Study for a Computer Games Degrees

Submitted by daniel on Fri, 13/04/2007 - 00:00

Why choose a degree in Games? Why not study in an area that is challenging, that is dynamic and technically demanding, has depth and breadth of study, has rewarding career options AND is fun? From most people’s point of view, a degree in Games sounds like a degree in Media Studies – one of the most popular scapegoats for the so-called “Mickey Mouse” degrees. A lot of people (most parents included!) see a degree in Games as:

Sitting round all day playing on Xbox/PS2/PSP. However, this could not be further from the truth. Yes, part of a Games degree is playing games – its called critical analysis and is a vital part of ALL degrees – you can’t escape that. The key point is that in a Games degree this should not be the be-all and end-all of the curriculum. There are many different areas of theory that you need to understand before designing your first game. There are also many different practical applications of this theory that then go on to form the degree structure.

So if you’re looking to go on a Games degree, what should you look for? Well, Skillset (a Government organisation - www.skillset.org) recommend that a Games degree should have three distinct areas:

• Art
• Programming
• Design

You may find that a degree programme offered by a University will combine these elements into one programme, or will have separate programmes for each area. One key thing to realise from the start is that the Games industry is looking for talented individuals with specialist knowledge – for instance, a programmer must specialise in one area of Games programming (e.g. tools, engine, physics, graphics…) rather than being merely good in all areas of programming.

A good Games degree will allow you to explore these areas and specialise in one within a year of entry. You need to build up your expertise in your chosen specialist field so your chosen degree should enable you to do this, either through option choices in the 2nd and 3rd years or through intelligent curriculum design throughout the years of study. Furthermore, a good Games degree should offer you the chance to do work experience in the industry – this is a valuable addition to your programme of study and usually takes the form of a so-called “sandwich” year between years 2 and 3 of the programme. Finally, your chosen degree should really have easy access to information about each of the different courses/units/modules that go to make up each year of study to enable you to make an informed choice when deciding on the right programme for you.

Obviously another important aspect is “kit” – what resources are available for your use in your degree. Try to realise that most Universities will not be able to afford to supply you with development kits for every console ever made! Most development kits are supplied only to games developers and even then may cost as much as £10,000 each. There have been moves in the industry to open development on consoles up (for instance, Microsoft’s XNA initiative on the Xbox 360), but not all Universities will be able to take advantage of this. You may find that you develop for a range of target devices, including web-based (e.g. Flash games), PC based (e.g. Director based games, or more complex types such as game modding using something like Half-Life 2 or maybe even coding from scratch using Java, C# or C++), mobile devices (usually using Java) and consoles (see note above). A good degree should broaden your horizons and open you up to new experiences – so whilst it may sound appealing to code purely on, say, a PS2, you may not be able to do that in the industry – you may need to make code work across a PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, DS, PSP…

The BSc(Hons) Games and Multimedia Technology at the University of Greenwich offers a mix of general skills that all professionals need (such as communication skills, basic creative computing, games design and development skills) but also has a strong specialist focus, enabling students to choose a specialist area and concentrate on that from the 2nd year of the degree onwards. The courses have been designed in conjunction with industry and are continually monitored to make sure that they match the needs of this exciting but fast changing industry.