So I am currently residing at UC Santa Cruz and they have a computer science program and a computer science-game design(bs) program. I originally wanted to do computer science-game design(bs) but I heard not a lot of people get a job with programming or anything with a game design degree. Then I switched my proposed major ( I am a freshman) to computer science, but I heard that the computer science degree requires a crap ton of math. I am horrible at math I realized, despite already taking AP Calculus in highschool(got an A- in the class but got a 1 on the ap test) and now taking an online calculus course, which the first quarter I got a B- but I still managed to passed so now I am taking the second one. Math just never clicked with me and its extremely hard for me to comprehend, which is pushing me towards the game design(bs) degree. What do you guys think? I want to get a good job…but I also don’t want to fail 5 classes just to get it.
I’m in the video games industry myself (not as a developer - as a researcher. But I work with lots of developers).
The best game design majors, IMO, are ones that are essentially computer science majors with with a couple of classes focused on game design and media. That’s because a game company will gladly hire a CS major for a game design job, but game design majors without significant CS coursework may struggle to find a good place for themselves in other development positions in the tech industry - and, quite frankly, within the industry. Programming and an understanding of CS are most important.
The good news is that UCSC’s major is actually pretty CS heavy. The core curriculum is the same as the CS major’s core curriculum, and you have the opportunity to heavily supplement with your electives. Really, there are only 6 courses that a regular CS major wouldn’t take: the two art classes (and frankly, a class on visual communication and interaction design is good for a general developer, not just a game developer); the two “games and playable media” courses; the Foundations of Video Game Design course and the Game Development/Design Experience concurrent classes.
Out of the 5 electives you have left, I would try to make at least 3 of them the CMPS (regular computer science and engineering) courses instead of the CMPM (game design related) courses. I will say that I do highly encourage the CMPM 178, Human-Centered Design Research, just because 1) I’m biased because that’s my field and 2) you’ll use the skills there in any CS field, but more importantly 3) as a game designer you’ll work with user researchers a lot and it’ll be good to have a basic understanding of what they do. Even if your game design company doesn’t have a formal research arm, learning how to iterate on your games and make them better over time, given feedback, is vital.
But take a lot of those CMPS classes! Artificial Intelligence, Visualization and Computer Animation, Intro to Software Engineering, Mobile Applications, Distributed Systems: File Sharing, Online Gaming, and More, Hypermedia and the Web and Computer Graphics are all courses that will be useful in both the games industry and others. And there are lots of other classes that are interesting or useful for CS grads in tech in general.
ETA: And oh yes, the math a CS major has to take is about the same as the math the CS:GD major has to take: calculus, linear algebra, discrete math, etc. Which it should be! Developing a game uses the same computer science principles as developing a productivity app or a business app or something. It’s just an interactive/playable app - which makes it more complicated.
UCSC CS and CGD majors both require calculus, linear algebra, and discrete math. The BS version of CS also requires multivariable calculus but the BA version of CS does not.
So not really much difference in math.
@juillet provided a lot of great advice above, but this, I think, is going to be an issue. Computer science is just applied math, and CS is essentially a math degree. You will be doing a lot of high-level math, and if math isn’t your strong suit, CS is simply going to be a poor fit. Like both previous posters have said, any CS degree will involve a fair amount of math (and, IMO, any CS program worth its salt will involve considerably more than a “fair amount”).