Talk to me about majoring in "game design" and the career that follows

[Anonymous]

My DS is naturally good at math and thinks he want to get a degree in game design. When I mention things like computer science or cyber security, he is insistent that it is game design/programming only that he is interested in. (mind you, he's in 9th grade). I kind of wince at the idea of game design.... we listened to a weeklong series on NPR about the game design industry and it was all about how they use and abuse the coders, there are no health benefits, they "crunch" during deadlines and never have a life, etc. Even outside of the NPR series, I just envision a bunch of hairy guys with low social skills sitting in dark basement-type places attached to their screens and never interacting. I also worry that DS is ... I don't know... kind of innocent?... I don't really want him to be spending all day exposed to really violent or misogynistic content.

Overall, I would like to know more about what the college experience was like (at GMU, or other), and what the job search is like, and what the actual career is like.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hi -I’m the one with Dc in it from GMU and will post back later this evening about our experiences with the field.

[Anonymous]

He's in 9th grade. His desires can change a LOT in four years. Just say "that's nice, dear" and drop it.

[Anonymous]

I mean their are jobs for him if he applies himself, just like their are none if he doesn’t.

I’ve had a few CS friends not find jobs after, and a few Game design friends not be able to find jobs, but it wasn’t the degree it was how they spent the rest of their time in college and short months after.

[Anonymous]

Obviously much better off getting a CS degree. More options and can still pursue game design. One thing I’d say to do now is to start pursuing game creation. Start an open source project, join a Discord server, why wait?

[Anonymous]

Hi OP - I'm the GMU dad with a DS who graduated from GMU in computer science from the other thread. I have a couple of points to make so may not finish on this post.

Our DS is two years graduated so some of what I say may be dated so take it with a grain of salt.

Our DS's interest in game design started with manga and anime and art. That led to studying Japanese and taking all the computer courses he could. He is gifted at all of those skills but not the math component. And that makes a difference (see below).

So when the hunt for colleges began we studied everything online we could (Game Design was the hottest major in the United States that year) and found very few schools, then, that offered a double major in game design and Japanese.

You can readily find lists of the best programs on Google (I just checked). We looked at Drexel, USC, Carnegie, etc. We also toured some SLACs that had strong Japanese departments but weak computer departments (Gettysburg, Dickenson, etc.). There are many more programs offered now than back when we were searching.

GMU was the only school that offered both majors so DS applied and it was a one and done and being in-state Virginia we were thrilled.

We were asked by the chair of the department when touring if DS had finished calculus. He had not. Therein lies the rub. The other students in his program came in as true coding nerds. They knew everything about coding and he was behind. If you haven't had calculus and haven't learned to code I'm not sure I would recommend the major.

However, if your son loves math, as you say he does, then yes - encourage him and get him on a program to finish calculus by the end of the junior year so that when he applies ED, EA to Game Design programs, he will look serious. Any certificates he can pick up in programming or coding along the way will help him in any game design program and in the application.

As to GMU, DS got a BFA (bachelor of fine arts) not a BS in Game Design and Japanese. If he were to do it over he would have done a BS and mastered coding and calculus.

So I would agree with the person above about Computer Science as a major and perhaps game design as a second major or a minor.

BUT! Serious Game Design (which is what it's called at GMU) requires a lot of courses that CS will not. At first blush, you might ask "why" music theory. The answer is that the creation and production of any game involves a lot of artists: first the story arc (Literature and English classes); the language component (Japanese is good if you can master it, but it is hard to learn); animation (GMU has a major in that); music theory (because all games have music); modern art; film studies; Computer science, Game Creation, finance, etc. etc. You can find this online on GMU's Serious Game Design page. The concept is that game design requires the ability to work with a number of artists to come up with a popular game - so one must work as a team with all of these different artists to pull together a marketable product.

Computer Science is, well, computer science so a different major altogether. But the two do go hand-in-hand.

As to job prospects, GMU is very good at placement. DS has been working at Bethesda Softworks for several years now. The job came through GMU. He's happy and has had to work overtime (double pay) only a few times. But it is a solid 9-6 hours a day working in front of gaming computers. If you are not up for that, then a different major might be in order. The pay is not great but considering he's fully employed during this time of crisis, he feels very grateful. Or at least Dad here is. And he has health care and nice perks.

So if we were to start the college search all over again, yes, I would urge computer science, but since DD was never good at calculus, that would not have worked out well for him.

BTW, there are summer gaming camps at American Univ., which DS took and GMU offers its own. That would be a good way to test DS's interest over the next few years.

If you are in-state Virginia, as I currently understand it, GMU is the only public university in the Commonwealth to offer the game design major because the legislators are sending all the money to fund it at GMU. (The Commonwealth is working hard to grow and expand the offerings at the Universities where there is space and room to grow - so be prepared for constant construction at GMU - but the upside is that almost everything, including the computers and dorms, are new or almost new). Hence, no Game Design at UVA or the other universities.

The other majors that GMU does well are Computer Science, as discussed, Economics, and Engineering (another option for your son if he eats up calculus). BUT, the big major that I would encourage anyone to seriously talk up with their children is GMU's relatively new Cybersecurity major. Those kids can write their own tickets when they leave. They are snapped up at graduation and are often gone in a year because they keep getting better offers. That major dovetails nicely with other computer-related sciences. Most of the cyber-security courses are offered at the newish GMU campus in Manassas, which is REALLY state of the art. That's where the big bucks are now = cybersecurity. Regular curriculum courses would be offered back at the Fairfax campus but jitney buses run back and forth.

BTW read up on Mason Korea - a true "satellite" campus. it has become huge in computer science, game design, cyber-security, and other fields. Your son can attend there, as well. https://masonkorea.gmu.edu/.

You also need to read up on VSGI - GMU's "Virginia Serious Game Institute". It too has many of the computer-related courses out at the newish Manassas campus. https://vsgi.gmu.edu/. DS interned there during the summers.

My work on an advisory board was to meet with the big tech companies on the Dulles corridor and I-270 (like Bethesda Softworks/Zenimax, soon to be bought out by Microsoft) to see what needs these companies had. Many need "serious" games made, such as how to teach a difficult medical procedure. Also, the military needs games to teach how to land on an aircraft carrier. One time, Fire Departments came in to request simulation games, etc. etc. Also, these companies then hire interns from GMU during the school year and summers. Through that, I learned about the computer science offerings. The chair of the CS department, a woman professor, used to attend. I would say contact her but I checked last night and don't see her name listed in the department anymore so assume she retired. Anyhow, VSGI exists to handle those contracts (hence, finance) to make the serious games that those companies and governments need.

I'm sure I'm missing something but I'll watch here if you have any further questions.

[Anonymous]

Pp: according to the GMU website, they don't offer a Japanese major, only a minor. This is my dc's preferred major... How did your son manage this? Did he arrange it as an interdisciplinary major?

We've done a lot of research on this, and the only VA publics that offer a standard Japanese major are UVA and W&M. If Madon is willing to allow students to do a DIY Japanese major, my DC would be very interested.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have a child interested in gaming or computer science, but I‘m reading this because I’m interested in students who have a passion and how they follow that through school. Thank you PP for the in-depth description of the Serious Gaming major at Mason. I appreciate your insight.

[Anonymous]

Know someone who went to a specialty school for animation and game design (scad). He’s very talented but didn’t graduate and is now mid-20’s, living in parents’ basement, not really working, but has student loans to pay off. Tread carefully down this path.

[Anonymous]

Op here -- Thanks, dad at 15:45! I really appreciate your thorough post. I am going to let DS follow his own path. I think there are a lot of kids/teens who dream of designing video games...but might not be so interested once they get into the nuts and bolts of it. So, if he puts in the work and wsnts to pursue it...then that's where he belongs. He thinks he's going to teach himself Unity programming...but I haven't seen a lot of progress. So I'll just watch and see where that goes.

It's good to hear there are real jobs with benefits, and useful work projects that serious game designers create.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here -- Thanks, dad at 15:45! I really appreciate your thorough post. I am going to let DS follow his own path. I think there are a lot of kids/teens who dream of designing video games...but might not be so interested once they get into the nuts and bolts of it. So, if he puts in the work and wsnts to pursue it...then that's where he belongs. He thinks he's going to teach himself Unity programming....but I haven't seen a lot of progress. So I'll just watch and see where that goes.

It's good to hear there are real jobs with benefits, and useful work projects that serious game designers create.

GMU dad here ...DS says that Unity is just the development platform. Your son needs to learn the program but then also the languages used in the platform such as C++, C# and Java to name a few. Look into those summer courses for programming (which leads into game design). (This is all above my pay grade -I’m just delivering what was said).

[Anonymous]

IT person here. One of my friends went down this path -- he worked for Rockstar Games for a few years. You need to know CS really well and then understand physics, art, etc. It can be fun and rewarding if he's really into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Know someone who went to a specialty school for animation and game design (scad). He’s very talented but didn’t graduate and is now mid-20’s, living in parents’ basement, not really working, but has student loans to pay off. Tread carefully down this path. [/quo


I agree -and what I have to say goes for all specialty art schools. The point of college is to educate your child with a strong exposure to all the liberal arts and sciences so they are a productive member of society and the workforce. The standard BA does that -no matter what your major is, there is a standard required curriculum. Not so at most art schools. A student who is interested in art should go to a college or university with a strong arts department. Nine times out of ten the student will change majors - at my SLAC - which had a good studio art and art history program - all students changed their majors at least twice. An art school like SCAD doesn’t offer that opportunity for change and development in other intellectual disciplines. Second, most people know that a bachelors degree from SCAD isn’t a conventional bachelors degree. The school is recognized only by the Southern Association of Colleges and Institutions. Ergo if you want to go on and do grad work in a field unrelated to SCAD and not at SCAD you are going to have difficulty. It’s expensive. And, finally 66 percent drop out. And something like 97 percent are admitted. I would discourage art school for any 18 year old but especially SCAD. There are much better options and ones where you will be required to read, analyze and learn to write -traits which employers seek.

[Anonymous]

SCAD has also had a tumultuous and controversial time in it’s short history. Read the wiki.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pp: according to the GMU website, they don't offer a Japanese major, only a minor. This is my dc's preferred major... How did your son manage this? Did he arrange it as an interdisciplinary major?

We've done a lot of research on this, and the only VA publics that offer a standard Japanese major are UVA and W&M. If Madon is willing to allow students to do a DIY Japanese major, my DC would be very interested.

GMU dad here. You are 100 percent correct. I forgot that aspect of the problem. I could find full Japanese language major AND full Game Design major anywhere (this was eight years ago so I imagine it’s easier today with more universities offering the game design major). That’s why we toured Gettysburg and other SLACs that had strong Japanese departments but didn’t have the Game Design component. I can’t remember if Drexel had the Japanese major or minor but we did look there. Now that you’ve reminded me, yes it was a minor. It was very difficult for DS notwithstanding four years of high school Japanese and tutoring. It was a struggle to finish both -I’m not sure I would recommend that today.