Rant: "Game Design" Degrees
Posted on Feb 9, 2011 in Rants
This is one subject I talk about a lot - university degrees in "Game Design". These courses have become extremely popular over the past few years - and why not? Everyone loves games, and a lot of people would love to make them as a profession. Why, you could be in the credits of the next Uncharted, Gears of War, or Mario game! This is a dream that many gamers have had - I know that even now, I would love to work at a popular game studio. And you would too.
I want to talk about people who have gone the next step from thinking about it: actually studying games design at university. These people have good intentions - they hear about these degrees, they like the sound of them. Unfortunately they're going about it in the completely wrong way.
Disclaimer
Let's start with a short disclaimer. I am not a games developer or designer. I don't work at a games company and I have never released an independent game. All the content on this blog, is, like always, pure speculation and my own opinion. That said, I don't just blurt out whatever without thinking about it. I have researched several of these type of courses, spoken to people taking these type of courses. I know both friends and acquaintances who have taken these type of courses.
Secondly, I want to mention that I am talking about a specific type of course here. There are undoubtedly some universities and colleges which actually do a good job of it. More on that later.
The Wrong Way
The majority of "games design" courses I've seen or heard about are all similar. They touch on every aspect of creating a game, such as programming, 3D modelling, level design, texture creation, animation, music and sound effects, and so on. Don't get me wrong, a good game designer needs to know all this kind of stuff. They need to be immersed into every aspect of game creation for a design to work properly.
What people who are taking these courses don't realise, is that nobody wants a graduate game designer. You will never get into a big-name or even mid-name studio with these credentials. A game designer is a specialist role. Big studios need one, maybe two game designers per game, and they usually work multiple games at a time. Not only do you need loads and loads of first-hand industry experience, you need to be respected within the company as a long-time employee.
Let's move on to the next conclusion. Nobody wants to hire a graduate games designer, so these people apply for different game positions. They can write code, create levels, textures, 3D models, and more! Who wouldn't want to hire them? Again, the answer is (unfortunately) nobody. There's a saying: Jack of all trades, master of none. This is pretty much what the typical games design course provides.
There's still options for these people to get into the industry. Start at the bottom with a crappy job as a game tester. This is usually considered a viable entry point for possible games developers and designers to get into the industry that is oh-so difficult to get into. Internships and unpaid positions work, too. But in these cases, the games design degree is only a tiny advantage on any other applicant. Instead of spending three years on a useless university course, maybe it would have been better to spend those three years working their way up the ranks of a shitty game testing job? The people who didn't get a degree are now three years ahead of the people who did.
The Exception(s)
I'm very negative about all this, so let's look at some games courses that do it right. You'll probably find that most of the good courses aren't called "games design" for the reasons listed above. I'm only going to list one example, as it's really the only one I know enough about.
I have great respect for the DigiPen Institute of Technology. Wikipedia has the best information, so I'll just paste in an excerpt (emphasis mine):
The big difference: Specialisation. Generic thrown-together "games design" courses do not encourage specialisation nearly as much as they should. And it's easy to see the difference: development studios trawl the final-year presentation of the student's games, looking for people to hire straight off the floor. Most notably, Valve have hired the creators of DigiPen projects Narbacular Drop and Tag: The Power of Paint to work on their Portal series.
The Right Way
DigiPen basically got it the right: to get into the games industry, you need to specialise. Focus on one thing and one thing only. For a programmer, this may be for AI, physics, game logic, core engine, middleware, or numerous other programming specialisations (including tools programming, which is my hobby). A 3D designer may focus on animation, character modelling, world modelling, and so on. The same goes for every other industry job.
Do one thing, and do it well. Do it better than anyone else. Practice often, publish your work, and even work for free if you have to. Make an online portfolio. Put everything on there. Apply for jobs always and often. However you do it, get your name into the credits of a game. Any game. That's your ticket into the industry.
End Rant
Deep breaths...it's over. I've been meaning to type this rant up for the longest of times, but now that I've finally put it all down, I'm sure I've forgotten to say plenty of things. Don't be surprised if this post changes whenever the hell I feel like it should.
Oh...me? I'm a soulless corporate programmer. Maybe one day you'll see me in the credits of the next big game, maybe not. I'm comfortable with being soulless at work - it's waiting for me when I get home. A hobbyist with an idea can be a powerful thing. That said, of course I would love to work at a games company, where I might be able to carry my soul to work without being crushed by bureaucratic nonsense and backstabbing.
Remind me not to apply to studios owned by Activision.
