT may offer an excellent course there should be some possibility an international employer is going to know who they are.

EDIT: OP if in a few years time you're successfully running a studio and a struggling (probably middle-aged by this point) barrister is looking for legal work in this sector specifically - throw me a bone will ya?

washburn12

Can anyone tell me what specs id need for a laptop solely for games development

wnolan1992

washburn12 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what specs id need for a laptop solely for games development

TBH, you wouldn't need anything too powerful for the first year or so of any course in Games Development.

You'll basically just be coding in Eclipse/BlueJ (or if you're cool like me, you'll use nothing but NotePad and your mad sk1llz yo! :cool:).

Things to prioritise are RAM and your processor. At this point, I wouldn't touch anything without at least 6GB of RAM, and the most powerful i5 or i7 processor you can afford. Don't worry about graphics too much, as anything you'll be doing that requires high end graphics will probably be best done on college machines.


You can get a fairly decent laptop for <€1000 though. I got a new laptop only a few months ago, 8GB RAM, Nvidia GEOFORCE GT630M (2GB), i7 processor (2.1GHz) all for under a grand.

washburn12

Sorry i should have given more detail, At company level, and im buying several of the same type laptop for a games development Company, its an assignment at school, can you tell me what id need? and what the hell hyperthreading is??? cheers!

petegavin

hey washburn12 i think this link may help you for company level http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UE3MinSpecs.html

washburn12

you legend thanks very much

donfanzu

http://www.ait.ie/engineering/deptofelectronicscomputersoftwareeng/courses/caocourses/bschonsinsoftwaredesigngamedevelopment/

Ait in Athlone do a computer games development degree. I went there last year and the engineering building is first class. The lecturers are nice and they've just built and awesome new sports complex. If you're into that... The only downside is its in Athlone :-/ but if that doesn't bother you its definitely worth a look.

Noopti

My two cents on this (coming from a person who has hired and is hiring a lot of game development people):

If you know what field you want to get into (game design, coding, art) then find a course which primarily focuses on that area if you can. So many courses give students a little bit of everything, so when they go to get a job it is hard to know where their expertise lies from an employers point of view. This can be good in the beginning in allowing people to figure out what they exactly want to do, but some courses seem to continue in that vein right through the course which isn't so good.

Make sure you put the effort into any maths elements of the course, and also don't just limit yourself to whatever languages the course focuses on. In your own time expand into other languages like C#, Python etc even if the course doesn't cover them. If you work on projects or your own stuff during college, then make sure you can clearly point out/demonstrate which aspects of it you actually created.

In summary: Try and know what it is you want to do in the industry, and then find a course which will help you achieve that goal. If you want to be a coder then try avoid the courses which place too much emphasis on 3d modeling, sound, game design etc. It is also work looking into the more traditional computer science degrees with this in mind, and you can use games as a theme for any projects you work on, and also in your spare time.

Annasopra

Queens in Belfast also have a course. I don't know much about it.


http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/StudyatQueens/CourseFinder/UCF2013-14/ComputerGamesDevelopment/GG4P/

Procrastastudy

mango salsa wrote: »

Queens in Belfast also have a course. I don't know much about it.


http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/StudyatQueens/CourseFinder/UCF2013-14/ComputerGamesDevelopment/GG4P/

Bloody hell - I had no idea anyone was still teaching C++; oh the memories!

wnolan1992

Procrastastudy wrote: »

Bloody hell - I had no idea anyone was still teaching C++; oh the memories!

C++ is still the standard really. My own course teaches Java as the main language (because it's like C++Lite :P), but they also give a grounding in C++ and C, because Java can't really be used for games.

Procrastastudy

Good to see what I did 13 years ago isn't out of date yet. Fond memories of chatting up the girls while you waiting for the Pentium 90 to compile the latest piece of spaghetti I'd fed it.