Video Games Courses

mlbtheshow

mlbtheshow

mlbtheshow

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Got a nephew who has been looking into this stuff.. hes been working but wants to do a course alongside it... something like game development etc

Anyway he applied for some information online and has been called by a bloke representing Train2Gain. Now they have booked him in with a local advisor (im assuming salesman) and is unsure as to whether they are a decent company or not?

All I can find is that its linked to the government in some way, so im assuming doing a course with them would be fine? But what about the qualifications... would what he learns benefit him in the job market, or will he just be getting bog standard certificates that are not really going to help him.

Obviously experience/portfolio etc will count - im just talking what this training and qualification will actually do.

Any pointers helpful, just dont want him to commit to a couple of grand for it to be a waste of time.
 
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Burnsy2023 said:
Avoid like the plague. Getting into the industry is notoriously hard and a company like this doesn't carry any weight.
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Interesting and straight to the point.

One thing my nephew did say that he was told over the phone was that, there arent many places available and that he needs to be assessed to ensure that he was the right candidate for them to train.
 
Yeah absolute rubbish company one of my friends got duped into the train2gain. £3k later he has nothing to show for it other than wasted time and a base level understanding of c++

However he now works for a London games studio doing quite well for himself. Essentially he got ahold of a few game engines and followed tutorials on creating characters,movement,AI and so on.

There's a fair few open source engines available and it wouldn't cost him a penny to learn. If he gets good enough create some small indie games and use them as a portfolio.

I'm not involved in the industry but that's how my mate got going and I imagine showing off a few games you've built would speak wonders more than a few grades.

Never know he may make the next minecraft on his journey :)

Side note: I guarantee train2gain have as many places as they can sell. The only limitation they have is the number of people paying up. Sales tactics!
 
Whenever I've seen someone ask about game development the general consensus is to do some kind of computer science course as opposed to a dedicated game development course. At least then you have skills that will be helpful outside of game development if it doesn't work out.
 
Moothead2 said:
Whenever I've seen someone ask about game development the general consensus is to do some kind of computer science course as opposed to a dedicated game development course. At least then you have skills that will be helpful outside of game development if it doesn't work out.
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Indeed.
 
Yeah tell him to aim for a Computer Science or Physics degree from a Russell Group uni instead.
 
Moothead2 said:
Whenever I've seen someone ask about game development the general consensus is to do some kind of computer science course as opposed to a dedicated game development course. At least then you have skills that will be helpful outside of game development if it doesn't work out.
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This is probably the best idea for people who are looking into Games Design. If you ask me there are more jobs available for would be programmers and get paid more i think.

But computer science may not be the best idea for 3d modelers or game artist.
 
i did one for web development with skillstrain.. cost me 2.7k.. was absolutely basic of courses that most, i already new. a salesman came to my house duping me into thinking there was a possability i wouldnt get in.. total cons game
 
scorza said:
Yeah tell him to aim for a Computer Science or Physics degree from a Russell Group uni instead.
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I get the feeling the nephew may have sailed the boat at trying to achieve AAB or so at A-Level and considering spending 3 years and £30k+ on a degree.

How old is the nephew? 13 or 30?
 
If your nephew is absolutely set on a games specific course then Abertay has what is/was probably one of the best degrees in it. That said it's no guarantee and your nephew might be better with a good computer science or physics degree. A fair amount of his employability will probably come down to what he does in terms of developing himself and learning about games programming outside of the course. It's also worth remembering that it's a lot of maths, lots of programming and physics in there to make video games so if he's not good at them or committed enough to learn then perhaps he should consider something else instead.
 
I fell into this trap.

Did a 3 year Games Design course because I liked games.

Should have spent 3 years sat in my room coding and doing tutorials, would have been infinitely more useful. Can't tell you enough how much of a waste of time it was.
 
Do a solid CS degree at a top notch university, or even better a Math or physics + CS joint degree.


Do game development in spare time as a hobby.
 
What area of games development is he wanting to get into?

Avoid these courses like the plague.

You don't need a degree either. I did one but it was mostly useless. I taught myself to get the job in the end.
 
Fuggan said:
I fell into this trap.

Did a 3 year Games Design course because I liked games.

Should have spent 3 years sat in my room coding and doing tutorials, would have been infinitely more useful. Can't tell you enough how much of a waste of time it was.
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Was this at Leeds Met by any chance?
 
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