Should You Get A Degree In Game Dev? (My Story)
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
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You're the best
I hate to say it Thomas but I think maybe you just didn't do enough comprehensive research on the program and ended up in a really irrelevant study instead of one that could teach you useful software. I agree with most of what you said in this video but you might have gotten an extraordinarily useless degree.
I do agree with what you say. It really comes down to the cost-benefit, there are a lot of degrees (like your example nursing) where you cannot get a job as that profession without the degree. But game development is not like that, and many universities that are even trying to present a degree on the subject may not be doing it right anyhow, as their method of building a module to present can take long enough that the subject is out of date already by the time the student is in the chair. Porfolio is the most important part by far as you stated. I think if you are going to a larger company, having a degree 'in addition' to a good porfolio would increase your chances of getting a job. But is it worth that price? Even here in the UK where degree's tend to be a lot cheaper, I think I would try to encourage anyone to think and research the matter well before going into a university.
If I am correct i beleive you published on nitendo switch which seems to be like black magic ,no tutorials nothing ,do you have any resources or tutorials that helped you with exporting to nitendo ?
Nah its not dude xD, only reason im going, is to do something that allowes me to skip mandatory military of my homecountry.
If I manage to skip it for another 2-3 years, I am free from that military crap, lulz
gg great vid man!
I got a masters degree in music, now I'm a full-time programmer, because that's how that works.
Also got (two) masters in music and immediately 180'd and went into solo game development. Great use of $37,000!
xD
...why
@@phin6484 at least it was fun lol. Its interest free here in NZ and just comes out of our taxes, so probably not as bad as it is in US. But still....
@@broganking9830 True! I'll definitely always love being a musician and made a lot of friends along the way. NZ is awesome I want to visit some day!
@@broganking9830 How hard was it to get your first job and how did you get it?
@@valroz not hard at all. i literally got the first job i applied for. but to be honest there aren't many game developers in my city, so i cant imagine many people applied. I think I got job because I showed a lot of passion and I had a video and project of stuff i could show off that I was working on in Unity... I think that is key. Having a something to show.
"Don't just listen to what other people tell you to do"
Do I listen to that?
If you don't then it means you should listen to what other people tell which means you should listen to this which means you shouldn't ... !!
Technically he's not telling you to do anything, that's the only way out of the paradox anyway
@@jwri95 well he also wrote "except me"
@@igamse oh did he? I didn't notice
I assume you're joking lol but just in-case you're not I'll help clarify.. Basically, get advice from a bunch of different sources and make up your own mind. Don't 'just' listen. Nobody knows your situation, wants/needs and dreams like you do. Also, everybody made their decisions under their own unique circumstances, so don't assume what happened for them will happen for you. You have to do the grueling research which can come from many biased and/or conflicting/opposing viewpoints and experiences. Hope this helps.. or if it was a joke don't mind me XD
It not a just piece of paper. It’s a $40,000 piece of paper. XD
Yeah but you can't sell it
@@cornyboi4434 yeah, but you can't sell money too, but it's usefull...
(or, just like money, you can trade it...?)
No, it's a $40,000 + a few years of your time piece of paper.
But Time is money. Not paper cash is money.
Especially if you didn't learn any new skills or apply them to anything.
Mate, can you share some light about building a portfolio in gaming area?
Cheers!
Build, build, build. Build small project or full games that show off what your specialties are about, and put them on a website of your choosing such as wordpress, wixx ect.
Game Jams are nice.
6:51 Why didn't you tell me this 13 years ago? I'm 32 and so frustrated that I wanted to make games but I let my dad shut me down about it. I should have just done it and made it work. I'm working on it now though. Hopefully I'll redeem all my wasted time.
I went to uni to earn a degree in Computer science. My mind is very opened now, and my job has been very relaxing that I've been able to try many ideas. I'm 42, and I started learning Unity last year in June. In a couple of weeks, I will release my game on Andriod soon, God willing. It's never too late.
Keep going Captain
Old reply, but it’s not too late to start! Just find a couple of tutorials on unity
Bro im in the same exact situation 32 now and going to finally start working on becoming a full time game dev started late cause I listened to my dad
Rip
I got a degree in game dev for about $80,000USD way back in 2010(UOIT, Canada) and the answer is basically, NO DON'T DO IT
is there such degree in India
Wtf?
@@TechGameX to my knowledge, I don't think so. There's plenty of diplomas in animation/game programming tho, which are equally worthless imo
@Chipmunk If you're not sure about what you want to do after graduation, then a comp sci degree is the safest bet. With the recent uptick in ML/AI fields, focusing on programming is just about the safest tech degree you can get.
You can just learn C++/C# on the side by experimenting with Unity/UE4.
@@TechGameX not worth it trust me
Not gonn lie. My degree was worth it. Went for motion graphics and they taught me graphic design, motion graphics, animation, character creation, modeling, rigging, video editing and much more. Stuff I did not want to do, but glad I did. I learned motion graphics and so much more and now game development but did that on my own.
Honestly curious, what is the name of the degree that you took?
Hi I’m literally attending SNHU doing graphic design and media arts but really wanted to head into game development but it’s courses for on the campus. Are you saying you taught yourself game development if yes can you please share some info with me how you did so?
@@queenlegacy132lol super random question, but I’m having thoughts of going down this path for college next year. As a high schooler, did you learn anything related to what you’re studying right now? Like- preparing early?
Two equally true quotes, albeit ~25 years apart:
"“You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.” -- Good Will Hunting
"The last guy who got paid for having a degree in Game Design is the guy teaching your Game Design course." -- Razorfist
M e trying not to cry because I hate this course but this made me laugh a little
Here is honestly the best advice I can give:
Do not get a Game Design Degree. This degree has not developed enough to be standardized in todays society.
If you want to be a game programmer, get a degree in Computer Science. Even if you do not pursue a career in game developing, Computer science will open up other doors for various careers.
thx
I totally agree
Truth
Same with art - when I first saw this channel months ago, I could tell from the games that there was professional illustrator experience behind it. I'm sure they're fun too, but the striking art is the first thing that catches your attention. I think Thomas underestimates just how much seeped in while he was in all those art classes. Without talent it's not gonna work, obviously, but honing talent requires *critique* which you're not getting watching SkillShare or UA-cam vids.
I am gonna go the extra mile and say go for marketing or economics. Sure you can learn how to make video games with various tutorials, standalone books, internet classes etc., but learning how to manage your video game studio's economic stuff is very valuable and you won't need to depend on anyone in the first place. You will be completely independent in every aspect of the indie studio.
It's not worth no 25 30k when you can learn all the same skills for free. For real no one is going to judge your game creation skills based off a degree, it's entirely based off your content you've developed, weather or not it's good content.
Well known gaming companies like Blizzard do require a BA with a few years experience (depending on the job description). You can look on their career pages.
Trying to find a job with a self taught skill set is going to be a lot harder than trying with a degree
@@dmfaccount1272 Not for indie development though. In general, they do sometimes require a degree for programming and some other parts if you want a job in the bigger companies, but this doesn't apply if you make games by your own or with a small team. The indie industry is great because of that, anyone can join...
@@dmfaccount1272 I can confirm, starting out is pretty hard without a degree, then you stack up experience and skill and company doesn't care anymore. While most do have a degree, there a few at the top of my company without a degree.
Bro company’s won’t touch you if you don’t have a degree all the big ones require it
If only we could go back and explain life to our younger self.
this is good information for a 15 year old like myself
Im 27 unemployed and Im looking at all my faiedl attempts to code a game (because I was stupid and tought I had to code everything myself and blently refused to use things like Unity). I lost so much time having half a 2D engine coded. And a bad one.
Now I want to go in this adventure all again. But this time using all the tools I have and not being a code snob like I used to be.
I feel a bit scared because I don't wanna waste my time like I did it in the past.
Downloaded unity but I started a staring contest with the icon. Kinda lost lol
I don't even know what advice im looking for or why im even writing this lol
Whenever life kicks you in the balls, remember that "life keeps going on, every thing in this life will go the way it is planned" So whatever you did will not matter because life will change without asking for you opinion. if you failed then maybe it is better to fail at 27 and realize your mistakes rather than failing at 40. Just start now and build some skill. I am 18 years old, and I probably won't attend college because I can't afford it (at the moment), so I started learning making music for my game, drawing, 3d modelling, game designing, programing and story writing(the most important thing in my opinion). I want this period to be as fruitful as I hope so. Whenever I lose courage, I tell myself that if I don't start now, I will regret it 3-2 years later, because I would've developed some skills.
So in a nutshel: Don't be scared, it is not worth it. as I said, life will keep going, maybe now is your time to shine. If you start thinking like this then I believe you would be successful. I regreted wasting my time in highschool not developing games, sitting my ass on the sofa playing ps4. But later I realized that game designers play alot of games, and maybe I was on the right track for my whole life.
Good luck.
Im 24 hardly get times to work for my passion. Still there are only tutorials on my youtube playlist. Never lose hope.
whatever happens never lose hope bro, keep working and develop your skills and i wish u all the best
Me: *gives papers & diploma to sign up for infromatic technologies college*
UA-cam: *informs me about this video 3 weeks later*
Me again: *anxiety slowly kicks in*
I went to UCSC for a B.S. in games. I come from a low-income family and had 0 EFC (expected family contribution). It cost me $32,000 for 5 years.
It felt like a computer science degree with only like 4 classes where I had the opportunity to make games in a team.
I definitely relate to Thomas's points. A lot of what I learned in my classes do not apply to my career I have now. My advice I'd like to give is to really research these game dev university programs, beyond just what they offer and what they cost. It's really eye opening to actually talk with the people already going through the program to hear what their experience is like too.
I agree that going thru college for a games degree is not needed for a career in games, because everything one could possibly need to go into gamedev is readily available online for free. You just need the drive, perseverance, and resources to do it.
But like Thomas said, I wasn't fully aware of what I was capable of at the time, and I was too immature to make myself learn what I needed to learn when I was 18-21 years old. Being at UCSC surrounded me with like-minded peers who just wanted to make games too, and that helped me find people to collaborate with together. It was a lot more effective than if I just went to meetups alone, because we went thru the same classes together and had camaraderie by proximity.
For me personality, it was worth it, because I knew I didn't know anything about game dev when I changed from a Biology degree, and was better off than trying to figure things out on my own.
What was most worthwhile was going to a tech bootcamp for mobile game development during the summer, because that gave me the hands on learning I needed to spark that passion in me and get me chasing after mobile game development with all my might.
So like Thomas says, whether or not one should get a degree in game dev depends on the kind of person that person is.
Hi and thanks for the information. I live in Georgia and have no formal education. What would you think would be a good place to start here and how do you find groups to join?
Agreed. I always dreamt to be a game dev since I was a kid with a C64. University in my home town wasn't exciting and I first wasted 2 years in the wrong one, then 7 doing Communication Studies, just to get the damn piece of paper. Then went to England for a Master in Computer Animation, still couldn't find a job in Italy, so I got another Master in Media Content Design in Florence. After that, I finally found a job in an advertisement company in Milan, but in spite of my winding path, those guys needed a Unity developer to make some interactive projects, so, thanks to my proactive attitude I started delivering content through a trial -> error -> success pattern.
This year I dropped everything and found a job in Helsinki, one of the most lively environments for games development, and I've got the title of Senior Developer in a gaming company. What was my University? UA-cam & willpower.
wish I was born in Europe. I could get lots of opportunities for game development career.
I know this comment is really old, but just wondered if you have any advice for taking first step? I am considering a career change from audio engineering. Is it just a matter of having a Unity project/portfolio to show? I am from the UK, if that makes any difference
@@K3dzz Well, my suggestion is to study what clean code is, S.O.L.I.D. principles, good architecture for Unity games and stuff like these. Then apply for whatever openings you can find, be prepared to be tested and rejected a good number of times. It's stressful and disheartening, but it's the only way. Test after test you will improve and eventually land some job in the industry. It takes patience and time. Good luck!
@@mirkoson I'm studying game development at uni but probably, at the end of the day, I'll be a programmer because it seems pretty hard to get a job as a developer. Do you think I stand a chance as a South American? I really want to be a good programmer and I'm thinking in leaving the country. If you have a piece of advice I'll appreciate it!! :D
Edit: I'm working on my portfolio. I've made 3 short games and I'm starting with the 4 one.
@@firulaisdg9352 well, I can't really say for other places, but in Europe, and specifically here in Finland there's opportunities for sure, and in this field it doesn't matter where you are from and English is enough to work as a developer. I have colleagues from South America, so why not?
When I went to college, I noticed that many people were there to learn the skills that they could learn else where or on their own, but completely ignoring all the things that that the structure of college provides, such as working on work that isnt your passion project, and being reasonable and realistic about creating scopes, integrating into a team, using scrums and trello etc to keep a team stay on task and divid up the project into milestones and baby steps, most students seem to think if they can get really really good at one thing they'll get hired anywhere, but spend NONE of that time learning how to network, how to understand the dynamics of joining a team, those are the skills you are there to learn, not how to navigate unity, photoshop and a 3D software.
I would say it is ESPECIALLY important for most people to eventually go to college because despite having good ideas, most people do not know how to organize their work, share it with peers, integrate into a team, nor does everyone have the skillset to build such a good brand on youtube and an email list or whatnot to build a community to integrate into.
At the end of the day, all art, media and technology is about COMMUNICATING INFORMATION, and most people get way to caught up in being some sort of "unique artist" instead of learning how to create true dialogue between them, their team and their audience.
ALSO DEADLINES holy shit learning deadlines and how to work under pressure is also important
Im 13 right now, Game Design Is Clearly My Passion(for now at least) i started working on my biggest project to date about a month ago, i hope i can prove to my parents and especially myself that i dont need a collage to pursue my dreams, thanks for an amazing video as usual Thomas!
same mate! im also creating a big project and want to Persue game development. well tho im only 14 years old i see myself making games.. im still afraid to ask my parents coz they are really strict in my future coz well.. not to be racist but they are asians...
im going to tell them my passion for game development and ask their opinions
tommorow..
wish me luck lad :)
ImProbablyThatPunchguyOnYT Good luck man, good luck
@@improbablythatpunchguyonyt7782 how that turn out lol
if you go to college by force or pressure just major in computer science
do everything you want to do with games on the side. constantly research software engineering and understand algorithm and system programming/ ux design. learn the basic fundamentals of programming structure and good practices to do. this way regardless of if you are able to make your dream a reality before you graduate you have a solid foundation for software engineering that is useful for any tech company. This will allow you to have so many freedoms during your career to try and be successful. keep working at it and don't give up.
I got a degree in motion graphics and animation which led me to game dev. School definetely gave me the discipline to get it done. I wouldnt be where I am without it. There was a time when all this info online wasn't there so school was the option, but now there is a ton of content with the internet.
This video literally came at the most perfect time for me, thank you!
I think it’s so interesting to see how different the educational route is in different countries. In Germany you can study “Game Development” or “Game Design” at almost no costs. I think the problem with this system is that the education maybe isn’t valued as much, and a lot of people drop off early.
Interesting. Education seems to be very different across different countries and regions!
Paid for by tax dollars you mean with less accountability on the part of the college in question (this depends). Not saying it isn't valuable, it just limits choice and assumes the productivity output per capita will make up for the expense to the avg. citizen. As described in this video, his particular experience didn't offer enough worth for the 4 years he could've been spending building a game and company.
Mine cost 120K dude- luckily I had my GI bill that payed for it, however I could never recommend ever spending that much on a "for Profit" school. School was very good in many aspects, as in the work environment and the deadlines. The core art fundamentals and the networking as well are benefits too. Other than that, the school will NOT prepare you to be ready for the industry. They only expose you to it and all the work must be done on your own accord. I pushed myself and did way more work than what was assigned and I'm fortunate to have been able to gain a lot from it and be able to get work. Most everything I learned was from on-line and pushing myself everyday.
That's great that you had school payed for! Definitely agree with you about the networking benefits, and yeah it's definitely hard work that pays off.
I currently am about to graduate with a degree in game design. After 5 years in college, 90% of what I know now about game development happened in the last 2 semesters. Its basically 4 years of filler and simple theoretical concepts of game design. I dont have a job yet, though i have started applying for jobs. Though most of the jobs I am competing for are also being competed for by CS majors. Though from previous experience, its who you know and where you are at the right time. Thats what gets you into the industry. You gotta know the right people, and be in the right place at the right time.
As someone who is grinding through 150 hours of udemy courses to get official certs through the unity platform to ultimately produce my own content and even get a job in game development industry, this is very inspirational. I've been a manufacturing engineer in the automotive world for 6 years now without a degree (tech school ftw) and recently decided to actually try to work towards a career that I WANT to do. Thank you!
I got a dagree in game dev, UCF. It was not worth it and most of my peers sux. Sadly graduating doesn't mean you are good at game dev. By the way i do tutorials for new game devs.
Lmao I'm really happy I live in Norway and get education for totally free (not meaning to brag, just reflected on it).
Great thoughts man. Really glad to see you successful and happy!
I really appreciate you sharing this story... :D
Also, digging the hair!
Got a degree in animation and am becoming a game developer.
You have some beautiful artwork in your game.
gee, I'm not reaaly good at BSing through the college :(
It’s taking me almost three years to decide on whether I want to be focusing the majority of my time on either graphic design, coding, story telling, music, etc, etc , etc. Spending up to 40k in school would have been a tremendous risk for myself and family to figure that out. Instead Im learning from home and utilizing resources from all over the Internet.
Yeah it's definitely a challenge to pick. I'm glad you are going for it!
same I am also confused which one to choose, so after all these years what did you choosed?
@@kushal6065 Hey right now I'm leaning more towards accredited Certificate programs , online non- colledge courses, and apprenticeships. I've had four years of university following the creative writing degree to game design masters degree program pipeline. I've acquired accolades I'm grateful for due to my university and its helped me so much at becoming a fiction writer which has always been my bread and butter and what I most want to do in the gaming industry. There's other alternatives now and at 23 myself I feel there's no better time to explore every reasonable and available avenue.
@@chantlmcclary6419 plz guide me or motivate me on how to find my true passions and make that passion my career. I'm confused as hell
@@kushal6065 Okay tell me what u like doing and what ur passionate about we'll figure something out together while we're on here.
bro this type of videos always make me so confused because college in my country is like 700$ per year for everyone..
I'm not even 1 month away from graduating from high school and I'm already rethinking about my life choices lmao
Really appreciate the brutal honesty. I really want to do Game Development, but I also feel like I'm fighting alot of stuff that's out of my control right now too. Sorry if that sounds vague
I am 17 almost 18, I want to do Game Dev but I don't know anything about it rn. Should I go to college for it since I don't have any knowledge rn or is there a better way?
Thomas you are right I am a university student18 years old studying mechatronics engineering
while my really interest is making games
i want to say that we have not to follow the flock
I am going to take your advice and i'll try to establish my own company from this momment thank you thomas so much !z
Well take my advice,
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OS USELESS THINGS !!
People will keep saying that you are in the best moments in your life now but you will regret it later and other things, so don't listen to them. Some others, if they are interested on you, will keep taking you with them in different events and interesting projects which is so great and you will get a great experience but be sure to not lose your program (which happened to me), I studied 3 months at University then I blocked my year (wasn't able to do that at the beginning (didn't want to break my mom's heart)), I didn't believe how efficient I was in my first week and the tons of skill that I learned !! And I made my perfect program for learning, then the events and different projects came and I found myself lost after it. I'm not regretting dropping university and I still think it's my best decision but make sure to keep your program and your goals !!
Sorry for my english hope it was clear XD
I really appreciate your advice and I wish that you will achieve great things soon, please be a motivated person to make your dreams come true💙✌️
@@omaralkaley222
Thank you so much ! Good luck with your decisions !
I love how your life story is so much like my life story. Both passionate indie game dev, went to school then regretted it in the end, have a wife who is a nurse and have a baby girl ahah! It's crazy, but hey! Continue the good work, love your videos. Keep it up man!
Hey Thomas, can you make a video on you recommending e.g. Udemy courses for people looking to start with game development, and what to focus on first (Graphic Design, Character Art etc) in our endeavors.
Thanks for all the content!
On Udemy, the 2D and 3D game courses by Ben Tristem first and then his 60-hour Blender course.
@@bhutchin1996 sounds like fun.
I'm not a game developer, but I've made a few simple games. They don't even come close to your games of course, because they were made in a much shorter amount of time when I was much younger with less experience for school projects. I decided to become a web developer instead of a game developer because the game dev university was really far away and seemed really difficult. Also I know now that AAA game devs sometimes work 80-100 hours per week while I have problems working only 40 hours a week. My college was really easy compared to high school. No homework. I only got lessons on Thursday and got the rest of the week at college to do "homework". I didn't even finish most homework on time and spent most of my time playing Flash games on Kongregate at first and playing Minecraft later on. Yet I graduated by making a buggy insecure forum that wouldn't be acceptable anywhere. I don't think I learned any javascript now that I think of it. I might as well have read W3Schools myself without going to college. To be fair, I didn't pay any money for college. I got money from the government and they also paid for my college. It wasn't worth much money to begin with because the TEACHERS didn't even know web development and only on Thursday we could learn something new (although internet is always available) because they hired an external teacher once a week. I think I learned most things outside of college or improved my skills. Like JavaScript and Vue, which I didn't learn there. I would be angry if I paid tens of thousands of euros for that college. They did help me find a job though. That was the main advantage of that college. They need to find you a job or they don't get paid by the government. I was basically an unpaid intern for months and then worked for minimum wage until I got laid off because they literally had no work for me, even though I asked for something to do. Then I became lazy and I'm not doing anything productive at all anymore.
That sucks to hear. Colleges to help with connections but like you said sometimes it really isn't worth if for the information. I hope you get back on your feet soon, keep your head up!
I hope you all the best
For the game art degree people (and yes I know this video is specifically on game design) the question as to whether or not you need a degree in game art is a bit tricky.
Legally , no you don’t need a degree in game art, game art isn’t like nursing where you need to graduate from a nursing program and pass the nclex.
I will say however that on LinkedIn whenever I see someone post about getting their first game artist job, when I click on their profile and I scroll down to the education section , nearly every time , 99% of the time their degree is in game art . There is no accounting degree or history degree then game artist job unless the history degree holder went back to school for game art. The background for these new game artist is almost always in game art, it as if hr is exclusively hiring from the graduates that went to school for game art.
So we have to come to 2 conclusions: HR at x game studio does not bother to look at applicants that don’t have a degree in game art OR the people with a degree in game art tend to have better portfolios than the people with a a non game art degree and or no degree.
So to the artist trying to break into the industry without the game art degree, I think the question you have to ask yourself is how confident am I in my portfolio when I am competing against people with a portfolio and they also have a degree in game art ?
Thankyou so much for this advice...but in order to save my money and time by not wasting on game art degree.. what else should i do after my highschool. I need to graduate. And where should i learn game art....or maybe is there an affordable college that provides game art degree in the us.... please help.... , I'll be starting my highschool soon. I have 2 years left
@@Heer2210 If you don't want to go the college route you could look into some sort of online 3d art program to supplement your self learning. So courses from Vertex school, CG academy etc.. Now these courses are not cheap often around 700$-$1000 for one course. However the effectiveness of the online courses I think largely depends on the type of learner you are. Do you learn best by hands on, in person type instruction or are you able to pick up everything online on your own? In terms of affordable game art degrees, I would look into a "normal" college that has a game art degree program instead of going to like an exclusive game art school. I.e... you don't have to go to Full Salil or Digipen if you want to learn game art, there are other options.
My parents will kick me out of the house if I don't go to college 💀
I like your advice in not jumping into the degree right away. You can learn for much cheaper at community college. Plus take the general education and transfer those credits after that. Even more important than the degree, is your portfolio. Without a good portfolio you won't get hired.
So true! Portfolios are essential since they are what really show your skills!
That's hilarious.. I know a guy who spent four years studying game design and couldn't even import a model into an engine at the end of it.. Conversely I dropped out of school...
8:03 get a Computer Science degree or from a technical institute. In the U.S. you’ll get a 300-500% increase in salary immediately and can make $100,000 per year within 7 years.
At 18 years old, most kids aren’t able to launch a successful startup. But after graduating tech school or college, work for 2-3 years then at age 27 is perfect for starting a company.
I kind of feel you tbh, I did an illustration degree because they said I would be looking at graphic novels and game art within it..... it was more like children books and patterns :( Had no idea what I wanted to do in life.
Went on to concept art... thankfully XD the best decision! Finally listened to what I felt I needed, I feel like i needed uni as I ended up meeting amazing people (not a social person). But I feel like I should have waited to go to uni to finally know what I wanted tho.
How did you know how to code coma? (when you were 18) Did you have classes or just looked up tutorials?
I genuinely wish I watched this video a year ago
i think this applies to a lot of majors... my film degree feels worthless haha XD
Film degrees are in fact kind of worthless, except for the networking opportunities if you went to a top-tier school. I got further in the business (pre-recession, anyway) with my cheaper, faster TV Production Masters from a public uni than my friend who went to NYU Film school.
Almost graduated as a game developer. And can confirm. 96% of all I know about making games, I've learned outside of uni.
I mean, I've made great friends, and that's very cool. But as for game development itself - it's was a waste of time and money
That sucks to hear. At least you gained something from it. When do you graduate?
@@TonsOfHunStudios in a few weeks.
It's considered something like top 10 place to learn game development in the country, but omg, everything they teach is either irrelevant or just comes straight from the stone age.
@@loinnirs1232 Wow, that's unfortunate. Hopefully good things come from it, and I'm a few weeks early but congrats on graduation!
We get a piece of paper in return of $30,000USD pieces of paper
For game dev, perhaps this makes sense. For engineering, law, health and many more, you will be jobless without a degree.
You dont need a degree for tech
im entering college this fall and i'm majoring in game design and development because I really like video games and the design process behind them i'm not entirely sure if i want to do game design after college but i'm choosing to study it anyways because of a couple reasons:
1.) i really like the university im going to
2.) i have ADHD and i'm not sure i'd be able to keep myself motivated in normal computer science or music classes so by having my major focused on something i'm passionate about (video games) im making sure I don't lose that motivation and screw up my grades
3.) the game design program im going into has several tracks which include audio/soundtrack stuff and programming which is what i want to learn most
4.) (hopefully) the people i take classes with will have interests more similar to my own as opposed to a conventional music or computer science major where i might be surrounded by a lot of people who are into stuff like cybersecurity or classical string performance and i wouldn't be able to relate to their interests as much
College/University is good for learning how to work hard mentally. One can achieve an education by reading and studying books on their own as well.
Heck yea! Tech schools are the best! I went to massage school when I was nineteen and now, at 25, I can go to college for the Computer Science degree I've always wanted and I make $100/hr as my own independent contractor in massage. I only work 6 hours a week to pay the bills and I get to spend all of my time after that studying somthing I am truly passionate about. If you are young, go to tech school and gain a marketable skill in 1-2 years. Was the best decision I made when I was young.
That's a really expensive piece of paper.
Indeed
I’ve been on and off trying to get into game development since I was 16 (20 years ago). I spent 7 years in the Navy, another 4 getting a business degree, and another 3 working a job that I have zero passion for. Now, this isn’t some $50k+ degree program, it’s a program at a community college that has an emphasis on Blender and Unity (as far as I can tell.)
I’m of the mind that I’m a bit older than what most people would be trying to start doing this. I also feel like I would take this more seriously than if I were younger. What are your thoughts on my situation?
I didn't even have my own pc untill I was 20. And at 22 I started to learn programming. Now I'm learning unity at 24. And I'm a full time employee that's too a Civil Engineer. Life is hard.
I'm 33 just finished a 2 year college course in game dev with vr. It focused of Maya Photoshop and unity. I learned a lot of the fundamentals and how to use the tools to I'd say amature close to pro level. Now I'm enrolled for the first true gaming degree course in Ireland this Sept in Belfast. It's not ideal for everyone but if your having doubts about it because of your age trust me having experience and maturity isn't a handicap. With your CV I'm sure you have picked up great interpersonal skills that are priceless to big studios if you have the dev skills to back it up. Costs of course might be a consideration but if u can through loans then just go for it. Follow your heart
What are your thoughts on the confidence aspect? Do you think college was important for you to gain confidence in getting out there and doing something on your own? If you hadn't taken the path you did and had to do it over knowing nothing you know now, would you achieve the same things without school...or would you have even tried?
So personally for me I went to a state university and got a 4 year degree in comp sci. And now years later I've realized the degree is only a small part of what I got from college. The friends that I've made and the experiences that I've had have fundamentally altered me as a person in a most beautiful way. I truly believe that of u went to college and all u got from it was a degree, u did college wrong. But as for career wise I agree with u
rn I'm in community college studying CS. Has the degree helped you in employment?
If you want to make indie games at first, you don't have to go. Someone like me is going because I plan to work at studio soon after graduation and what do recruiters look for? That stupid piece of paper that everyone talls about.
Now you can work indie sure, but learning how to work with a team is what these big companies are looking for too. You can do indie for a few years but if if you're trying to land a job at a well known studio without a degree, you have to know your shit and the terms and pipelines they use. There's really a lot of terminology and skills school teaches you for those jobs.
That's true. School does have some benefits in game dev.
At least u get a great background of programming and stuff .... am suffering here trying to learn C sharp all by myself xD honestly i think you dont need to regret anything, maybe if you went back in time and changed this certain "thing" you might not have been where you are now. Anyway luv ur vids man
" No need fpr college " - Elon Musk
I'm bs'ing my Computer Science degree just because this gives me a pretty easy job. I really never cared about what I learned, I'll remember when I need it, probably.
Bro... Too relatable. Thinking of getting computer science since how easily it can be applied anywhere.
@@tsbrothinkstoomuch It's just that and the possibility of a Master's degree. Nobody really needs to be here for 4 years. In fact, some jobs require you to have the degree when a simple apprenticeship or a bootcamp would have sufficed...
Me : Mom i wont go to school.
Mom: 👟
Huge respect for you bringing up the tech schools. It's a great way to start learning about different things you have an interest in without spending a shit ton of money. Most people don't have that kind of confidence of what they want to do with their life and it's a great way to experiment in a safe way
Very true!
I am literally debating right now quitting my degree, I feel wasted, I wanna be a concept artist and the course has taught me nothing on the matter, I already had all the things they are teaching me from years before. One of the modules was literally copying from google to a word document and forgetting about it, we have to make a game with a class where 50% are 3D modellers and the other half doesn't even know what they want to be in the games industry. I am wasting £6k a year for all the least important things we need in this industry. This video came at the best possible time. Thank you.
Well...here in Greece universities and colleges are free, expect if they are not public, but i don't know if there is such a school for game design...
Is your economy cool yet?
Once you built a portfolio, what's next?
I really want to go into game design but i dont know where to start so what should i do
Do a game
Same happens in india
I have all these BS subjects in my Computer science degree (like physics, chemistry,maths and a lot more BS subjects)
So i BS my way through them
Although i feel like i am wasting a lot of time but the truth is all the interviews require you to have a degree (some even require you not to have any single backlog)
Skillshare looks really cool! Only €14 per month or €8 per month if paid yearly (cheaper than 7 months separately) That's only 27 cents a day... Literally a single day's worth of bus rides to and from college costs as much as a whole MONTH of Skillshare (€8) and I'm not even talking about the cost of the actual college, which is over €700 per month, which is over 7 YEARS worth of Skillshare! Skillshare is like 50-100 times as cheap as college. A video only has to be recorded once and millions of people could watch it for a low price instead of a professor constantly having to perform a lecture for a few dozen people or even hundreds of people. In those huge college classes there's barely any attention for each student anyway, so you might as well learn everything online very cheap where every video is carefully crafted while in real life professors can make mistakes and you may have trouble hearing him if you sit far away or seeing the school board. Learning from the comfort of your own house saves tens of thousands of dollars and 25-100 full days of traveling time over 4 years and the possibility to rewind and do automatically checked tests quickly.
I know this is very late, but its true that the resources should be used elsewhere. $65k+ in student loans over here, done online.
I would say that if you still decide to go to school-do it physically (attend the school's location) and NETWORK. It's by far the most important aspect. Learn to network, and work on a portfolio. Great advice in this video.
Got a 64k Masters of Network Security at the end of 2018...now I'm 6 months into Game Development, learning C# and Unity, 2d Animation via Udemy and other online platforms, grinding to open my own indie studio in the future.
That's awesome to hear! I mean not the debt part, but your indie dream!
What’s your source of income?
I'm currently taking Game Design at VCAD in the online portion. I recommend you do NOT do this. $44,000 cdn and many students have to use their own computers because the laptops they sent out were discontinued and can't even run Teams without video chop, let along Unreal 5. The software is accessed over network so when the server goes down (Amazon was hacked last July so some had to register trial software and even buy subscriptions to continue working. I got a good Life Drawing teacher, very professional, but some teachers have been not useful. For $44 grand for 18 months, I could have taken 10 separate courses at a local brick & mortar college. I hear this was their first time with the Online version, and it shows.
People are making furniture in The Sims for free better than what I can do halfway through college. I am majorly depressed with how the F am I going to pay off $44,000 with these 'skills'..
I think it depends on your situation. For me im going to college for game design because the national guard is gonna pay for it all
Oh that's awesome!
Wow, small world! I just finished 11th grade so I have 1 more year left before College. My mom said I should go to Greenville Tech for 2 years then go to Clemson for the next 2 years. Because you recommended that people should go to a Tech School first, this has made me excited and hopeful for what's to come in the next few years.
Uni is dead unless you want to be employed in a science/maths/engineering field or an academic career. Thomas nailed this explanation
I'm kind of stuck here knowing that now instead of before I was 18...
College/Universities are only used to build a community for us Game Developers and there is a lot of BS that the college gives you.
It's been a year now and I still haven't learned anything valuable about Game Development as of yet. Maybe a bit of the basics here and there, but not anything that can prove useful to me.
I might actually change to computer science and see how that goes.
Hopefully, I can still have the time to develop something nice and make my game development career full time. Own a company...
But man, I want it now lol!
I feel you, bro. For me it's been four years and I still haven't learned much. I'm gonna try to change too... Good luck with your future.
I wanted to go to a good game development college but sadly there were no colleges that taught game development here so I enrolled in computer science and after watching this video I think I made the right choice
You need to pay for education? Didn't you had free places for those who passed the entry exams with above average marks? Or you just wasn't so good? Back in my IT college in 2004 33% of us had free education and I got my diploma with zero payments as other ~30 students. The only thing I was needed to do was to work with my specialization for 2 years in a selected place (it was some government organization). After 2 years you are free to work with any company.
It cost 35k to go to Clemson?
“DON’T LISTEN TO WHAT ANYONE SAYS (except me)” - Thomas Brush
Wait, collage cost money where you live? Jeez.
Is it the same with university?
Here where I live school is all free, apart from the books though... and I have been thinking if I would like to go to university in game dev, but I am so not sure, also been thinking if I would be able to self-learn, so hard to decide. Thanks for the video though.
is youtube broken it says people commented on this video yesterday and this video has 10 views
Timezone differences
Studied Electrical engineering for 7 years, got a job in web development, now working in cybersecurity and making video games on the side. Send help.
I think college is a scam when it comes to most degrees but honestly, I just need a degree as a backup plan
Probably should've watched this before I wasted 3 years of my life and $60K of money I don't have
...... exams in Graphic Design? I've never had any exams in Graphic Design classes.
A real degree in computer science will open many doors for you that can help you get a much better job than without one. A hidden benefit is that a college or University teaches you how to learn, think, and solve problems. You will be a better grinder when making your games
People that have to work full time at 18, parents are poor, are sitting here like, yea I wish I could do that. Now imagine being 25, no degree, and nothing to show for itm
I really wish I didn't go to college for game development, it really has not been worth it; I gained some confidence sure and met cool people but for more than $40k in debt.
If I land a nice studio job right out of college; maybe it'll have been worth it but I want to be indie and wish I just didn't listen to everyone telling me to go to college.
Hey Thomas, could you perhaps make a tutorial on a Dialogue system? I've been trying to figure out the best way to make one and I just can´t seem to figure it out.
Well I bullshitted my way Thur high school I start my full sail journey for game development on Monday I’m hoping applying myself and networking is going to help me land a good job when I do graduate and that way I could make my own game and or company a little later down the line
I'm 17 years old and game development has been a hobby of mine for years now. I have formed a team with my friend, he does programming and I do art. And I'm going to apply to a game design school. I was born into a country with free education, and the quality of education here is nearly the best in the world. I'm also not very disciplined, which is why I want to get into a game design school, so I can have that slight pressure forcing me to work.
Of course, the situation in the USA and many other countries is wildly different, so I'm very lucky to be in this position, and will use that luck to my advantage. Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts!
If your getting a free education I would say go for it, that's great! I'm not going to school for game dev, but it definitely does help build discipline. What's your latest game?
To be honest this video helped alot. I'm still considering this since I have a game design degree but I'm switching to comp sci. I hope to transfer from community College where I'm going now to a university but If I do that it will take more time and money. It's nice to know I have more options open. I'm still not sure what I want but I calmed my self down watching this. Currently first semester sophomore so I have time and I'm not in debt. It's best to make that dessision now
I can only speak for European schooling systems: getting a ''degree'' can be useful too give you confidence, skills for a paid job and to learn a life lesson if you want to pursue game dev yes or no (or whatever passion you have). In most of Europe schooling is a lot more affordable than the US. However imo their are so many BS degrees out there so picking something must have relevance. For instance I did a masters in science, learned a lot from it but my passion is writing and art. Two things I learned from these periods 1. Science is cool but not my passion 2. Always be objective and stay analytical - something most ''creative people'' lack.
I've been in college for 9 years now but hopped between institutions and degree types. I finally settled on Graphic Design, but now im thinking about getitng into Game Design. But I'm stressing myself out about my portfolio before I even start making anything. My profs are stressing the importance of a portfolio, and im insecure about the quality of my work + whether its good enough to ut in a portfolio to present for people to judge me on. Their judgements determine my worthiness as a creator... at least thats what it feels like.
*Except for me... HHAHAHAHA :'D
Thank you for sharing sir.
Well they didn't teach us how to take decisions at schools :)
All the decisions that I made was in games XD until I decided to drop university, which I do not regret it at all, it's been a year now.
Rip
Updates?
I'm 36 years old, my wife lives in USA, but I can't go to USA because of some irrational politics between our countries, and I don't know when it is going to get solved.
I'm a server administrator, but I began to hate my job after 8 years in this field. Long story short, my passion is laid in game idustry, and I want to start my journey. And of course money is a big issue for me, I think what I'm asking is, is it a good idea to go to a university for bachelor degree in game design (or is it even possible? because of my age and the gap), or should I try to start to make my portfolio better and try to find a job in European Country? Anywhere other than Iran :))
Meanwhile, here in better part of europe. I'm about to go to university/college so I can get a cheap apartment, and some money so I can manage for 3 years while I learn gamedev/programming (might do a light version of computer science though, since gamedev program now seems to be too focused on just gamedev), hopefully avoiding any debt. We get access to 10 month rent apartments, that are cheap, include electricity and warm water. Then ontop of that about $340 per month for studying (if I were younger I'd get a bonus $130/month too). No tuition fees, the only thing you need to take loans for is for your own living.
Obviously, you should never get into a "game design" program, that's not a thing. Learn a skill instead of studying for years to be just an "idea guy". Even if you get that diploma for free you've just wasted your time.