I'm starting game design school in a week.

[pacmanhat]

I haven't gone to school in a few years now, but I'm really excited to start up again right now. I got my textbooks today, and with my books they handed me a copy of UT2004 (which I already have, but hey - I'll take an extra). I guess I'm gonna be spending a good amount of time with it in the coming months and years. :)

[pragmatic insanester]

you're going to work with me on some ballsy new video games?

[pacmanhat]

Uh...sure?

8-)

[kainemaxwell]

Good luck to ya!

[Boboduo]

Sounds cool- What school here offers this program?

[Jorpho]

I hope they have a job placement program.

[Avatard]

Yea, It seems everyone and their brother that I talk to is interested in game design, I hope there is the demand.

[Drexel923]

I hope they have a job placement program.

I hope so too...if not then he's gonna have to do really well. Almost everyone is looking for experienced people. But anyway, good luck...and be prepared for long hours and a ton of work in school and the industry.

[pacmanhat]

Sounds cool- What school here offers this program?

Brown College does.


I hope they have a job placement program.

They do, thankfully. I'm still nervous about the evergrowing workforce in the field, though...but I'm confident the industry will expand to support the new workers. EGM said a couple of months ago that Ubisoft Montreal alone was opening up 5,000 jobs over the next 5 years. If that's any indication, I think I'll be okay.

[drwily008]

If a had a degree like that, I would go work for EA Games. I hear they treat their employees great! Just kidding DO NOT APPLY WITH THEM! Get a job in the american industry (as bad as that sounds) working on projects not overseen by a Japanese parent company. They get worked to death and are treated badly.

I really hope you have the best experiences and remember, start your own company and design for an old school system (in 2-D) and you will make tons of cash.

[Sothy]

make us proud bro.
and dont forget to make Sothy a hidden unlockable character.

[Uzi 9mm]

Cool man, good luck with that! 8-)

[Jorpho]

EGM said a couple of months ago that Ubisoft Montreal alone was opening up 5,000 jobs over the next 5 years. If that's any indication, I think I'll be okay.

Surely that would be 5000 jobs for programmer droids and not for people actually capable of coming up with fresh, original gameplay ideas?

[anagrama]

I wonder what proportion of eager fresh-faced games design students actually make it into the industry? I'm willing to bet it's very low.

And of those that do make it, I wonder what proportion finds that working 16 hour days, 7 days a week when necessary, kills any passion they had for actually playing games in the first place? I'm willing to bet that's fairly high.

Still, that's just my uninformed-outsider view. Good luck!

[pacmanhat]

In case anyone's wondering...

One day down, and it seems like a really fun and interseting program. My first day of game design class consisted of the teacher ranting about how much he hates E.T. for the 2600, my classmates and I playing Halo 2, and discussing various aspects of the gaming industry. Appearantly, I'm gonna be writing a paper from the perspective of an anti-gamer about why gaming is bad for society (which should be interesting), as well as writing a review of what I think is the worst game ever (I'm REALLY looking forward to this one).

On top of that, I also got a job today. I'm excited about that as well.

[yuppicide]

Hey that's awesome! I almost went to Full Sail in Florida, but long story short I got screwed on some schooling a few years ago and am stuck oweing like $6000 or $7000.

This kid Tesoro (well his real name was Michael) who used to work at Circuit City with me got a job right out of highschool working for Square Enix however you spell it. He used to play online some game.. I forget what game and he became good friends with these people. One day they found out he was studying to be a programmer and they invited him to apply for Square Enix where they worked!

A short time later he was hired.. of course he'll have to learn a bunch of stuff. He was going to be working in USA, but they flew him out to Japan and everything. He goes to board room meetings and everything. Talk about luck!

One guy I know also used to know worked for EA. I don't really get along with the guy, so I can't really give you any EA stories on how they treat employees. My other friend works for Adobe and loves it there.

Some girl came in Circuit City one day buying a crapload of TiVo's and I asked what they were for. They were for her boss's Sons as presents. Turns out she was secretary for the person who owns a video game company in Edison, NJ near my house! One of only two video game companies on the east coast USA.. the other was (still is?) Rockstar Games in NYC.

I put in a job application there, but never got a call back. I would have done anything to get my foot in the door. Game tester, mailroom, receptionist, etc.

[dojosky]

Good Luck ! it was one of my dreams but now i am unsure of what I should major in school (am thinking of going back to school) ...

[chaoticjelly]

Good luck!

I'm studying Computer Games Technology here in Liverpool, UK..

Its okay, but not what I expected it to be!

I still love games though, but yeah its a hell of a lot of hard work etc - I've tried to break into the games industry for a job his summer, but absolutely no luck!

Unfortunately all of the games developers require you to be a whizz kid to work for them...