huddersfield uni (game design) and ucas Q's in general

Every 3D Artist/Games Designer should be able to pull out a pencil and draw to a certain standard. If you don't believe it's necessary then you are very misguided, thats why Teesside ask for it.

I am 4 months from Graduating the Games Design course too.
 
Yeh Stafford is quiet indeed!

But I come from a small town with as much to as Stafford, I'm not really at a loss here!


As to the drawing side, I can't draw in the common sense of it, ie pen and paper and i can't do it well, I don't have the co-ordination. Give me a computer program, say for example 3dsmax / UED, and I can put my ideas into a way that can be seen by others. Hopefully this next semester I'll get better at hand drawing :)
 
In regards to the drawing aspect, I can draw. BUT, I will only enjoy/draw something good when I want to, when i "feel" for the piece I am drawing. With As art, sat drawing a chair that had a bit of string on it for 8 weeks, was not my idea of art.
With the game design, its what I enjoy doing, enjoy sketching/drawing for. I can be busy doing revision or whatever, and doodle on the paper a weapon or character sketch, its just how I do "art". No way have I got the mindset to do a detailed hand drawn portfolio with no art education background to me.

And guess what, the woman at staffs said "You know what I've noticed? There is a lot of unseen potential out there because people are scared to apply to the course due to not being able to draw, but these people have been some of the best 3d modellers I have seen"

:)


And for the quiet little village life, that appeals to me more than anything :D (yes yes ok I'm a hermit.)
 
Psypher5, perhaps a more "friendly" view on a Game Design degree.

Huddersfield is not, I'm afraid, one of the best universities you can go to, and sadly there is still a culture of giving jobs based on where you got your degree. Huddersfield might not win you any points there, but what you have to look at is the university and its facilities. If I recall correctly, H/field recently spent a lot of money on its computing department, in which case you might have a great experience there using state of the art equipment.

As for Game Design, yes it is rather limiting in a sense, but whats to stop you diversifiying with a Postgrad or even another degree later on in life? I took the step of specialising in my field with a degree and postgrad, to the extent that I'm asked every now and again to publish. But my plan has always been to make some money, and then retrain in a degree/subject I'm really interested in, something like history or science.
 
Getting into the industry as a designer is usually one of the hardest roles as there is no set qualifications that guarantee an individuals skill set. Game design degrees are almost a complete waste of time, and most recruiters won't put any faith in them. With 1000's of people getting them every year they are effectively an equivalent of a Media Studies degree. It makes a lot more sense for an individual to either get a degree in 3D art or preferably programming as these are both essential skills for a designer.

Of course I went a completely different route, having not really got on with education, and I would definitely recommend my path to someone who is serious about games design. Many games that are released come with free tool kits that allow users to create their own content or "modifications". This is what I set about doing after leaving college. Learning a tool set for a commercial game and creating additional content of a high quality instantly demonstrates that you have an understanding of design principles and is a no-nonsense way of showing potential employers that you have the required ability.

When looking at CV's I always consider a candidate who has no previous experience/limited education but a good show reel created in this fashion over someone who is fresh out of college with a degree in "Games Design". Oh, and writing a few mock game design documents is an excellent way of demonstrating a good level of English (essential for a designer) and documentation writing abilities, as well as showing off creative flair.

Hope this helps, ps: You won't get 30k, if you are VERY lucky in London you might get 25k for a junior designer.
 
Concrete said:
Hope this helps, ps: You won't get 30k, if you are VERY lucky in London you might get 25k for a junior designer.
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Indeed, I had to not only do a difficult/more "respected" degree, but I had to do a postgrad aswell in order to get my starting salary.
 
@ Concrete, everything you said "would be good to do", is part of the staffs game design course :)

They use a toolkit (hammer/ued) and complete it up with a complete game from spec through design to end product.

Also, im doing an "imedia" course at college, as an as. Which is basically a step below first year uni. (ie, im making a game in this course atm, but only one level/simplistic stuff) but still getting down storyboarding/game documentation.
 
I started doing this course at Huddersfield Uni and left after a few months, totally not what I expected. a lot of random things you wouldn't really think about doing..... but on the up side you do get to do life drawing and the model is rather hot ;)

As for what was said above about the facilities, yes they did spend a lot of money on new PC's especially for this course. top spec PC's with dual screen monitors.... but then they skimped out on ball mice, so take your own optical or something :)
 
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Fair enough, I know a couple of people who have made it into the industry coming from a degree in games design. I suppose what I really should be saying is, even with a degree, you are still going to have to pull out all the stops and really make sure you stand out from the crowd. :)

I think that an important part of taking a degree is finding who you are and what your goals are in life, learning to work under your own steam and getting to experience new things, like working as part of a team. At the end of the day, if you enjoy your three years and come out of it with a degree then I suppose its worth while - but do not take getting a job for granted!

Outside of London I would say starting junior designer salaries are around £17K for the first couple of years, after which, with some games under your belt things start to improve.

One more bit of advice, when you do get your first job - refrain from saying things like "but my lecturor told us to do it that way" and "I know everything, I've got a degree in games design" as it tends to put peoples backs up quite quickly ;)
 
I'll tell you the information I have gleaned from here and there about getting into the games industry (which is partly re-iterating what Concrete said).

A games design degree is a bit of a paper that doesn't mean much. What matters is your portfolio. For the arts side of things a good portfolio will get you much further than any degree. With that in mind, a decent games design course will in theory give you lots of opportunities to build up a good portfolio. The degree itself might not be worth a whole lot, but the work you do on the course will be.

If you want to be a games programmer a decent degree is more important. I think a computer science degree is probably the best route to take if thats what you want.

As for accreditation there is an organisation called Skillset that accredits games related courses. It's quite new so there are only a handful of accredited courses at the moment. In fact there are no accredited courses in England, only in Scotland and Wales.

http://www.skillset.org/games/qualifications/article_4336_1.asp
 
Just read this whole thread and I actually cannot believe how much of a complete ****ing idiot ninja economist comes across as.

Some very useful advice here, I've been researching the industry like mad recently and everything I've come across (along with advice from professionals) has been confirmed in this thread.
 
No need to comment on the first part of that post..... You'll see I got told off by Gilly last time :p

As to the second point, confirmed in which way?
Completely useless? - or of some use. There's quite a range of opinions here atleast. The only "profesionals" I've spoken to are, ofcourse, my lecturers, who are bound to say its a usefull degree....
 
Confirming as in useful :)

The main point given by most industry fella's is that it's not what you learn, it's what you do with it that counts. If you feel that you're going to have fun on the course and put the education you get to full use then it's by no means a waste of a course. I understand what people say about the degree itself being worth less than a technical one, but saying it's completeley worthless is just wrong.

Just for the naysayers in my recent heavy research I've found quite a few developers (Large and small) that have shown interest in "Games related degrees". I don't know about the rest of you but that's evidence enough for me :)
 
Zefan said:
Just read this whole thread and I actually cannot believe how much of a complete ****ing idiot ninja economist comes across as.

Some very useful advice here, I've been researching the industry like mad recently and everything I've come across (along with advice from professionals) has been confirmed in this thread.
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Oh look, another potential £350k a year game designer who knows it all.

Don't see many of those!
 
ninja economist said:
Oh look, another potential £350k a year game designer who knows it all.

Don't see many of those!
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Not at all.

I saw positions for near £30k (junior) open only yesterday, so it's not at all a ridiculous thing to say you could be starting at that. If he puts the effort in and gets a really good portfolio it's a high, but still achievable goal.

I don't expect to earn anything over £20k when I come out of uni, but I plan to do a lot with what I learn throughout the years.

I happen to know people who do medicine and ended up in McDonalds aswell, it's generally a fact that graduates are quite unemployable, not explicitly ones with certain degrees.
 
Zefan said:
Not at all.

I saw positions for near £30k (junior) open only yesterday, so it's not at all a ridiculous thing to say you could be starting at that. If he puts the effort in and gets a really good portfolio it's a high, but still achievable goal.
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Sure, it just makes more sense for a company to hire Computer Science grads - Even if they're hiring at all. There's other "informed" posters in this thread who mention the size of the industry and the demand for grads.

I don't expect to earn anything over £20k when I come out of uni, but I plan to do a lot with what I learn throughout the years.
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That's good. You're like everyone else then.

I happen to know people who do medicine and ended up in McDonalds aswell,
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What an outright lie. hahaha. Anyone who doesn't get employed after registering with the GMC will just go onto further training or study, of which there's always places. Doesn't mean they'll be employed, but can go about making themselves more employable as Medicine (MBChB) facilitates that option a lot more so than other degrees. Please don't try to make a point by saying something as stupid as that in future.

it's generally a fact that graduates are quite unemployable, not explicitly ones with certain degrees.
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That is true. What I'm saying is, and other people have said. If you have the ability to do CS, then do it and build a design portfolio out of that. That is the most sensible option in the event of things not working out as you had planned. What is the problem with that, are you going to say that's wrong?
 
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