Anyone else interested in Game Production?

Freeman

Freeman

Freeman

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I'd like to pursue a career in Game Production (or some sort of managerial position in the gaming world), however finding a university that offers the right course for this is proving tough.

One way to go about this route is to do a business course, and then apply to a games company for some sort of management position, unfortunately I have no business qualifications at all.

Another way would be to start at the bottom of the games industry and work my way up, E.G. quality assurance, and upwards.

I plan to go to uni next year and get better qualifications to hopefully improve my chances of getting the job I want.

Is anyone else here thinking about going into a similar position as me i the gaming world? And if you are, what unis have you had a look at. Apart from Abertay Dundee I haven't been successful at all.

Any help on where i should start would be great. obviously I've been doing my own research, but I thought I'd ask and see if anything has any good ideas or past experience.

Cheers.
 
One question- if you're interested in taking a managerial position- why take it in the games industry? Surely the best part of that is the creative side and being involved in the actual development of the game? Games are high risk in terms of cash and takes years to develop. Don't think you'll be able to find courses solely aimed at managerial positions in the game industry however I know there are game dev courses about, I only know of them up to BTEC national diploma level though.
 
Samione said:
One question- if you're interested in taking a managerial position- why take it in the games industry? Surely the best part of that is the creative side and being involved in the actual development of the game? Games are high risk in terms of cash and takes years to develop. Don't think you'll be able to find courses solely aimed at managerial positions in the game industry however I know there are game dev courses about, I only know of them up to BTEC national diploma level though.
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The most involving job in the games industry is the producer. They oversee every aspect of the game, from the modelling, to the scripting and coding, the texturing, the level design and so on, they ensure the game comes together on time and in budget. I would never ever go into a job that I don't have a passion for. If I was to go into a managerial position at a car company for example, I'd get extremely bored because I'm not that interested in them.
 
Freeman said:
The most involving job in the games industry is the producer. They oversee every aspect of the game, from the modelling, to the scripting and coding, the texturing, the level design and so on, they ensure the game comes together on time and in budget. I would never ever go into a job that I don't have a passion for. If I was to go into a managerial position at a car company for example, I'd get extremely bored because I'm not that interested in them.
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It sounds like both game development courses and business courses are what you need then, you can't really have one without the other if you want to over see the production of an entire game. You could do a course of one of them and try and gain practical experience for the other. I.E take a business course but get involved in modding communities for games so you atleast get some experience with the development cycle etc.
 
m0r94n said:
Apply to Lincoln Uni. Im here on a Games Production course, however they also do a Games Computing course for people with more coding experience.

Computer Games Production

Games Computing
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Just had a quick read, seems pretty good. Do you use flash a lot, i can't stand that program, it makes simple animation, difficult :P

I was talking to a games developer from Blitz the other day, and he strongly suggested I don't do a course which covers a little bit of everything, because that's not what games companies are after. he said rather specialise in one particular area. Do you think the course structure is pretty broad in terms of content?

Cheers for the links.
 
Ive edited my last post with the course pages on the uni site. Im currently in my second year doing Games Production so ill give a basic breakdown.

The first year was pretty much learning about the industry and doing some group work in various fields such as Audio Production work, or creating games using the Game Maker software. There was also some flash and scripting work along with game theory and industry lectures. Its abit of a relaxed year but it breaks you in nicely, starting slow and really picking up pace in terms of objectives towards the end of the year, preparing you nicely for the start of year 2.

The second year has so far been level design using Hammer, 3d modeling in Max, a group project to make a game (using either the Hl2 engine or XNA), HCI within games and an optional unit (Multimedia for me :)). The Hammer work is fun, with the overall objective being to create a singleplayer mod using the Half Life 2 engine incorporating both custom textures and models. That leads nicely onto 3d modeling which covers Max work, creating a scene and simple animation at the minute leading on to modeling human characters. The group project also focuses on making a mod on the Half Life 2 engine but on a grander scale and with a group. All if not most of the content has to be custom on this unit (I think, its what were aiming for anyway!). Multimedia and HCI arent really that relevant to Games in terms of the content but they still provide some insight into dos and donts according to certain standards.

a lot of the emphasis for most of the projects is based on group work, which I feel is helping to prepare people for the industry, however I do also feel that a lot of the people see a games course, think "ooooooh thatll be easy" and apply to it. Its worth having some experience in various programs before you come here to make life easier for yourself (which could be said about most subjects really), especially Hammer and 3ds Max which take up a core chunk of the 2nd and 3rd year work. For me, I knew a fair bit about Hammer but nothing about 3ds Max which is really destroying my life at the minute. Currently in the process of trying to complete one of the assessments for that unit!

To give you an idea of what some graduates from the computing course have produced, visit this site:

Linkage

Hopefully Jcb33 might stop by as I think hes in my faculty studying Games Computing (in a group with one of my flatmates this year). He will be able to give a good review from the other side of the fence.
 
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Freeman said:
I was talking to a games developer from Blitz the other day, and he strongly suggested I don't do a course which covers a little bit of everything, because that's not what games companies are after. he said rather specialise in one particular area. Do you think the course structure is pretty broad in terms of content?
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The courses do cover a lot of areas but are very in depth in some areas. For example I will be using both 3ds Max and Hammer for over 2 years whereas to my knowledge, photoshop will only really be utilised over one (in terms of dedicated unit work). This is mainly because they teach just abit more than what you need to know, enough to keep you interested enough in the program that you will discover more yourself.

I wouldn't say they specialise but I do feel they provide enough insight into programs to help you learn how to use them efficiently and effectively.
 
The problem with these kind of courses is they are every 15-18 year olds dream and thats the age you pick your degree. So there are oversubscribed and full of people who think CounterStrike is the best thing in life.

Then they grow up and mature whilst at Uni and realise actually, it probably wasnt a good idea after all, especially as the money in the games industry can be a bit cack due to the sheer volume of people desperate to to it.

Mate did Games Computing at Durham - he isnt developing computer games now.
 
[TW]Fox;10643991 said:
The problem with these kind of courses is they are every 15-18 year olds dream and thats the age you pick your degree. So there are oversubscribed and full of people who think CounterStrike is the best thing in life.
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I find that to be a vague generalisation, not everyone loves CS.

As for the age thing, the variation on the courses here is massive. The majority of students are in their mid twenties with ages reaching up to the mid fourties. Now, I chose my degree when I was 18 and I took the course because I have a serious passion to work in this industry, not because I thought it'd be a fantastic opportunity to waste 3 years of my life.

Although some people seem to have the opinion that they are on an easy course they are often met with 3's on their assignments and as the year gets progressively harder they are faced with the prospect of failure. There are however others who do want to do well on the course with the prospect of working for a games company after university. These people also realise that its not just a degree that will get you a job but also a good portfolio which can be achieved by learning what these lecturers (a lot of whom used to work in the industry) are teaching them.

[TW]Fox;10643991 said:
Then they grow up and mature whilst at Uni and realise actually, it probably wasn't a good idea after all, especially as the money in the games industry can be a bit cack due to the sheer volume of people desperate to to it.
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The pay isn't really the problem, infact it can be quite good. The real problem is securing a job. Most big companies want several years good experience and a decent portfolio before they'll even think about hiring you and gaining that experience is harder. Most small companies cant afford to pay salaries of team members throughout the development cycle so they only hire them for the amount of time that they are needed for, and these workers are often picked because they are a) extremely skilled, or b) because they've worked well for the company before.

I will agree that there are people who will probably decide its not a great idea after all but as a faculty, we were told these facts at the start of year 1. As of yet no-one has backed out so I feel that suggests some commitment from the students!

[TW]Fox;10643991 said:
Mate did Games Computing at Durham - he isnt developing computer games now.
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Like you said, the industry is hard to get into. Just because he did the course may not mean he was as skilled as others!
 
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my university offers a "games production management" course. Sounds exactly what you want. Abertay university, dundee.

edit: just saw abertay in your origional post :P I'm on the Computer Games Technology course, the unis pride and joy :D I have a few friends on the GPM course though. They use flash yes. Lots of buisness stuff I think, bit of experience in game art, audio and programming is picked up for a good understanding of how a developement team would work and media production (film making etc..)
 
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I doubt with any degree you are going to walk out of University and into any kind of Producing job.

I work in the film post-production industry and that is very close to how the games industry operates. You will have to start at the bottom and work your way up. Games companies want Producers who understand the whole process and have experience doing so, so they promote people as they go because they have the knowledge of how the pipeline works.

I think you would be much better doing a degree in either programming or computer animation/art.
 
I don't know about games production, but I think if you want to be a programmer, a Computer Science course is best. I've heard from quite a few companies that they generally prefer these over games based courses. You still need portfolio work though.
 
I agree with Psyk. Computer Science is better. It'll still let you move into Games but it gives you other options as well. Getting a job with a non games company whilst having a computer games degree is a bit tricky. It gives off the wrong impression.
 
You're not going to graduate and immediately get a managerial role in the gaming industry. The only way you're going to achieve that is by working your way up from a more "mundane" role, such as programmer, animator etc. Don't do a games design specific course as that won't help you too much. It's been said that a straight Computer Science course is more appealing to employers (gaming or otherwise).
 
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