<p>Does anyone know the preferred way to go if you really want to design video games? My S loves to play them and may want to design them. Not necessarily the programming, at least not serious coding, but more designing the layouts, levels, and art inside RPGs and other types of games. He loves fantasy games like the Zelda series.</p>
<p>I've done quite a bit of research and found several options:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Go to a great four-year university like Northeastern in Boston and get a BFA in Digital Arts and Game Design. Pricey and lots of arts classes, but a great degree.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to ITT Technical Institute and get a BS in Digital Entertainment and Game Dsign. Looks like the best fit for classes, but pricey and maybe looked down on a tech school instead of a "real" college - 4-yr BS degree or not. But they are in many locations we could live including Seattle, WA and Fairfax, VA.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to a good state university like University of Washington (UW), which is way cheaper for us as WA residents, and get a degree like their BFA in Digital Arts and Experimental Media. This degree is more tailored toward animatronics and computer arts like the tech behind the movie Avatar. There is no focus on video games per se, but it looks like a competitive, varsity BFA degree. However, maybe he could get job at Nintendo in Seattle.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Any suggestions or pros/cons? Pricey private school would be impossible for us without financial aid.</p>
<p>Digital arts have a variety of programs. They can be interactive ( web design ) and/or can include motion and animation work. You need to check out the program.</p>
<p>Northeastern gives merit scholarships to high scoring students. You can’t call Northeastern a four year college really, almost everyone there takes at least five years because of the 3 Co-op periods. These are paid co-ops to help offset costs and gain valuable experience in the field.</p>
<p>Yep, thanks Alcyapple, my D got a merit scholarship there and is a freshman BA in Art. My S might want to follow in their BFA. Northeastern just came up with a new four-year co-op option because so many people didn’t want to stay in college for five years. But even with scholarship, it’s still pricey.</p>
<p>Taxguy, good point about the programs. I did some further research on the program at UW. One of the answer to a FAQ was that the program is not intended for video game design, but rather for specifically making experimental digital art.</p>
<p>Look into a specific Game Design majors. As Tax Guy mentioned there are a number of “interaction design” programs as well. The breakdown for most game design programs is if there is a focus on the computer science (such as what you would find at MIT) or more focused on art and design (things like story development, character creation and modeling, etc.). If you S is interested in the art side there was an article in the LA times about the best game design programs in the US. I believe these included, GA Tech, CarArts, SCAD, RISD and Academy of Art University. Good luck.</p>