Top 10 schools that offer Video Game Design?

Question

Top 10 schools that offer Video Game Design?

Answer 1

My top three, in no particular order, are the University of Advancing Technology, Full Sail, and Digipen.

Answer 2

The basic rule of thumb is that any college program with “game” in the title is utter c**p.  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.  I don’t know of any USC grads who are now working as game designers, but the program is solid and they actually have professional game designers teaching classes, which is something that *no* other school, besides CMU, can claim.  So go to USC, or go to a regular college.

The other thing to keep in mind is that there are a lot of misconceptions out there about what game design is.  There is no art in game design.  There is no programming.  There is minimal testing.  Level building is a completely separate career.  Game design is done almost exclusively with writing and math.  Game programmers program the games, game artists make the art, game testers test the games, and level builders put the game world together.  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.

Within the industry, “design” does not mean art.  Level building is sometimes called level design, but it’s a separate job from game design with a separate skill set.  If you’re interested in level building, schools like Full Sail and Digipen aren’t too bad, if maybe a bit expensive for what they offer, and they *will not* prepare you for straight game design.  The Art Institute’s “Game Art and Design” is also fairly good for level building (no true design at all).  Level builders can also get all the skills they need by getting a degree in 3D art and animation, and working with game editors like Unreal, Warcraft, Neverwinter Nights, etc., to put together their own mod levels.

If you’re interested in true, pure 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.



If at all possible, go to school near a 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 easier to find a job after 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.