Computer Game major?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>A friend of the family wants to develop computer games. He will be going to college next year. Should I be recommending the top CS schools like CMU, Cal, Stanford, MIT, Cornell, UDub, Princeton, Wisconsin and UIUC? Or are there universities/CSp programs that actually specialize in computer game development?</p>

2

<p>I know that some CS schools have a "graphics" concentration or something to that effect.</p>

3

<p>USC has a full 4-year BS in Computer Science/Games, I believe the first in the country. Some other schools have games classes and minors, and maybe a few others are creating majors as well.</p>

4

<p>quite interesting actually:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/cat2006/schools/engineering/computer_science/undergraduate.html#games%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/cat2006/schools/engineering/computer_science/undergraduate.html#games&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>MIT doesn't have a computer games specialization, but a CS friend of mine is going to work for EA Games next year anyway. :)</p>

6

<p>Thanks for your answers people. They will help our family friend a great deal.</p>

7

<p>CMU has the Entertainment Technology Center (Masters degree)
<a href="http://www.etc.cmu.edu/Global/projects/whatisaproject.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.etc.cmu.edu/Global/projects/whatisaproject.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

8

<p>I think that majoring in CS will be enough. He will have electives to choose from so those electives could be based on Games/Graphics. But a CS alone will be enough.</p>

9

<p>I did extensive research into a potential career in the game industry while in high school. I am in no way an expert on the topic, but I'll tell you the gist of what I could find.</p>

<p>Games are some of the most complex computer programs in the world. Gaining entry into the industry is competitive, and once you're in, the turnover rate for new coders is high. Burnout runs rampant towards the end of development cycle "crunch time". The market for games is known to be highly volatile, and the lesser established companies almost always go under soon after formation. The success and failure of a company depends on whether or not their new game is a "hit". It's very similar to the high risk, high reward blockbuster films Hollywood keeps pumping out. This, naturally, stifles innovation, because companies are going to stick with known ways of making money.</p>

<p>The creation of a game draws from a wide variety of disciplines and arts. Your friend could probably follow his interests when choosing a degree program, and be able to tailor his skills to those needed by a game developer. The most common degree, by far, is computer science/software engineering. </p>

<p>Without knowing the specifics about your friend, I would recommend he enter a reputable university, as opposed to one of the highly specialized game dev tech schools out there. He can do a wide variety of interesting and exciting things with a CS degree if his interest wanes during college. The same cannot be said for a highly specialized "game degree".</p>

<p>Some Wikipedia stuff:</p>

<p>Game</a> Programmer
Broad</a> look at Game Dev</p>

<p>A huge game development community:
[Gamedev[/url</a>]</p>

<p>Your friend would be particularly interested in the job listings. Look at what the big, famous companies are asking for.( Blizzard Entertainment, EA( historically pays well, but works employees like cattle ), Id Software( best graphics engines in the world ), Epic Games( Also known for elite graphics engines ), Valve, etc. ) At first glance the prerequisites don't look terribly challenging, but you have to remember that the competition is fierce.</p>

<p>What kind of game development experience does your friend already have? I ask this for two reasons:</p>

<p>One: High School is the best place to sandbox around with programming. Many people ( such as myself ) decided, for whatever reason, that programming just wasn't for them.</p>

<p>Two: Most top programmers started coding long before they ever considered it as a potential career. If you enter college without previous experience, you're already putting yourself at a disadvantage.</p>

<p>Let me illustrate what I am trying to say:</p>

<p>[url=<a href="http://img166.imageshack.us/my.php?image=articleraytrace0302ai7.png%5DThis%5B/url"&gt;http://img166.imageshack.us/my.php?image=articleraytrace0302ai7.png]This[/url&lt;/a&gt;] is the type of stuff that the top end graphics programmers were doing, wayyy back in their high school days.</p>

<p>It's a slow 3D renderer called a raytracer. During my senior year, I was inspired by this image to put my own skills to the test. After studying some math and honing my semi-new coding skills, over the course of a few months I sat down and [url=<a href="http://img53.imageshack.us/my.php?image=worldenginev10jt7.png%5Dtook"&gt;http://img53.imageshack.us/my.php?image=worldenginev10jt7.png]took&lt;/a> my very best shot](<a href="http://www.gamedev.net%5DGamedev%5B/url"&gt;http://www.gamedev.net).&lt;/p>

<p>Yeah.</p>

<p>I've decided to stick with a more conventional engineering major.</p>

10

<p>Rochester Institute of Technology has a new program.</p>

<p><a href="http://games.rit.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://games.rit.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

11

<p>Lol @ Circle And Ellipse.</p>

12

<p>It think a traditional CS degree with relevant electives will serve you well. It's important to have a firm grasp on the fundamentals as to not limit yourself to a very specific area only. For example, a CS undergrad at Georgia Tech can choose to focus on 2 of 8 core areas (called "Threads"). You can for example choose "Media" and "Intelligence" and take electives such as "Computer Graphics", "Video Game Design", "Artifical Intellignece", and "Computer Special Effects". Quite a few grads go on to work for game companies as companies have an active recruiting presence on campus. When I took a graduate computer graphics course, several EA programmers who are GT grads came into the class to talk about the engine being developed for Madden. There was even a ECE MS grad that went on to work for EA.</p>