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[KarjamP]

I'm actually want to study for a degree in five years time (currently, as of the year 2009, I'm in grade 7) I can't decide on what to study. Do you think I should study Computer Science or Computer Games Design. Any help would be appreciated. If this is in the wrong subforum, then please can somebody move this into it's rightful place?

[Hideous]

I bet you'll benefit far more from Computer Science, really. If you don't end up in games, you'll have the benefit of being able to work in other programming related fields.

[KarjamP]

Seems like Computer Science is my best choice so far. I won't lock the poll, so feel free to continue with answering the poll and posting replies.

[BorisTheBrave]

Computer Games Design is imho a noddy degree, with about as much merit as sports therapy or theatre studies.

That doesn't mean you have to do CS though. Where I come from, degrees still have vague connotations of being non-vocational.

But, if you're 5 years away, I wouldn't worry too much about it. You abilities and interests can vary a lot in 5 years.

[PGGB]

If you don't have a problem with either, go with CS. As said before a good job in a game company is not guaranteed. With CS you can just start working in another field while looking for a better job.

[Core Xii]

Also, if you know how to program, you can just make your games yourself to get started. You can learn game design just fine from, you know, playing games a lot.

[GregWS]

I'll chip in here with a 3rd option you should seriously consider: design school.  You may never create a game in your entire time designing things (products/buildings/landscapes/etc.?) but you'll learn a whole lot about design.  And what you learn about design in that context is quite easy to apply to games.  Heck, Miyamoto unwittingly went this route (5 years of Industrial Design before being hired by Nintendo), so that really says something imo. 

[brog]

You can learn game design just fine from, you know, making games a lot.

Fixed.

[BlueSweatshirt]

You can learn game design just fine from, you know, making games a lot.

Fixed.

I think they mean game design theory, rather than practice. 
(and in game design, I'd say theory is just as valuable as practice)

[Aquin]

Sadly, I've heard a *lot* of disreputable stories from places like digipen and guildhall.  You could probably learn a lot more about game design just from hanging around here and perusing related tutorials.  Also, play games.

[Glaiel-Gamer]

Sadly, I've heard a *lot* of disreputable stories from places like digipen and guildhall.  You could probably learn a lot more about game design just from hanging around here and perusing related tutorials.  Also, play games.

I go to dp actually (almost done with my 3rd semester). Has it helped me? Only a little. Their degree is sorta like "computer science with a focus on game programming" rather than game design (which I knew not to get into. The artform is not evolved enough to have theory be a worthy course of study). It certainly has a large workload and moves fast and the professors are mostly good.

But you'd get more out of it if you didn't diddle around for 6 years with programming and games in middle and high school like I did. I guess I sorta went in already being a decent programmer and as a result the only classes I get my "money's worth" out of are the advanced math stuff.

There's also an intellectual property thing to worry about (they own anything you turn in as a school assignment). You can plan ahead for this and it's all good though (some professors have been using me and Closure as an example of how to keep school and personal projects separate if you want to keep the rights to them).

I don't know if (any) school was the right choice for me, but it's not the school's fault, and they do teach pretty well. I watched some of my friends turn from not knowing what a computer was last year to being able to program box-2D like physics engines and shaders over the course of a year and a half, so it's obviously working well for a lot of people.

[David Pittman]

Sadly, I've heard a *lot* of disreputable stories from places like digipen and guildhall.  You could probably learn a lot more about game design just from hanging around here and perusing related tutorials.  Also, play games.

Guildhall grad here to refute that. The experience is somewhat different for the art and design students, but the programming curriculum was excellent. If you only want to make indie games and debate whether games are art, sure, it's a waste of money; but if you want to go pro, it's a good choice. Of course, making games is always the most important thing--no amount of education will matter if you never apply it. Sadly, there are people who enroll in game development programs and expect to coast through it and come out the other side with a fun job; those people don't make it.

So I guess the catch-22 is that self-motivated, hard-working people get the most benefit out of it, and those are the same people who are constantly programming, reading these forums, learning new techniques, etc. on their own anyway. I've got no answer to that, only that I think it actually made me more self-motivated and a better programmer.

And to keep this relatively on topic: definitely go for Comp Sci, OP. I wouldn't trade a solid undergrad education for any game development program, much less one targeted at design (which is a vague name but evokes theory and discussion and not practice and development). And if design interests you, take some humanities classes. Designers should have a broad knowledge of culture and traditional arts, not just of games. The best designers I've known also tend to be voracious readers and film buffs.

[team_q]

I've just Graduated from a Game Development program at a Canadian College, I also went to Computer Science at a Canadian University for 2 years. You get what you put into it. One major thing that I found was that I was immersed in games and game culture, everyday we talked about games, we played them, we read online about them, we got groups together and went on trips to game summits and expos. We made games, we learned about programming, 3d art, we talked about the history of Video Games, we tried things out and learned what makes games fun. For three years, I was immersed in how games are made. Some slight Game Development Diplomas but for me and most of the people who graduated from my program, it worked and we have jobs making games.

BUT a compsci Degree is a degree and that opens its own set of doors, I found the programming to be useless and directionless, I wasn't enjoying myself and I ended up leaving, but I might complete it to say I have the Degree. We'll see.

And we own our own IP. 

[StudioFortress]

I'm a final year computer science student and I'd recommend CS over a game degree. Namely because CS is relevant to all areas where as with a game oriented degree you are focusing yourself on one particular career. Plus I've seen plenty of programmer jobs for games companies that ask for a CS degree, I've not seen any that ask for a game degree.

However (and this is a big however) a degree on it's own guarantees very little. It's everything else you do around and on top of that degree that will put you ahead of the crowd. Just a month or two ago I had to go over variables and functions with a final year CS student, note final year! I know plenty of CS students who have no idea how to tackle building a game as simple as pong. But none of those people spend their free time developing their own indie games. If you want to work in the games industry then the best thing you can do is to start programming games now (if your not already).

Second I'd highly recommend doing a degree with a year in industry (also called a placement year). At my uni we can optionally take one before our final year, and I've noticed a clear divide in terms of skills and professionallism between those who have those who haven't.

You could also do your year in industry at a games company which will be a good chance to test if you really do or don't want to build games for a living!

[handCraftedRadio]

Why wait till college before starting to program or create games? I started learning c++ when I was in 8th grade ( and previously messed around with other languages before that.) I recommend just buying an intro to programming book off of amazon and just start teaching yourself. College won't teach you anything that you can't learn on your own. Though, if you are more in to making games and not really interested in programming then it may be hard to motivate yourself. A lot of people think that the learning part is just boring work you have to do before you can start coding a game, but I just like programming anything in general so I was able to fly through the intro books. My first programming course in college taught less than what I was able to learn in 1 week when i was in 8th grade. I never went to class and got 100% on every exam. So if you are interested in programming there is no reason not to start right now.

[Gold Cray]

My first programming course in college taught less than what I was able to learn in 1 week when i was in 8th grade.

This. Why even both wasting college on CS when you can use it to learn something fun, like EE and just make video games in your spare time? I might be biased, though.

[ChevyRay]

That's sort of the route I'm taking. I wanted to take CS in college for so long, for like 4 years I was anticipating it. Then, due to a series of unfortunate happenings, I was unable to attend the program, and now I'm not in school. In response to that, I've just been teaching myself coding, and it's going rather successfully. I have no doubts at all now that I'd be able to learn any coding language at my own pace if I wanted to, and the college option is still open for something more interesting, maybe something that I couldn't learn as easily on my own, such as art, etc.

But everybody's different. I unfortunately can't answer the question because I've had experience in neither.

[Core Xii]

[StudioFortress]

In response to that, I've just been teaching myself coding, and it's going rather successfully. I have no doubts at all now that I'd be able to learn any coding language at my own pace if I wanted to, and the college option is still open for something more interesting, maybe something that I couldn't learn as easily on my own, such as art, etc.

You learn a lot more on a CS degree then just how to program.

[dustin]

I don't know about most schools but UC Santa Cruz has a game design major which is actually part of the CS major, you get a major in computer science with infasis in computer science.  If it's a case like that I say either is fine.

While I can diffenatly learn a language by myself (AS3, objective C) I do think school has helped a lot.  For one course I learned a language every 2 weeks for 10 weeks.  I do not think I would have been able to do that without that course.  It has also helped me to think about programming differently then I normally would have and to come up with solutions that would not have been clear otherwise.