Game Design: Computer Science or Game Design Degree

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

Please read throughly:
I am a high school senior in Albany, GA. I love video games, anime, comics and Asian culture. What I want to do is go to school for creating video games. I am currently an amateur level graphic designer. I am pretty good at what I do and have some awards I have won.
There is a local 2-year college here called Darton State College. I have applied to the school and got accepted into the Associates in Computer Science. I am in no means good at math. My plans until now was to struggle through the program to get to where I want to go. I have very recently looked into the differences between game designers and game developers. From my understanding, game designers work with the graphics and character development of the game. This is what I want to do. Game developers do the programming and don’t really design anything but the mechanics that make the game (not that that is an easy job to do.) I live in the state of Georgia and am looking at programs. These are the two options I have come up with in solving my career outlook problem:

  1. Get a degree in Computer Science with a Concentration in Game Development and Programming. This ensuring I have a good job and am not narrowed to Game Design which is hard to find a job in. I go to Darton State College, get a two year degree in Computer Science and do a transfer. Once again I am NOT good in math.

  2. Or go to an art school in the area, likely SCAD or Full Sail, after doing core curriculum for the degree pathway at Darton State College and outsourcing as much as possible. I am scared of this path because of the tuition cost for these schools and the job outlook for these types of careers.

Is there anyone in the field that can help me with looking over this situation? Are there any SCAD graduates that can tell me about the Interactive design and game development degree at SCAD or their experience? Are there any game design or game developers that can help me with figuring this out?

I am also posting this under Arts and similar categories.

2

If you can leave the state look at the programs at RIT, WPI, RPI, USC, Drexel, DePaul, Champlain, U of Utah, and Digipen. I suggest a Game Design major with a game programming minor. My son is a sophomore at USC in their CS-Games program. If you don’t do well in math this direction is not for you but the job prospects are better than for a Game Design degree. Given your interests Game Design does seem more appropriate.

Also SCAD is more reputable than Full Sail (poor reputation there, odds are you wont find a job if you graduate from Full Sail).

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My main concern is the tuition. SCAD has VERY high tuition. I know people that have gone to SCAD and get paid less than a student I know goes to Full Sail. They are stuck here with bad jobs.
I do know if I do attend SCAD, I can not expect to stay in Georgia.

Thanks for the advice.

4

@SHOTGUNKONOCHO Let me be a bit more direct about Full Sail; gaming companies think it’s a joke and that its graduates aren’t qualified. Seriously, don’t do it.

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O____________O

Okay on a serious note, I did NOT know that. I saw some successful alumni and thought the program was okay. Thanks for the advice. Strongly avoiding Full Sail now.

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I was actually interested in a career in game design to. I was looking at Depaul and UC Santa cruz but i wasn’t sure how good there program are, but i did find a really interesting video you should probably check out, https://youtu.be/zQvWMdWhFCc and there other video https://youtu.be/kNscZCrke4k these two video openee my eyes about what i thought this career path was like vs what it actually is. I myself have been trying to teach my self on a few game programs and i hope i am passionate enough about it to seek a career for it.

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@CascadeBadge thanks for those links - the second one is really good!