Games Art VS Game design and programming.
I'm currently juggling between two potential university courses next year (18/19).
I am unsure whether to study Games Art or Games design and programming, unfortunately, the only open day I can make isn't until late September so I'm trying to do some preliminary research and get opinions from people who have potentially done one or the other.
I understand that Games art is more about being an artist within the industry, compared to design and programming featuring a lot more of the mechanicS based elements, however the course descriptions are both very similar and it doesn't appear to show much of a variation.
I am wondering which would make me more employable and if anyone could give me any information regarding the courses?
(I am currently studying A2 Maths, Physics, and Art. Predicted ABA* respectively. And I am looking at studying at staffs uni, due to their industry links.)
I am unsure whether to study Games Art or Games design and programming, unfortunately, the only open day I can make isn't until late September so I'm trying to do some preliminary research and get opinions from people who have potentially done one or the other.
I understand that Games art is more about being an artist within the industry, compared to design and programming featuring a lot more of the mechanicS based elements, however the course descriptions are both very similar and it doesn't appear to show much of a variation.
I am wondering which would make me more employable and if anyone could give me any information regarding the courses?
(I am currently studying A2 Maths, Physics, and Art. Predicted ABA* respectively. And I am looking at studying at staffs uni, due to their industry links.)
When confused about anything a university offers, its best to talk to them directly.
Call or email the people who head the courses (their name and contact should be available on the website).
Quite often you can have a tour if you arrange it with them outside of open days, you're not the only one in the same position and they've dealt with similar cases for awhile. It's also in their interests to get as many people as possible on their course.
Do you do games' art or programming in your spare time? Ignoring the game design component which won't be the major focus. Based on your description I don't know if you have any experience with either and I would recommend trying to do art for games using internet resources or learn programming. Both can be learned to some extent outside of university, from there you can base your decision on what you want to take.
I don't know if there is a TSR Staffordshire Uni representative. But I have seen a TSR rep for Falmouth Uni and BCU if you also want to take a look at them. For the most part, it seems that any university that has been doing a games' industry based course has a fair few industry links, so visit them all and see who/what you like. Also try to talk to current students on your interested courses.
Call or email the people who head the courses (their name and contact should be available on the website).
Quite often you can have a tour if you arrange it with them outside of open days, you're not the only one in the same position and they've dealt with similar cases for awhile. It's also in their interests to get as many people as possible on their course.
Do you do games' art or programming in your spare time? Ignoring the game design component which won't be the major focus. Based on your description I don't know if you have any experience with either and I would recommend trying to do art for games using internet resources or learn programming. Both can be learned to some extent outside of university, from there you can base your decision on what you want to take.
I don't know if there is a TSR Staffordshire Uni representative. But I have seen a TSR rep for Falmouth Uni and BCU if you also want to take a look at them. For the most part, it seems that any university that has been doing a games' industry based course has a fair few industry links, so visit them all and see who/what you like. Also try to talk to current students on your interested courses.
(edited 6 years ago)
What about game design? That I think is the middle option. I chose to do game art but after reading the specification in more detail quite a bit of it involved drawing... I only enjoy/am good at 3D art. I don't mind learning programming alongside 3d design... i wouldn't want to do programming alone mind you.
Oh and i would consider staffordshire university. I'm going there and not only have they refurbished all of the accommodation and campus buildings... but they have bought loads of new high spec computers and are continuing to add more computer rooms (with investment from Epic Games). They also do like 10 game courses so it's great in terms of social life being in a uni with over 1000 game related course students.
Mind you with ''ABA*''... you could get into falmouth which is higher on the league tables... etc whether it is actually better for game design i don't know.
AND there is a staffordshire university representative. Although i would just email the game course address which should be presented on the actual game design/game art information pages.
Oh and i would consider staffordshire university. I'm going there and not only have they refurbished all of the accommodation and campus buildings... but they have bought loads of new high spec computers and are continuing to add more computer rooms (with investment from Epic Games). They also do like 10 game courses so it's great in terms of social life being in a uni with over 1000 game related course students.
Mind you with ''ABA*''... you could get into falmouth which is higher on the league tables... etc whether it is actually better for game design i don't know.
AND there is a staffordshire university representative. Although i would just email the game course address which should be presented on the actual game design/game art information pages.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by Benmcdonald
I'm currently juggling between two potential university courses next year (18/19).
I am unsure whether to study Games Art or Games design and programming, unfortunately, the only open day I can make isn't until late September so I'm trying to do some preliminary research and get opinions from people who have potentially done one or the other.
I understand that Games art is more about being an artist within the industry, compared to design and programming featuring a lot more of the mechanicS based elements, however the course descriptions are both very similar and it doesn't appear to show much of a variation.
I am wondering which would make me more employable and if anyone could give me any information regarding the courses?
(I am currently studying A2 Maths, Physics, and Art. Predicted ABA* respectively. And I am looking at studying at staffs uni, due to their industry links.)
I am unsure whether to study Games Art or Games design and programming, unfortunately, the only open day I can make isn't until late September so I'm trying to do some preliminary research and get opinions from people who have potentially done one or the other.
I understand that Games art is more about being an artist within the industry, compared to design and programming featuring a lot more of the mechanicS based elements, however the course descriptions are both very similar and it doesn't appear to show much of a variation.
I am wondering which would make me more employable and if anyone could give me any information regarding the courses?
(I am currently studying A2 Maths, Physics, and Art. Predicted ABA* respectively. And I am looking at studying at staffs uni, due to their industry links.)
Hello Benmcdonald,
If you are interested in doing a coding course that doesn't primarily focus on programming you may want to look in to Design & Coding at Ravensbourne. It is a BA and you would cover a large amount of stuff around both design and programming.
I'm currently going to in to second year of this course and I'm really enjoying it. For my first year I created an Arduino clock that shows time in binary, analogue, has a flash light mode and disco mode. Whilst I was doing that brief I was also doing another brief with product design learning about the element of play by making a pachnko machine, a seated golf club and a minigolf course with and arduino installed to make a victory noise when the ball goes in to the hole
(1st and 2nd term).
For my 3rd term I created a box layer game using processing which I'm planing to make in to an app over the summer as my brief, and also created a website with a mapping system of the river Thames in London as part of the course.
We do explore a large amount of avenues in this course, including games. Second years this year created a projection game on the ground that tracks your movement using an Xbox Kinect with 3 game modes they had to make themselves as a group project. It acts as an instillation piece that could easily go in to an art gallery or a public space.
Next year we are going to be covering the unity engine and going in to more game development once again among other things.
It is a fantastic course that I would highly recommend. It is brand new and is up to date with the current trend the industry is heading. In fact I was doing the degree show for this course last week and I spoke to people from both Microsoft and Google and they both were interested in what we were doing. And the guy from Google gave me his business card. So you can probably see the potential in this course.
Hope this helps! If you have any questions about the course feel free to message me.
Kind regards,
Michail
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