New School bitches...

Hey, I'm new. I've been lurking for some time now.

I don't think I should listen to you guys on the topic of whether its a good idea to go to college for video game development. After all you are random strangers with the possibility of bias.

But I do wonder whether its a good idea. I want to get into the industry, games are my passion. I graduated, but I never took any of the more advanced math classes and math is essential for programming games. I can program some, but I don't know how to create games. When I graduated I had made it to Algebra 1, taken the class and passed.

I went to college, for one semester but not anymore. I couldn't stand the stress of getting work in on time, I always procrastinated and had to work hard to get the work done on time. Now, I was going to try for a different job training at school because the school shortened the classes I was taking, halved them basically, and made passing them very difficult. I quit my job to try and finish the course but in the end I dropped it. Other people had bad grades and were lucky to pass apart from a few. I couldn't find a job I wanted to train for, and apart from that the people at the school were absolute morons who were very unhelpful.

I need the math, and the help from trained instructors. You people make me worry about wasting my time and money on going to school, when I clearly need it. I just wonder if its a good idea thanks to you guys.

And seriously people, learn to spell, its beginning to affect my own.

Here is the thing. If you want to do something, do it, damnit. Don't blame other people, or institutions.

My father never graduated college, yet he has patented numerous digital devices and sat as a the chair for digital standards in geneva. He has worked his ass off. Bill Gates did the same thing; when he had enough of harvard, he left and created Microsoft.

You don't get to be successful, doing what you love, what your passion is, without hard work. The argument against college here arises because most of these people are dedicated and they work a lot.

Myself, I find that school is mostly a needed distraction. I need the degree to tell a complete stranger that I'm competent enough to meet a standard (whether I am or not, is a different story).

Whether you go to University/College to get a degree or not, either way you are going to have to work your ass off. Theres no easy way out of it, if your passionate and really want it, then you will find the time to do it, you will find the necessary funding to do it.

One of the issues about learning by your self, is not learning the correct methods, not learning industry standards.

I'm not saying, that getting a degree will get you a job, I'm just saying it will definitely help as long as you put the effort into it.

It takes alot more, than just seeing a final product to get you a job. You may have made a great model for a game. But that doesnt mean you actually know your stuff. There is alot of underlining footwork that takes place, perspective, colour theory, composition, etc...All of this, you will need to get a decent job in the industry. If you can learn all of that by yourself then great stuff, but you really need these key basics under your belt.

Problem with learning yourself, is your likely to work on a whim, not exactly knowing what you need to know.

Like with programming, you need to understand why things do certain things, you need to follow industry standards in designing and planning along with all the revision control and testing. Now I knew a far bit about designing and testing before I started my course, the problem was it wasnt enough, wasnt extensive and wasnt industry standard.

Like alot of things in life, theres a difference between being able to do something, and actually knowing and understanding how to do something.

Regardless, if you want a job in the gaming industry you need a degree. With the rise of colleges that now offer it as a degree, they'll take someone who can do art assets/program with a degree over someone who can show off high poly models any day. There's more to the industry than the work you can show for.