Does UT Chattanooga offer a video game design course?

Question

Also, can a degree in graphic design help me get a job in that same area?

Answer 1

Typically speaking, degrees in game design won’t prepare you at all for work as a professional game designer.  I’ve been in the game industry for almost a decade, and I’ve yet to meet or hear of *anyone* who graduated from one of those programs who is now working as a professional game designer.  Not one single person, in nine years.  The only exceptions to that rule are the Master’s program at Carnegie Mellon, and possibly USC’s new undergrad program.

Graphic design will only help you if you want to work in marketing for video games, or create webpages.  If you want to be a game artist, you’re best off getting a degree involving 3D art and animation, or a traditional Fine Arts degree.  As for game design, you don’t need any artistic skills whatsoever to be a game designer, so again, graphic design won’t really help you.

Be sure you are clear on what you mean when you say “game design”.  Outside the game industry, the word is used incorrectly fairly often.  Within the game industry, “design” means the process of coming up with the details of the gameplay, using math and writing.  There is no art in game design.  There is no programming.  There is minimal testing.  Level building is a completely separate career.  It's the designer's job to come up with the ideas for every tiny detail of the game, and communicate those ideas to the programmers, artists, testers, etc.  The designer decides what NPC the player encounters where, and what the NPC will say; what weapon the player can get at what point in the game and how much damage it does; what attacks a boss mob has and how much damage they do, etc.

If you’re interested in game design, go to any good 4 year college and major in whatever you want.  Just pick a major that you enjoy and that will allow you graduate as quickly as possible – I’ve worked with game designers with degrees in everything from Biology to Theater (but again, not a single one with a degree in Game Design).  

Along with your major take math up through Calculus 1, and at least two courses in Statistics, two courses in writing, one Computer Science course, 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.

More important than what you major in is where you go to school.  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 easier to find a job after college if you already live near several studios.  If at all possible, go to school near a city with a lot of game studios, like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, etc.   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.