Hey! I have a good yet terrible problem, which is obviously related to choosing my college. I currently am trying between UCLA, UC Irvine, RPI,and RIT; all for Computer Science with some kind of focus/dual major in video game development.
I had originally planned on deciding between USC, Cornell, and Northeastern (my top choices), but was screwed over with financial aid and even with scholarships couldn’t attend without taking $80k+ in loans (hence they’re practically off the table).
I’m pretty burnt out from studying all this stuff I hated in HS, so I’m really worried that by going to a too CS Theory focused program would make me just drop out at this point, so that’s a huge consideration. I really want to go straight into my choice career as a game mechanics/cinematics programmer/director, but it would be a relatively dumb choice to just give up college for that. At some point I’d like to do CS research in the future, so I’m sticking to majors that have the “Computer Science” sticker on it for hire-ability and grad school.
As far as the financial deals go:
–UCI would cost me $18k w/out loans (amazing), but is in Irvine and is a public school (ew).
–UCLA and RPI would be about $34k with $5-$8k in loans per year (I could try living with my parents at UCLA to cut $14k, but honestly I’d used the saved money to buy a noose).
–RIT would be about $35-$36k (+ loans to bring it down to 25k), I don’t remember the financial offer very well but it isn’t terrible. I know their games program is ranked really highly but I looked at their facilities and they’re not that amazing aside from Co-OP (I’d be a CS major anyways, taking a minor in GAMEDD-MN)
Please help me solve my good yet bad problem; I don’t want to end up dropping out of college if I go. Thank you.
I’m from LA and its where my family is so every bone in my family is telling me to run away as far as possible. That’s kinda of my major qualm with both irvine and la right now.
^^ every bone in my body*
Also just curriculum wise I don’t want to fight everyone and their mothers to get classes; especially those ones that are outside of my major (i.e. In UCLA’s case, Digital Media Arts’ game dev classes).
RPI is a great school and arguably has one of the best game development programs in the country (http://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/top-50-game-design-schools-and-colleges-us-–-2015 and http://www.studica.com/top-game-design-and-animation-schools). It’s also very strong in CS and has good industry reputation and connections. Since you want to get out of LA, I’d go there. Plus it’s a much smaller school. While its game design program is ranked higher than RPI’s overall, a degree from RPI overall will arguably serve you better than one from RIT - given your cost will be the same.
In RPI’s case what I’m worried about is the lack of art focused people to work with and the absolutely horrid gender ratio (I dont want to be alone man). There also comes the issue of the fact no one really knows where or what RPI is, so I’d have to have a lot stronger of a portfolio than if I went to a big name like UCLA.
Engineering and computer people will know RPI
The companies you apply to are going to know RPI, whether average Joe does or not. That’s what matters.
Now, if your goal is to find employment in SoCal, then UCLA could provide you better opportunities for internships and connections. So UCLA isn’t a bad choice. But if you don’t want to stay in SoCal for college, then RPI will help you reach your goal just as well.
But yes, RPI is tech-focused, not art-focused. If you want a strong CS foundation in the backend of gave development, then go there. If you want to develop your artistic side and plan to make a career in the art/design side of game development, then better to stay in UCLA.
As for the RPI boy/girl ratio, if you make an effort to get out of your dorm room you’ll find plenty of girls to hang out with.
(My D is a freshman at RPI.)
The issue with the whole science vs art thing is that I am extremely dual disciplinary. I can barely draw, but can do almost any other art form withing game design (narrative, cinema, gameplay). My specific goal is to work at an indie company between both hard programming and gameplay design, and work mainly within the fluidity of game mechanics and the such. So if I go to UCLA, I’d get those classes but have to fight for them (I’m in engineering), but at RPI they would be a lot more scarce (I’m doing a GSAS and CS dual degree).
Did you look at the GSAS course list in the RPI catalog to see what they have that might interest you or what you’d take for a dual GSAS/CS major?
If you want to be working on game mechanics/engines, you’ll need hard core CS.
Yes, all of the usual CS topics (algorithms, operating systems, networks, databases, security, software engineering) and some that are particularly useful for games (graphics, artificial intelligence). Physics would also be helpful for some types of games. Of course, art and animation are certainly a good thing.
But also remember that the percentage of CS-related jobs in games is small, and the game industry and many of its companies are very cyclical, betting the company (and its jobs) on each new game becoming a big hit. It is best to get a strong base in the usual CS topics so that you have the option of other CS-related jobs if the game jobs do not pan out or are not to your liking.
You should give UCI more consideration. It has both a regular CS major and a games version. Neither are impacted, needing just 2.0 overall and prerequisite GPAs to get into, according to http://www.changeofmajor.uci.edu/CoM_ICS.html . UCI’s schedule at https://www.reg.uci.edu/perl/WebSoc indicates that the I&C classes are generally not completely full or overfull.
I understand that, but the distinct lack of an art focused game dev community beyond programmers would make it hard to find a fair share of designers. Both ucla and usc have no shortage of that, since they are dedicated programs to designing as well as hard computer science (USC also has the cross disciplinary CS Games, which was my choice major).
I know this, and intend to work in the indie scene because of it. I am already getting a CS base as to make sure I am hire-able outside of the game dev world. As far as an example goes for a potential career, “Thatgamecompany” is currently hiring and has a listing on their website called “Feel Engineer”, which works between programmers and designers in fine-tuning and implementation etc.
http://thatgamecompany.com/company/jobs/
The DMA or IMGD at UCLA and USC are optimal for this kind of knowledge on top of CS, but DMA from what I hear everywhere is a pain to get classes in (if you aren’t a DMA major–they don’t offer minors).