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[Bishman]

I want to be a game designer and it is tough trying to find the right path and college. UAT looks like the best choice for me. Digipen was scratched out of my list because I still want the college life and social life. Plus the expensive tuition cost. Heard way to many bad things about Full Sail and I read in EGM that they don't even have the tools to make games.

Anyone here at GAF go to UAT or know anything about it?

 

[neptunes]

game designer?

psycology would be something to look at...I'm serious!!

 

[SD-Ness]

Nope. I've lost all intention of making my favorite hobby, my profession. I'll keep those two separate, thanks.

 

[Nester]

I've heard UAT is an ok place, and my work will give me a free ride to enroll if I do their online degree program. Still wondering if I should go for it.

 

[Vortac]

99% of the game designers get in the industry by walking the walk, not academics.

Get into the mod scene. Be active. Do stuff. Don't just sit there theorizing and thinking you have the best ideas, because you don't, and you probably suck at designing when it comes down to it. It takes practice, so make levels, find a game you like a modify the heck out of it.

That is the only way, it's not hard, all the tools and stuff are out there.

Doing that while going to a normal University to get a degree you're interested in would be my recommendation. You want something to fall back on when you realize what a hell hole the games industry is or you get married and need to get a real job.

 

[PG2G]

How about USC? Didn't they just (or are about to) open up some game developement center or something?

 

[PkunkFury]

A degree in game design is a bad idea

 

[Bishman]

UAT can guide you to a path of enlightenment by obtaining an associate or bachelor's degree in Multimedia with a major in game design.

You could still fall back on Multimedia.

 

[Auron]

I attended UACT(what they called it before they dropped computing) for a couple trimesters, and the school's alright. Having seen both UAT and Digipen though, if you are really serious about getting into gaming I would recommend Digipen over it.

UAT is a fancier place for sure, but if you think it you're going to have more of a "college life" going there, you're mistaken. There's really not any more ladies at UAT than DigiPen, and it's not like you're going to have the time anyways so why kid yourself. As for the tuition, they're pretty close to the same, but at UAT you can get Federal Loans where I'm not sure if they're available at DigiPen(+1 for UAT I guess).

The real reason I recommend DigiPen though is this: The place you go to class is the same building Nintendo's NST is. You're right there at Nintendo were you can plant your feelers and get connections. UAT can't offer that, though at times they'll get a guest speaker, it's nothing compared to making friends that are already in the business. If you are serious about breaking into the game development scene, get into DigiPen!