video gaming major

[iReV]

I mostly copied this from another thread, and thought it would be useful to post here. I decided it was fairly important, and since a lot of people here will be going to college/in college and like video games, i thought i'd offer my opinion on the topic. if you really want to work in the video game industry this is what i have to offer about the two most relevant majors that have almost nothing to do with each other:

Whoever mentioned CS & Graphic Design. There is a big difference between the two. My school has a computer graphics major and is also a top ranked CS school and I can tell you that the two are very different. CS is a very theoretical major, and is probably one of the most difficult majors at my school <engineering is probably the hardest, represent>. CS from an academic standpoint is not to help you 'make game/program'. In many ways, its more closer to an applied mathematics major than anything else a a typical undergraduate course load only has about one or two programming courses. Most people who enter into CS are already fairly proficient at a language, with the school only teaching you something like C or C++ programming as a freshman course. THe other courses you take are something along the lines of (calculus 3 course sequence, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, compture architecture, operating systems, algorthimic analysis). a lot of CS majors choose to double major in mathematics (so they'd take differential equations, real analysis, abstract algebra) to complement their course load. i know a lot about both fields, since my roomate is a top notch CS student (3.9 cumulative GPA), and another one of my friends does quite a bit of freelance graphics work/website design from his room and gets paid enough to cover his 40k/year tuition money; he's been doing it since he was 16. imo CS is probably a more exciting and general field, because it can be applied to SO many different areas (anything writing graphic design software to bioinformatics). I think it's what probably turns off people to CS as a major, because the concepts that you learn are very abstract, it is difficult to maintain an interest if you don't know the applications.

Graphic design is more of a 'modern art' type major than anything else. Although you work with computers, you don't really examine any theoretical aspects behind it. So graphic design would be more of an applied major. if your interested in making games, this would probably be a more appropriate major, because gaming does not require that many programmers. the vast majority of the expenses/staff has more to do with graphic design/hiring artists than programmers. i believe Rockstar games started off making GTA3 with something like 3 programmers, and i believe Unreal tournament was programmed by a single (or maybe 2) people. a graphic design person would be concerned using photoshop or some video editing program to make something look nice/ doing modeling to create something, whereas a CS person would be looking at algorithims that are used to implement filters/various tools (i.e. they'd be designin the tools themselves used in photoshop).

it would also be my opinion that graphic design varies greatly in the quality of education that you get from different institutions, therefore it may be harder to get a job that pays well. since its more 'artistic', your pay/reputation/value is probably harder to ascertain since what you're producing is difficult to assess numerically. CS is a pretty rigorous major whether your going to MIT or some state school, so pay is pretty standardized (usually between 40-80k/year) out of a 4 year undergrad (depending on what company hires you/school you went to).

lastly i would suggest not going to a school that has 'video game design' as a major. you won't get a job, even if you have a 4.0.

[.aMp.]

CS = Creative Suite, like i said in the other thread, i think he was talking about hat, which is a component of the new Photoshops

[Mathiasa]

Creative Suit (CS), I got Creative Suit 2 and I must say its very easy.

[xPuppet]

Actually this was me.

CS = C omputer Science which makes the figure such as amster chief move.

The other is actually developing the figure its self.

I know both are very different...but you need art background which i have but with the portfolio having to contain 3 landscapes...it'll be hard.

CS is actually what im doing now like JAVA, and Flash...

You dont know what I meant...I wanna be the one that makes video games move, or make the figures themselves.

Hope this helps.

[Totalbodygym]

theres r majors ur gonna wanna look into
Computer science

Information Technology

Graphics design

Computer art

[DTR RUTH]

Im majoring in SAHALOOYPUYGEMFYCAC (sit at home and leech of of your parents until you get enough money for collage and car. HEY, sweet i have enough, and im only 15 sweet!

[GandalfTheGreat]

<------ Graphic Design/ Multimedia Major right here baby!

Anybody else majoring in Graphic Design

[MasterMatrix8]

insightful, thx

[iReV]

Originally Posted by xPuppet

Actually this was me.

CS = C omputer Science which makes the figure such as amster chief move.

The other is actually developing the figure its self.

I know both are very different...but you need art background which i have but with the portfolio having to contain 3 landscapes...it'll be hard.

CS is actually what im doing now like JAVA, and Flash...

You dont know what I meant...I wanna be the one that makes video games move, or make the figures themselves.

Hope this helps.

yeah probably more with graphic design. i'm pretty sure things like modeling, etc... most of the animations in a lot of fps games (like UT or quake) are made using Maya. I've never used the program, but is fairly expensive (a few thousand dollars), and is freely available for us at our school through CS labs and/or the remote access. graphic design overall is probably more talent oriented, since it is an artistic field. not saying that CS isn't talent oriented, but any one with enough dedication and drive to make it through probably will not have a hard time finding a job. with graphic design, i doubt 'making it out' is the hardest thing when it comes to the industry.

in terms of halo, CS probably has more to do with writing something like the physics engine or the shader graphics engine. generally CS will give you the education to build the framework of anything computer related, whereas all the other positions give that framework a substance and make it beautiful/fun to play.