Hello all, I am currently studying computer science at a 4-year college (Lewis) and plan to walk out with a BSCS in 2 years. Before going to Lewis I was at a 2-year college and got my associates in CS with emphasis in software. At the time, I noticed many of my colleagues going for the same degree with an emphasis in game design, so a game design degree has been in the back of my mind for quite awhile. My real passion is in animation and I chose to get a degree in CS to hopefully make me more desirable in the job market (plan to attend a vocational school for animation after bachelors). But i’m curious as to how difficult it is for a CS major to get into game design without having any formal education in game design. I thought about enrolling in a technical school for game design (or going back to a 2 year to pick up an AAS in game design) after my bachelors to pick up that skill, but wondered if all that is really necessary… I’ve found a couple online resources for game design i’ll probably be dabbling into for the next couple weeks. So my question is, is it necessary to get a CS degree with emphasis in game design (game design vocational school) to pursue that career, or can a BSCS suffice?
Computer game companies hire lots of people with general CS degrees or background. If you look at their job listings on computer game company web sites, those specifically looking for people with game design degrees are uncommon.
You may want to choose your CS major electives to include the usual important ones (operating systems, networks, databases, algorithms, security/cryptography, software engineering) as well as game-related ones (graphics, artificial intelligence). For out-of-major electives, creative writing, art/animation and physics (mechanics) may be helpful.