Good point, Luke.

Well, school is definitely good for some, just not for all. I'm in the latter camp. I feel like it was a huge mistake for me to go back, so the rant isn't a universal truth but one artist's rant with his struggles in the academic institution.

But yeah, I'm gonna tough it out and see it through no matter what, I just wish I had known what I was getting myself into.

[WTF?]

I pretty much disagree with this post entirely.

I did a 4 year degree, and I can rage about how the final year of university wasn't really that useful to me, but I can also understand that it would have been a waste to just stop and throw away the rest. School gives you a good grounding in things, and shows that you can buck up and stick with things through the long term. What would you do if you were working at a company and something got delayed, and you had to go through 6 months of crunch. Put your hands up and go "too hard. Bye"? I've known people who have done that, and it made it harder for them to get work in the future again because of uncertainty as to whether they were reliable.

Sure, there are some people who have dropped out of school and gone off and become wildly successful. There are also far more who've dropped out of school and then done nothing at all.

How long was your actual degree though? Was it 4 years of actual study required, or was it 4 years so far because you've failed things? Because there's quite a difference there if it's the latter.

Some good points, Alexander. And yeah, I have failed a few of my classes but what's really held me back is the fact that some quarters I've only gotten 2 classes for the entire quarter. This is due to my school's heavily flawed registration process, which prompted me to be irritated with school again and post my rant here. See, my school only opens registration for a 5 day period. If you miss that window, you not only have to pay a $50 late fee, but you also end up getting stuck with whatever classes are left over. In many cases, you'd be hard pressed to find any open classes after registration week.

Now enter today, when I finally decided to get the jump on this whole registration thing. I went through my course matrix and found out which classes were left for me to take and then I cross-checked their availability in the course catalog. Now keep in mind that registration week starts tomorrow, so you could have imagined my surprise when a majority of these classes were already full! WTF? I'm guessing that's due to some weird "early registration week" thing the school does, that requires you to have some "golden ticket" which you obtain by jumping through some vague hoops... I honestly have no idea, but it's all bullshit if you ask me.

I dunno.

I'm at a traditional liberal arts college and the majority of the work had been everything but art. Last year I took all the art I could, sculpture, drawing, oil painting. I've learned so much, and stressed through every moment of it. So many still lives, utterly boring things at the time. I didn't touch Photoshop save for volunteering for the school paper, just to keep practice.

It's a matter of pride, really. You seem to think you can make your masterpiece right now using only your own ideas... but you can't. No one can. The masters followed the masters, and to turn your back on such a strong tradition is hubris. You might have the ideas, but you don't have the skill yet.

I'm not sure you understood what I was saying in my original post, or maybe I didn't make myself clear. My school is a technical art college with the focus on training its students to be production artists, ie: model 3D game assets for EA's next big flop. It has nothing to do with art, which I believe is the expression of one's self. I might not have all the skills to create everything I want to, but I feel  highly proficient as a designer, and there's just little to no emphasis on that particular skill at my school. So maybe I picked the wrong school?

For example, I'm learning MEL scripting in one of my classes this quarter. The only application of this particular language is for use in Maya, to "streamline" the work flow by writing scripts that do things I could as quickly and easily point & click to execute. Why aren't they teaching me Actionscript or XNA? Something that might actually have a useful and relevant application to my future? I don't want to use Maya, let alone be a 3D modeler, yet 90% of the coursework that relates to Game Art & Design at my school is emphasized in this.

Another class is character animation. The teacher said flat out that not everyone is going to be a character animator, especially if they are in my major (since that class is comprised of GAD as well as animation students). The real problem with the curriculum offered at my school is that it's so broad and unfocused that it becomes watered down and diluted. I'm not trying to be arrogant, but I really haven't learned as much as I would have liked to from this school. Everything being taught could be learned from using a program's built-in help documentation, tutorials, or online forums. That's how I taught myself how to use Game Maker, after all, and some of my games have been lauded as some of the best creations ever made in GM.

So no, I don't think it's hubris to turn your back on traditions if they don't serve you. I think it's the absolute right thing to do. As for me, though, it's too late to make that choice. I'm already 4 years into this with 1 more to go, it would be even more stupid to quit now.

I've started feeling less and less motivated, to the point school is the last thing that comes to my mind, even as I'm failing classes. I just keep thinking of the other, more interesting things I could be doing with my time that would be getting me closer to my goals.

Exactly.

Oh, and the game is a 2.5D iteration of Love UP!, a project I haven't worked on in a while but I would like to realize it in that new style if I can find someone who's willing to program it!

Retrostylized 2D graphics in 3D is very en vogue right now, and from a marketing perspective, I think it would be wise to make a game like that now before everyone does it and it becomes old hat.

There are no coincidences! Such is the power of the overripe banana!

This is a pretty TL;DR rant that I wrote a couple weeks ago, but it's still pretty relevant. Although, some things have since changed in that class I'm taking, so I'm now the lead designer, which is making it go a lot better for me. However, I just found out today that I have 13 more classes to finish before I can graduate, meaning that I'm going to be going here for up to another year, and it's already been 4! I could write another paragraph explaining how I never get as many classes as I need because the 1 week registration period is bullshit, but I'll refrain from going into detail on that for now. Here's my rant:

I think at this point I can say that going back to school was the biggest and most expensive mistake of my life. Maybe because I chose to go to an art school and expected to be doing something that I enjoyed, which is art and design for video games. However, the program at my school is very different; it's oriented towards production work that affords very little creative freedom as an artist.

Today was a perfect example of everything that's wrong with this particular program. The class I had this morning is Senior Project Planning, which is a group-based class that spans three quarters with the end goal of producing a playable game.

At first this seemed very exciting to me, especially when our group had agreed on making a game that was 2.5D (3D graphics with 2D presentation) and retro game styled elements. This idea was right up my alley and actually appealed to me; I thought that for once I would have something from the school to put into my portfolio (so far, my portfolio consists solely of my own work that I have done on my own time outside of school). Not only that, it felt like the first time I could really relate to working in 3D, since this style choice was somewhere between full 3D and the 2D style I know and love.

I had spent the previous weekend working in Maya (3D software) making my mock-up for my pitch, and actually enjoying what I was doing. The mock-up was a 2.5D iteration of one of my previous game projects, which was a perfect fit in terms of style for this particular project. Not only that, much of the game is already fleshed out and the concepts are relatively simple- simple enough for a team of artists with little to no programming skills to undertake.

Instead, the self-appointed team lead rejected my idea claiming that he didn't want to be stepping on eggshells with it since it was obviously “my baby”. His claim was fair enough and I appreciated his forwardness, so I conceded with the idea and focused my optimism instead to my role as the project's art director. After all, the game was still going to be a 2.5D game with retro elements... or so I thought.

Turns out that this self-appointed team lead, who has not only taken the role of producer but has apparently decided to take on design and art direction roles as well, has a vision of his own that deals with creating a game that focuses on multi-cultural mythologies. Albeit an interesting choice, the game so far is obviously his own sole vision, and there hasn't been any objection from the yes-man types comprising the rest of the group. In lieu of this, I didn't object, knowing that I could still have creative control in terms of the games aesthetics.

However, as our producer began to reveal his collected references for how he envisioned the game, it started to become clear that his artistic vision was a radical departure from the style we all originally agreed upon on week one. I knew and he knew that the kind of game that he wanted to make wouldn't be fitting for the “2.5D with retro-elements” look. At this point I spoke up and let him know that I had lost interest in the project. It was no longer resembling anything that appealed to me, and it would just fall into the typical, half-hearted production work for someone elses' vision that has been the motif of my experiences at this school.

As an artist, my goal is to express my own creative vision and create something with both beauty and meaning. I'm tired of seeing the same re-hashed formulas that are so prevalent to entertainment media, and ultimately championing mediocrity. This is why the independent game scene speaks to me so much. It is, for the most part, an industry of its own that answers to no one and expresses itself without permission or apology. It is allowed to be art in its rawest form, not this manufactured abomination of market-driven commercial nonsense that we have the audacity to call “art”.

When I voice my complaints about this particular matter to my teachers in hopes that they can work something out with me, I usually get a response like, “Get used to it, this is how it is in the industry; you won't always be doing what you want to do.” While this may be true to a degree, I don't think this is the right message to be sending to students. In fact, I've heard it so much that I no longer want to work for a company in the game industry.

Although contrary to these claims, I have done work in the game industry and it was never anything that I didn't enjoy. And regardless, I was being paid, not paying for something I wasn't too excited about doing. That is the major difference here, and that is why I wholeheartedly regret ever going back to school. Essentially, I'm going into massive debt to waste my time and energy doing things that I don't want to do. My classes usually fall into one of the following categories: 1) Interesting but irrelevant, 2) Uninteresting and irrelevant, and 3) Stuff I already know.

In the end I'm paying over one hundred thousand dollars to get a piece of paper that affirms a capability in me that my portfolio and resume already show. After all, I've heard more than once that in the game industry your credentials aren't what's important, it's your portfolio. I just wish I had heard this wise advice four years ago.

EDIT: In case anyone's curious, here's the mock-up I did for that class:

That looks like the canine version of David Mitchell/Elena Kagan.

These threads are always massive on every forum, and I doubt anyone bothers to read everything posted in them, but it's fun to post anyways. I've currently got the following loaded into WinAmp:

Belle & Sebastian Discography
The Carpenters Discography
Crystalis (NES) OST
Final Fantasy VI OST
Various Game Music Folder
Phil Collins Discography (What? I was born in the 80s, okay?)
Radiohead Discography
Simon & Garfunkel Discography
The Finches - Human Like a House album
Vernian Process (my friend) remastered collection of FF and Castlevania tracks
Yo La Tengo Discography

Currently playing: Final Fantasy VII - One Winged Angel (SEPHIROTH!!)

I was going to comment on the accent, until I read the rest of the thread. Now I guess I'm still going to comment on it. No, you don't sound English. You sound like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Sorry, dude.

I just watched this to see what you were talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_rVzBt20N0

Haha, gimme a break! It's not THAT bad! XD Maybe I should have used my Robert Webb impersonation instead?

I was going to comment on the accent, until I read the rest of the thread. Now I guess I'm still going to comment on it. No, you don't sound English. You sound like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Sorry, dude.

Ha! Well I'm guessing you must be British, since they'd be the first to tell an American that they're doing the accent wrong! lol... Although, I doubt my fellow Americans would be able to notice, unless it's completely terrible. But I've spent a lot of time watching British comedies and I'm usually pretty good at various pronunciations, so hopefully it's somewhat convincing

Haha. When I watched it I couldn't tell. Anyway, have you eaten the banana yet?

Nope, not yet... But I'm thinking of doing another video that unveils the banana with me possibly eating it. I'm deciding which kind of accent to use in that one, though. I'm thinking maybe Irish or Scottish 

Wow, I'm surprised this thread got so many replies... lol

I'm also nobody commented on the fakeness of my British accent, or did I pass? 

What? It was fake?

lol, yes. I'm 100% American. I just felt like being random

Wow, I'm surprised this thread got so many replies... lol

I'm also nobody commented on the fakeness of my British accent, or did I pass? 

This is seriously one of the best things I've ever seen in my life. Holy   

Dunno if any of you are fans of Peep Show or heard about that lady in the news, but holy shit:

True, but unfortunately I know nothing about how to make banana bread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-gawSdXXdU

This song from an obscure 80s anime (Harmageddon) sounds remarkably similar to the Golden Saucer theme from FFVII at 0:33:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsttBIaobTc

Golden Saucer theme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZbgM8HyhrU

http://steamcommunity.com/id/phubans

I'm already a member of the TIG group on steam, but I never played with anybody (although I've invited Derek to play L4D2 with me but he never does!!

The only thing I play on there is L4D2, anyways. But feel free to add me if you think you're good enough to keep up with me.