What college should i go to for game design

Question

I just want to know if i can go to a four year college or if it has to be a specific college. If you are already in game design please tell me. I have only a few more months before i have to start applying for scholarships.

Answer 1

Scholarship for game design major... Hmmm...  You should really be looking into an art school of some type.  A very well respected art school would be SVA.  They offer a computer animation degree, which is what you are looking for.  Make sure you have an outstanding portfolio with 15 to 20 pieces.

http://www.schoolofvisualarts.edu/ug/ind...

Answer 2

Actually, game design has nothing to do with art or animation, so you do not want to apply to art schools or pursue a computer animation degree.

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.  Game design is done almost exclusively with writing and math.  Game programmers program the games, game artists make the art, and game testers test the games.  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.

For game design, there isn't really a school or major that's better than any other.  A lot of schools will try to tell you they have game design majors, and that's flat out false.  They're either 100% art and no design whatsoever, or they won't prepare you any better than a "normal" college would (the only exceptions to this are the Masters program at Carnegie Mellon, and possibly USC's program).  



If you're interested in 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.  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.