[game_edu] question from the community

[Jim Parker]

Well, there's a certain amount of 'grade inflation' going on, first of 
all. A BSc or BA is not what it once was. And people I know in the 
industry have told me that they prefer a masters degree in general.

Next, in many ways it makes the individual stand out if they have fewer 
items in their portfolio. In particular (as one now in an Art 
department) an MFA is a more significant credential than a BFA.

Thirdly, it allows a bit of divergence. So a degree in a narrative area, 
say English, followed by an MFA may show an ability to do 
interdisciplinary work.

I absolutely agree with you that a good portfolio is primary.

Jim

On 6/28/2011 9:56 PM, Ian Schreiber wrote:

> Right with you up until "get a masters." For a student who's interested

> in becoming an artist or composer, CS seems like an exceedingly odd

> choice of major. Let the student figure out what specialties interest

> them before pushing your home department at them, folks ;-)

>

> But why do you say students should go beyond a four-year degree? This is

> also one of those things that I'd think would depend on a lot of factors

> including the student's career goals. If they eventually want to work in

> the industry and then cycle back to academia as a professor, then by all

> means, a terminal degree in their field will make their life much

> easier. If their goal is just to get an entry-level game industry job

> and work their way up, a Master's can hurt as much as help. Game dev is

> largely a meritocracy, so academic credentials tend to carry far less

> weight than portfolio work -- if the student creates some amazing games

> during their graduate years then sure, that's great, but do they really

> need grad school for that or could they have spent their time just

> making those games themselves? And if a hiring manager perceives that

> the student went to grad school as a waiting tactic because they didn't

> have the skills to get hired in industry right out of college... well,

> that student is probably not getting hired, is all I'm saying.

>

> - Ian

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> *From:* Jim Parker <jparker at ucalgary.ca>

> *To:* IGDA Game Education Listserv <game_edu at igda.org>

> *Sent:* Tue, June 28, 2011 11:31:10 PM

> *Subject:* Re: [game_edu] question from the community

>

> Interesting

>

> As one who taught Computer Science fot 26 years, and created the game

> programming course and concentration in my department, I found that CS

> was a discouraging and negative place to try and work on games. I

> finally gave up and moved to the drama and art departments.

>

> There are many ways they were negative, in the face of evidence that

> they were mistaken, but the most telling statement was from a theory of

> computation person who said that offering courses on games 'sent the

> wrong message'. Not sure what that message was, but perhaps it was

> 'computer science can be fun and interesting'.

>

> My opinion is that it very strongly depends on the school and the

> department, and a CS degree is not always (or even often) the best

> route. When putting the course together, it became clear that the

> programmers on a game development team had the least creative

> contribution, often limited to statements like 'we can't draw that many

> polygons per second'.

>

> Nowadays the tools available have reduced the need for programming quite

> a bit. When I started this work in 1999 there were about 6-7 programmers

> on a team of 10 on a development group. Now its more like 2-3. The game

> engines and physics packages have really helped, and now we can say ' I

> want to do this' and not have to express it in code all of the time. The

> tools can do it, and the programmers can easily link those into the game.

>

> In that sense game development has become much more democratic. Creative

> people can now create prototypes even, and that is quite helpful in

> demoing mechanics. My art students can now build games in weeks that

> used to be a whole semester in CS.

>

> Encouragement comes in many forms - mine would be that you don't have to

> be a computer science major to develop games, and it's not even an

> advantage in many cases. The Nike rule 'Just Do it' would be my offering

> to them. Build a portfolio, work with programmers and artists and

> designers, and take a degree in a creative subject. Get a masters would

> be good advice.

>

> Jim

>

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