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Jun. 25th, 2008
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Jun. 25th, 2008 02:58 pmUK game-development degrees not up to snuff, claims industry
I can't say this is a great surprise. When I did console/PC dev, we always found the pure Comp Sci / Arts degree candidates were massively stronger. While being taught the nuances of low-pixel art can be useful, modules on level design are not. We tended to look for people with provably strong coding/maths/physics skills or artists with strong portfolios.
So, yeah, unless they improve these, if you want to get into games, it looks like it might still be best to do a degree that specialises and maybe broaden your skill-set in your spare time, you'll pick the rest up on the job. It's a shame... I think I would have killed to do a degree like that when I was at uni (but would have expected it to actually get me into the job, too).
[edit]: Braben seems to echo this, too.
I can't say this is a great surprise. When I did console/PC dev, we always found the pure Comp Sci / Arts degree candidates were massively stronger. While being taught the nuances of low-pixel art can be useful, modules on level design are not. We tended to look for people with provably strong coding/maths/physics skills or artists with strong portfolios.
So, yeah, unless they improve these, if you want to get into games, it looks like it might still be best to do a degree that specialises and maybe broaden your skill-set in your spare time, you'll pick the rest up on the job. It's a shame... I think I would have killed to do a degree like that when I was at uni (but would have expected it to actually get me into the job, too).
[edit]: Braben seems to echo this, too.