<p>Does anyone know how Southern New Hampshire University's Game Programming major compares to Champlain College's Game Programming major? Both are relatively new so I'm having trouble determining which is best. </p>
<p>Champlain has more recognition within the Game Design area. Honestly the best Game Programming program is within USC’s Viterbi school. It’s a CS (Games) degree.</p>
<p>Why not just go to a school with a good CS major?</p>
<p>Get a CS major…</p>
<p>^^I have to agree with this. </p>
<p>Okay, I understand that you like video games, so you think you want to be a video game developer. Let me warn you that video game development is a pretty thankless job.</p>
<p>First of all, many game companies, like EA, hire programmers for a specific title. Once the title is released, most developers are laid off. So you end up having to go hunt for a new job. Being a game developer is like being a temp employee, needing to job hunt again and again every year or 2. Game companies do this because they do not want to pay for staff during down-time between projects.</p>
<p>Secondly, game developers go thru “crunch” (working extra-long hours for extended periods of time), much more than in other software development professions. There are horror stories, where game developers work 14-hours+ per day for several months straight, due to having fixed released dates for the title they are working on. Some game devs are known to sleep at the office, due to “crunch”.</p>
<p>So imagine yourself, job hunting, joining a game company, doing “crunch” for several months trying to get a project done, and then getting laid off by the company, and needing to job hunt again. Game developers go thru this cycle repeatedly, usually every couple of years… sometimes yearly.</p>
<p>I love video games. I would love to make video games… But I could not live a lifestyle where I go thru several-month-long crunches and needing to job hunt repeatedly.</p>
<p>I would recommend getting a CS degree, where the programming skills you learn can be applied to a variety of fields and professions, rather than a very specialized, niche major like game development.</p>
<p>I have personal experience in the field and I would agree with @nakoruru. I have worked 36 hours or more straight during crunch. It is a lot more challenging than one would expect. An entry level programmer could get worked to death doing some pretty boring aspects. Gone are the days when the programmer was actively involved in design and development. There are exceptions, but they are normally guys who have been doing this for 20 years now. That being said, I loved the job and had life not taken a few unexpected turns I would likely still be doing it.</p>
<p>The other more important thing to remember is that game developers are much more interested in results than in your degree. The degree is more of a fallback for when/if you leave the world of game design.</p>
<p>I think something like 1 in 20 programmers actually had completed degrees in my experience. Colleges offer degrees in Game Design or Game Programming as a johnny-come-lately attempt to get serious programmers to take college courses and get money into the system.</p>
<p>I would approach it like an athlete wanting to be a pro. Only a few really make it to the ‘bigs’. College is a great way to broaden your experience and to have a backup plan. You could even be better off majoring in something completely different and maybe minoring in CS or Game Theory. It takes a special talent to be really good at it and not college is really going to be able to do more than get you started. If you are not already a gifted programmer, your odds of success in the business are limited.</p>
<p>Good luck. Look forward to playing your games if you make it!</p>