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[Melly]

Any craft is arduous and taxing if you want to get good and recognized at it, especially something as complex as making games. But if you love doing it you can probably put the many long hours in with little problem.

[Hinchy]

yeah it's true. but I meant is- I don't want to go to a school that's gonna force me to take four years of english classes. it's not what I want to do. I want to write code, not to write literature. I want a college that's focused on exactly what I need. and if game design really requires four more years of English, maybe I'm not cut out for the job.

(Disclaimer: I loathe English. A lot.)

[george]

I think most schools will let you have a broad-based education, with classes in many different subjects -- science, art, math, history, literature, sociology, psychology, folk dancing, etcetera. This is probably the best route for a game designer.

[Zaphos]

If you just want to write code, I think you can get through a technical school with a CS degree without taking much English.  For example at Carnegie Mellon I think you could get by with really only two semesters of English.

[Sar]

Alternate answer: Come do your degree in the UK. If you do a degree at a UK university you join a department directly, and are typically discouraged from taking courses from other departments. It's usually possible if you really really want to, but not expected by a long way.

I did a CS degree at Warwick, which at the time was something like second or third in the country for CS (I don't necessarily think it's slipped, I just don't know where it stands now), and the only writing course I had to do was a ten-week "Writing for Computer Scientists". Which, holding an English Language A-Level, seemed to me to be insultingly trivial.

Also if you practice really hard while you're here you might pick up an awesome British accent. ;-)

[Matt Thorson]

I just wanted to add that I work in "the industry" and still manage to make indie games on the side.

A few above posts made it sound like "the industry" is some giant, brain-eating machine hell-bent on draining all creativity and motivation from the individual.

But I also work at an extremely small studio, so I guess keep that in mind.

[Caio]

A few above posts made it sound like "the industry" is some giant, brain-eating machine hell-bent on draining all creativity and motivation from the individual.

Ask fish.