<p>Looking for a video game design program for my son who had an IEP in high school and has benefitted from extra time on the SATs, school tests and assignments.</p>
<p>He has been accepted to Becker College, with a scholarship, in Worster, MA, and to Monmouth and waitlisted at Drexel. Becker is clearly the most affordable and they said they do help with learning disabilities. The school is very small though. Any thoughts on this school?</p>
<p>Monmouth does not offer a major in design, only a concentration.</p>
<p>Which aspect of game design, the software aspect or the story telling aspect?</p>
<p>For the software aspect, it is generally a better idea to go to a school with a decent computer science degree program, taking electives in computer graphics, artificial intelligence, art / animation, and physics (mechanics).</p>
<p>My son is interested in designing video games after he graduates college, but neither he nor I think it makes any sense to major in video game design: the field is too narrow to offer flexible job opportunities and the heyday of expensive console games is quickly coming to a close. </p>
<p>We think the future lies in small entrepreneurial teams of 1-3 people that can make a decent living selling iPhone/Android games for $1-$3 each to tens of thousands of impulse buyers. Of course, if you generalize your skill set and you can program games in Java and Objective-C, you can also program business apps which are generally a lot less complex and would help pay the bills day to day to smooth out erratic sales income.</p>
<p>Certainly the big console games will still be around for hardcore gamers, but the employment positions available will become increasingly limited while the supply of newly-minted graduates will continue to increase. The vast majority of graduates 3-4 years from now will not find employment in their desired major: this is as obvious and predictable as what happened to digital graphic design after the 2000-2001 dotcom bust. Today you have plenty of folks in graphic design working for nothing but a 1-in-20 chance of getting paid at such places as 99designs, in the vague hope of building a portfolio and landing a few long-term clients.</p>
<p>LI,
I believe that most “video game design majors” are really called " interactive media" majors. They are not for designing console games but for creating all sorts or interactive media experiences. Additionally, although USC tends to separate the art and the programming and the game levels and strategy, I think that many programs are now interdisciplinary with required classes in both programming and art. The interactive media majors are for creating experiences on you iPhone/iPad/android/google glasses and whatever is currently in development, not just console games.</p>
<p>That’s good to hear, YoHoYoHo. There will always be opportunities in entertaining people, even in a lousy economy. It’s just best, if you are planning years ahead of time, to gain a broader range of generalized expertise rather than try to focus completely on a niche that could disappear quickly.</p>
<p>My son has a similar profile but he’s a sophomore in high school. He’s more into the art and creative side of game design, but I still don’t know what the next two years will bring. He’s also a musician, so he may end up majoring in music. I’m hoping he’ll be taking some art and multimedia classes at the local community college during his last two years in high school (we homeschool) so he can get a taste for what he really might like to do.</p>
<p>I had not heard of either Becker or Monmouth. Some of the schools with game design/illustration programs I’ve looked at:</p>
<p>USC
UT Dallas
Oklahoma Christian Univ.
CMU</p>
<p>I’d need to see my son score very well on the SAT (will take it for the fist time in June) and succeed in community college classes before I’m convinced he could be successful in full time college.</p>
<p>He will be taking this class during the summer; he’s <em>very</em> excited about it since he plays LOTR:</p>
<p>What I have heard, from people in the video game industry, is that “video game majors” will not give your son an advantage in the industry. Go with computer science or whatever other aspect of making video games he’s interested in. (Composing the music, 3-D modeling, or whatever.)</p>
<p>I’ve also heard that it’s an incredibly tough, grueling industry, especially for newcomers. It pays lower than similar programming jobs that are not game-related (like spreadsheets and whatnot). There are so many young men who will do anything to be in the video game industry that the workforce is undervalued. I have heard that this video is fairly accurate (aside from the robots): [So</a> You Want to Work in the Video Game Industry - YouTube](<a href=“So You Want to Work in the Video Game Industry - YouTube”>So You Want to Work in the Video Game Industry - YouTube)</p>
<p>They are also outsourcing a lot of the programming jobs for game design (as with everything else). I have a good friend from highschool who worked in that field for 20 years and managed the creation of some VERY famous and popular games. He was laid off when they decided to outsource and he has been kind of struggling since then. He used to have a free e-book online about how to get into the industry but he is charging for it now that his work is more sporadic.</p>
<p>Yes, we had a friend who worked at Lucus Arts. Hours were awful, lots of stress, and generally it sounded much better than it turned out to be. There was a class action by some of its workers for exploitation and bad working conditions of something. </p>
<p>S’s roommate was USC video game engineering major. We lost track of him but when we visited, he was doing a lot of testing games for bugs as assignments. </p>
<p>D says interactive media is trying to figure out medical and other applications for imaging. Her cinema friends are involved in this aspect. It is very competitive to get into USC interactive media and I’m not sure about job prospects.</p>
<p>The game industry can be a wild ride for the companies (which can mean a wild ride for the employees of those companies) due to the companies having to bet on which games in development will be the big hits. If the company’s games this season are sales duds, that can mean cutbacks because the company does not have the money. The seasonal nature of game sales and the short shelf life of new games also puts constraints on development and QA schedules that would not necessarily be present in other industries.</p>
<p>That is why doing CS is a better idea than doing a specialized game design major. The CS major has many more non-game options to fall back on if the game job is not so good. Also, if you look at game company web sites in the jobs sections, you will see a lot more jobs for CS majors than for game design majors.</p>
<p>The gaming industry is growing exponentially but not the way you would think - not in leisure games. The growth is in gamification of other experiences, such as medical care as mentioned above. For example, applications with gaming elements to help people manage chronic conditions in concert with their health care team.</p>
<p>My husband is an executive with a very large video game company. There are many opportunities for entry level positions in design, research and QA. What most people don’t realize though is that these jobs (with a BA) don’t really pay very well. The hours are very long and there is a lot of pressure to produce. Your fortunes rise and fall with the success of the particular game that you are working on - and the results depend on a lot of factors out of your control. Many game studios are closing because the industry is so crowded and sales are falling. Social media/tablet gaming is hot, but again, entry level jobs don’t pay particularly well. My husband is always looking for qualified people with Masters degrees in graphic design, level design or software design. Oh, and he particularly needs people with degrees in User Experience/Human Computer Interaction.</p>
<p>Hm, my sister (probably 10-15 years ago) worked as a producer in the video game industry and she made good money. Her degree was in R/TV.</p>
<p>As you say, times change! This is good to know. None of my son’s interests (game design, art, music) seem to be money makers. He did mention diabetes research (he’s a type 1 diabetic), though. Maybe I’ll helicopter him in that direction. :-)</p>
<p>Many jobs in the video game industry do pay well - just not typically entry level. But, of course there are always exceptions. And, yes, the industry has really changed in the last 10 years. A lot of consolidation of studios (and closures). One of my H’s former employers, at one time probably the number 4 or 5 publisher in the US, just declared bankruptcy, sold their titles and gave employees 24 hours to clear out.</p>
<p>What about math, given that he is a math major at MIT? Or different son?</p>
<p>Be aware that it is fiercely competitive to get into good biology and biomedical research jobs and careers (or into medical school). Biology majors have rather poor job and career prospects at graduation.</p>
<p>My 30 year old son is a video game producer for Sony. He makes an ungodly amount of money…and he is still so young. He got on without any degree in CS or graphic design. He has a BA in communications from our local state flagship. He started with video game testing, and worked his way up from there. Of course, he had horrible hours with no pay for years. Because he graduated from college debt free he was able to work for nothing and support himself somehow. He has always been incredibly hard working, creative and is a bright ADHD kid. He says he can’t imagine doing anything else. He produces top selling computer games and he says there has been NO signs of sales falling off, in fact the opposite. But, it may be coming, who knows.</p>
<p>Yes, different son. I have a 2015er who’s a 180 degree from my son at MIT! He won’t be applying to selective colleges, I’m almost positive.</p>
<p>5boys, that’s quite an amazing story! My sister, I believe, had very good hours and, while it wasn’t insane money, I believe it was very good money. (Not sure if it was over 100K, but I’m betting it was close and in our house, that’s an amazing amount of money) She worked at Backbone Entertainment and maybe one other place. Not even sure that exists anymore! She had fun in the early days of CDRoms. Anyone remember Living Books? ;-)</p>
I have a 2015er who’s a 180 degree from my son at MIT!