<p>I have been second guessing myself a lot lately on what I should major in. I have always been an imaginative person, and the only reason I want to major in Computer Science is so that I can become a game programmer. </p>
<p>I like the idea of making video games, and I've always wanted a skill that I can practice at home and get better at. I realize if I want to be successful game programmer I have to major in Computer Science, and focus more on that than film production. </p>
<p>I also want to be a game programmer because they are in higher demand than cinematographers, and at entry level I could make 35,000 to 55,000 a year. It's more stable than film. Not only that I could do more with a Computer Science major, than I could with a major in Film production.</p>
<p>I think that maybe I will major in Computer Science, and minor in Film. I think it makes sense since some video game developers actually want people with knowledge in cinema, to program scenes in their games. Bioware is an example that I saw on their site. OR could I minor in Computer Science to help me get a job in film production??</p>
<p>I am a sophmore, and I have not majored in anything yet, I have been doing liberal arts and sciences, but I have taken some film production courses. Is it too late to focus on computer science, I have only taken one math, one science, and no computer progaramming classes.</p>
<p>Or maybe I should minor in media arts, and take 3D animation classes. 3D modelers/animators seem to also be in good demand by video game developers as well.</p>
<p>I think you need to figure out what you really want to do at a basic level. There is a lot more that goes into game development than just programming. There are many, many different roles involved that never touch a bit of programming code. Most of the jobs you are thinking of probably involve no programming at all.</p>
<p>Game production works substantially different than you think. Programmers basically code two things, tools and the game engine. The game engine is what you interact with, it accepts input from the user and causes the game to respond. Tools are used to develop content. Your example of “programming a scene,” for example, most likely would involve some artists sketching out the scene, creating textures, environments, and models, animating said models, applying lighting and textures, and then making sure the scene turns out well. Some other developers would work on putting some kind of triggered event in the game with a scripting tool, basically something that might say “when the player walks over position X, play cut scene B.” Throughout this process most of these developers will not touch a single piece of code and those that do will most likely be using some scripting language (proprietary or otherwise) at a basic level.</p>