Top Colleges for Game Development/Design or Animation

I wondering what are some of the top colleges for game development and design or animation. Its pretty hard when looking at colleges and a lot do not have any game development degrees (at least the one ive looked at) so was wondering what some are. If you go to one how is the program that they have?

 

Most people in the forums recommend you get a general programming technical degree or certified in 3DS Max or Maya if you are more interested in art as these online-game universities charge too much and don't give you a lot of course hours in subject matters that make you employable in other jobs should the game industry tank or become oversaturated with workers.

The only one I've ever even heard of is Full Sail but I think that's just an online teaching business like udemy or lydia

 

I just recently met a bunch of game design graduates. It's fortunate, because I was considering picking up a game design qualification. Now I won't be. And I'd strongly reccomend a more traditional computer science degree for anyone else considering getting into games.

By the end of game school you should have an awesome portfolio, contacts in the industry, and multiple released games. The first step is to track down some recent graduates and make sure they have all of this stuff. And track the grads down yourself, don't let the school cherry pick the good ones for you.

You should also check out the entrance requirements. Schools that will take anyone are a big red flag. At the very least they should be asking for high math and physics results. The higher the entrance barrier, the more likely they are to have a good set of students. Don't fall for the marketing, game dev is a very technical field. Even with Unity it's not an 'everyone can do it if they try' kind of field.

You should also get familiar with the local industry. What are you going to do after you graduate? Are there jobs advertised at junior levels with your degrees engine and language? Another of the recent graduates I met had specialised in Unreal. There are currently no established studios in the city I love in working with unreal, it's almost exclusively a Unity town. You should also check what qualifications are mentioned in the job ads. Are there actually people looking for qualified game designers? Or do the advertisements mention more traditional degrees?

 

University of the internet.

 

Most of the "game-centric" educational programs are from for-profit schools, and are generally not worth the money they're printed on. If you want a game degree that someone will take seriously, get one from a major university. University of Southern California's game-degree program is probably one of the most respected. Texas A&M has a Visualization program that is fairly highly ranked. (it's part of their design school, and is technically an architecture degree)

A degree from a legit university in almost any field is going to be more valuable than a game-focused degree from an "Art Institute." Get an art degree if you want to move into producing game art, most major universities have art programs. Get a computer science degree if you want to move into the technical side of things. ALL major universities will offer some manner of computer science program.

 

Some of the people I worked with said they had very negative experience with graduates from that particular university (people had poor skills but were full of themselves, basically). So that one is probably best avoided.

------

//opinion
I think that traditional animation course can help a lot, because traditional animation skill translates into 3d animation, and it is noticeable. That's a good option if someone wants to go Animator route, instead of trying to do everything.

 

ALL OF THE ABOVE POSTERS ARE CORRECT! - HEED THEIR ADVICE

I graduated as valedictorian with a Digital Entertainment and Game Design degree from ITT-tech (USA) and was requested to be on their program advisory council, and let me say the cons far outweigh the minor gains they offered. Their credits do NOT transfer, so by the time you realize their education is near worthless you're trapped. Plus $88,000 (+interest = nearly $160K) in student loan debt really f***s up your life for the next 10-12 years! ($1000-1300 a month in payments)

A co-worker graduated from Full Sail and while he is far less vocal than i am my impression is that he wasn't too impressed with them either.

Another co-worker graduated from a state college with a specialization in 3D Art and she appears more pleased with her experience.

Neither of us work directly in the AAA games industry, but rather a parallel gaming technology industry.

I've heard things about Vancouver Film School (VFS), but have no concrete information.
I've heard things about University of Advanced Technology (UAT), but have no concrete information.

The following advice has been spoken by much more influential industry professionals than myself.

Designing
This one's different, but either of the below degrees along with some form of creative writing specialization, but be advised, one doesn't usually get hired directly into a designer position without industry experience.

Coding
Get a Bachelors of Science (BSC) in computer programming or software engineering and then specialize in your desired field be it Ai, Shaders, low level engines, etc...

Art
Get a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) with a specialization in 3d or your desired field. The BFA will teach you color theory, shape, form, lighting, everything an artist needs to know. The specialization will teach you how to implement it in 3d.



Masters degrees are optional but should build upon your chosen specialization.

Online classes are terrible and you don't learn effectively through them. (Unless its English Lit)

The above educations allow/enables you to transition into and out of the game industry easily and ensures you have the skills to compete while supporting yourself/your family

To save money, take all of your general education classes at community tech ensuring your credits will transfer, then shift to a state university to take the technical classes and practice, practice, practice.

The polycount forum (http://polycount.com/) is also a great resource, but i warn you they can be asses there so lurk and read!


TLDR;
//Don't shortchange yourself, do the reading/research or you will suffer (I recommend 40-60 hours of research minimum)

ITT-Tech - Stay the hell away! -> Google it
Art institute - Stay the hell away! -> Google it
Full Sail - Not Recommended.
VFS - Unknown
UAT - Unknown
Private for profit Institutes - Err on the side of hell no.

BSC in programming with specialization or BFA with 3d specialization.



I know that i come off strong on this topic, but it's because i am surviving (not living) the fallout and don't want any more youth to keep being screwed over by for profit colleges. We need education reform more than anything as else the College accreditation system is broken/ineffective.

 

See that's why i have a basic ass Asc degree. Ain't no way i'm paying no absurd amount of money, then to get paid where almost half the damn pay is for loans.

 

I got a BFA in graphic design from a more traditional liberal arts university with more than a hundred years of history and full accreditation. All of my credits from this school transfer pretty much everywhere. While a BFA isn't exactly the most useful of degrees in this day and age, the fact that it was a liberal arts education gave me a solid grounding in numerous different disciplines, and helped considerably in teaching me to research on my own. So when I found the market bereft of graphic design opportunities, I cracked open some books, learned how to animate in Flash, and got a job doing that. Later I cracked open another book, learned how to program in AS3, and got a job doing that.

Because the college I went to was the more traditional education route, there were plenty of opportunities for scholarships. I got a very nice academic scholarship thanks to my solid grades in high school and a very nice score on my SATs, and paid less than $15,000 USD for an advanced degree. (full four-year course) I've since transitioned into a much more technical career with no significant stumbling blocks. Most of my employers don't care that much that I don't have a technical degree so long as my coding examples are solid. The fact that I have a college degree at all gets my foot in the door for the interview.

While a more game-focused degree program from a technical or art institute might seem flashy and high-tech, it generally isn't worth it. Go the more traditional education route, take a relatively light class load, and spend your free time boning up on game development and working on personal game dev projects. I double-minored in college, and I still had enough time to teach myself 3D modeling and animation on the side. A 16-17 hour course load for most majors should leave you with a fairly significant amount of free time to work on your own stuff.

 

The first question is: What country does TunaBandit live in?

 

This

 

I thought about self-education and online courses at first, but then asked a couple of graduates who already have paid internships and essaywriter part-time jobs in game dev companies and decided to get a degree. I was choosing between these two: Game Design & Development at Rochester Institute of Technology and Computer Science and Game Design at DigiPen Institute of Technology. In case someone needs contact details or application requirements, you may PM me, I'll send the materials, cause I searched a lot for those.

 

I have a couple of daughters who currently work for us in our studio with clients and commissions. They start college soon and we are looking at programs at the local 2-year college first that transfer to a 4 year university. They have been creating art professionally now for a few years and do very well. One is choosing the illustration route, the other the 3d modeling/animation route. They already have gotten job offers, but not quite ready to take a train into NYC. lol

What we did discover was that many of the local public colleges do offer game development programs, usually a mix of design and coding. I am not sure how this would transfer, but starting with that and then going on to a university CS degree or IT would probably be a nice combination.

Most of all, do not go into debt. Sometimes something happens and you have to leave school. Now you have student loans but no final degree. I have seen that happen so often. I also have friends with game design degrees who are struggling to get jobs. Some did, and were the first laid off from AAA companies.

 

I was wondering this myself actually. I've always wanted to get a more formal education in game development somehow, whether it's computer science, programming, game design, or something related. I've had trouble finding colleges that actually specialize in game design.

On the programming/game design side of things, the only college I've heard of, as Altenburger said above, is pretty much the DigiPen Institute of Technology. It's one of the few that actually offers a degree in Game Design specifically.

I thought there would be a lot more, but there doesn't seem to be. I guess a "generic" computer science degree is what most people go into? I'm kind of asking and guessing, not stating. Because I'd like to know as well.

 

Worth clarifying that this is geography specific. American student debt is a killer. Australian and NZ student debt is more of a mild inconvenience. Not sure about other countries.

 

At my University I teach design but do personal research in gaming and have made games, so I agree with most of the above, USC is a well respected game program. That said, I asked our Computer Science head why there are not more game programs at Universities. He said that while it might be a student magnet, he prefers to teach classic Computer Science that will lead students toward a steady job in industry, i.e. at large corporations. Our Computer Science is part of the Engineering school, so he may be biased in that way..

He didn't feel the game industry had the same potential for a long-term, steady career and the same level of demand as the corporate world. My advice would be the same as above, get a general CS degree or a BFA if you are interested in the art side of things. But, to really get into the game industry don't rely on school to do that, pursue and learn the game side of things on your own. Make games, participate in game jams using what you have learned in school. That 'extra' work is where you'll actually learn the specific skills needed in making games. I think that's true on both the art and coding side of things.

A former student of mine is working at Blizzard and his degree was in sculpture. But, it was his work outside of school that really got him noticed and hired.

 

Assuming a two or three year program duration and support for people starting from scratch*, I don't think that last bit is a realistic expectation.

* With regard to programming / 3D art skills, not math and science.

 

This is incredibly useful, but it's also a minefield of rubbish, and the people who are just starting out are least able to tell the good from the bad. They also don't know what's important to learn and what isn't, or in what order. I think that's where a formal education from a reputable school is useful, because it'll equip you with the foundation skills so that you can effectively evaluate where to go from there yourself.

Which brings us to...

I definitely agree that the school does not have to be game specific. I've surprisingly had good experience with a local game-specific school, but that very much seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

 

I don't think there is any specific value in 'game' related degree.
It is one of the cheapest skills you can learn in your own time. Grab any PC and you ready to work on.
Market is pretty saturated.
Everyone is self proclaimed game designer, with tons of ideas.
But value lies in portfolio, or something to showcase, if you looking for getting hired.
College Pacman, or Tetris project, wont make a cut. That is why learning general programming is more important, as from there, you can go any direction.

You are better get any other technical skill, which broad your knowledge and somehow overlaps with game dev., yet leave you with an opportunity, to go different career route. You won't be able do it other way round.

To be somehow successful in that fuel from the college level, student would need be interested in programming and game dev already long before starting college. Is not something I believe, can be learns in 2 years or so. Is just too many aspects involved.

@Kiwasi, I know in UK students loans also are quite friendly. It does not strain's students, if they will stay on low wage for next 25 years, until is waved off, if not paid off. Unless something changed with new loans.

 

Absolutely true, thank you for the clarification, Kiwasi. Student debt here is destroying the future of so many. It is why we have a generation of young people who struggle, and many of them with college degrees.

 

Game design is something you can learn without going to college. Use Coursera or similar course offerings available in your country. Get your degree in Computer Science, Software Development, or Digital Art. You can use those degrees outside of game development, just in case.