Struggling to decide where I want to study Games Programming.

DanF_2000

So I'm at that moment where I'm filling and sending in drafts of my personal statement. I've decided on my subject of choice (games programming) and I'm practising skills I'll need for it. Some of the universities I'm looking at are Staffordshire, Huddersfield, Derby, De Montfort and Birmingham City university, since I like the look and appearance of the courses in these, and I'm planning on going to open days for these universities (though I'm not sure how I'll be able to sort out work, since I work on Saturdays 2-6pm and Sundays 12-4pm)

I'm currently studying games development at Loughborough College, in my second year and last year I got 13 distinctions and 2 merits (all but 1 of the assignments were distinctions) and I'm teaching myself C++. I was wondering what university or course people would recommend for games programming? Here are the 5 courses I've been looking at:

Birmingham City University: http://www.bcu.ac.uk/courses/computer-games-technology-bsc-hons-msci-2018-19

Staffordshire University: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/course/computer-games-programming-bsc

DMU: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/courses/undergraduate-courses/computer-games-programming-bsc-degree/computer-games-programming-bsc-degree.aspx

Derby University: https://www.derby.ac.uk/undergraduate/computing-courses/computer-games-programming-bsc-hons/

Huddersfield University: https://courses.hud.ac.uk/full-time/undergraduate/computer-science-with-games-programming-bsc-hons

I love the mechanics and features, and discovering how these work in games and the idea of adapting and changing these to a similar yet completely different feature which I feel like people will enjoy, rather than focusing on the art and design of the game, though I don't mind the design aspect (unfortunately 3 years and a half ago a nerve in my right arm was damaged when I was in hospital for something, so I'm unable to use my index finger and I'm right handed, so it's very difficult to draw or write with it.)

Would anyone be able to recommend me a university course or what would be best out of these? I'll go to all the open days, and I want to use all 5 of my applications, the struggle is deciding which one would be preferable. Thanks in advance!

Reply 1

yt7777

18

With those high grades I would suggest applying to some stronger unis. Such as:

Leeds - Computer Science (High Performance Graphics and Games) - https://engineering.leeds.ac.uk/courses/UG/I069/computer-science-with-high-performance-graphics-and-games-engineering

Newcastle - Computer Science (Games Engineering) - https://www.ncl.ac.uk/undergraduate/degrees/g450/#courseoverview

Sussex - Game and Multimedia Environments - https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/computer-science-artificial-intelligence-and-digital-media/games-and-multimedia-environments-game-bsc/2018

City - Computer Science with Games Technology - https://www.city.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/computer-science-with-games-technology

Reply 2

Staffordshire University

Official Rep

17

Original post by DanF_2000

So I'm at that moment where I'm filling and sending in drafts of my personal statement. I've decided on my subject of choice (games programming) and I'm practising skills I'll need for it. Some of the universities I'm looking at are Staffordshire, Huddersfield, Derby, De Montfort and Birmingham City university, since I like the look and appearance of the courses in these, and I'm planning on going to open days for these universities (though I'm not sure how I'll be able to sort out work, since I work on Saturdays 2-6pm and Sundays 12-4pm)

I'm currently studying games development at Loughborough College, in my second year and last year I got 13 distinctions and 2 merits (all but 1 of the assignments were distinctions) and I'm teaching myself C++. I was wondering what university or course people would recommend for games programming? Here are the 5 courses I've been looking at:

Birmingham City University: http://www.bcu.ac.uk/courses/computer-games-technology-bsc-hons-msci-2018-19

Staffordshire University: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/course/computer-games-programming-bsc

DMU: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/courses/undergraduate-courses/computer-games-programming-bsc-degree/computer-games-programming-bsc-degree.aspx

Derby University: https://www.derby.ac.uk/undergraduate/computing-courses/computer-games-programming-bsc-hons/

Huddersfield University: https://courses.hud.ac.uk/full-time/undergraduate/computer-science-with-games-programming-bsc-hons

I love the mechanics and features, and discovering how these work in games and the idea of adapting and changing these to a similar yet completely different feature which I feel like people will enjoy, rather than focusing on the art and design of the game, though I don't mind the design aspect (unfortunately 3 years and a half ago a nerve in my right arm was damaged when I was in hospital for something, so I'm unable to use my index finger and I'm right handed, so it's very difficult to draw or write with it.)

Would anyone be able to recommend me a university course or what would be best out of these? I'll go to all the open days, and I want to use all 5 of my applications, the struggle is deciding which one would be preferable. Thanks in advance!

Hi @DanF_2000

It's great to hear that you're considering studying at Staffs.

Please give me a shout if you have any specific questions about our courses.

Thanks

Amy

Reply 3

University of Huddersfield

Official Rep

16

Hi @DanF_2000

Just let us know if we can answer any questions for you about Huddersfield!

Good luck with your decision :smile:

Claire, UoH

Reply 4

Penguin Spaceman

5

Like yt7777 said, i do think you should apply for more competitive universities and courses with those grades. I think Abertay University and St Andrews are considered to have really good courses in games programming or computer science respectively. Between the 5, i would say Staffordshire University looks like it's got a really good course, but please take that with a grain of salt. I know nothing about these universities and i did a simple scroll through of the course pages you linked and it looked like the more compelling one to me.

With that said, from my understanding and from looking through the resumes and profiles of a few devs on LinkedIn who work at various European, UK and US studios, what i personally noticed is that very few people who actually work in the games industry have taken courses that are strictly focused on games programming. They at least have one other discipline if they did a game development related course (Like Engineering), they did a gamedev focused course at a masters level instead of bachelors and took another subject like Maths or Computer Science, they were self taught or they took the really popular route, which is to do Computer Science ( and build a portfolio of games on the side.

That would be my suggestion, especially if you're already teaching yourself C++. This is completely opinionated, but from what i understand CS teaches the same content a gamedev course would, but their is less emphasis on gamedev (e.g. A CS course would likely not have game studios at career events. Team projects wouldn't be gamedev focused most of the time. Facilities aren't specialised for gamedev. The course content generally teaches what is needed for gamedev but it's not emphasized.).

From what i hear, the games industry doesn't pay all too well in general as well as relative to other Computer Science fields. On top of that, the work culture can be very demanding for some (Research on crunch in the games industry) because game development is a heavily passion driven industry. For some of these reasons, it's why taking a CS course is advised because it gives more options (Again, from the linkedin profiles i looked at, sooner or later most employees transfer to different industries.) and an exit strategy if gamedev becomes taxing or fails to meet preferences. Now, i can't overstate this enough, but not every studio meets those parameters. Some don't have crunch at all and others pay really well, but it's worth keeping note of in case their is reason for concern. Altogether, this is just my opinion and so do take it with a grain of salt :smile:

Reply 5

Falmouth Uni Games Academy (Computing)

9

Original post by Penguin Spaceman

This is completely opinionated, but from what i understand CS teaches the same content a gamedev course would

There is indeed overlap between such courses

Whilst I can't comment on other insutitutions, when we established the BSc(Hons) Computing for Games course at Falmouth University's Games Academy, we used the same QAA benchmarking statements, the same ACM/IEEE Curriculum Framework, and the same recommendations from the British Computer Society that more traditional computer science courses typically draw upon. We include 'traditional' computer science topics in our curriculum, but approach them a bit more practically through the lens of game programming and/or analysing digital game technologies. So, our students get the benefit of learning the broadly transfeable underlying computer science concepts, but they are enacted by students in a way that feels a bit more concrete, relevant, and in some cases mirrors their application in the games industry.

During our consultations with professionals from the games industry, a number of themes around graduate employability cropped up. This included concerns such as: bad programming practices as a consequence of being self-taught; lack of practical teamwork experience and 'soft' skills; poor understanding of tools and processes that are used in studios like version control, continuous integration, and agile; inability to mesh seamlessly with people from different disciplines and work in an interdisciplinary fashion; and not being able to hit the ground running. Of course, many general courses do address such things. However, game-specific offerings, being industry-tailored, typically address these and other similar concerns quite explicitly. Also, graduating with a credit on a commercially published title or with a portfolio which includes a complete game reassures employers that an applicant can actually do the job as they have evidenced that they have done it before.

It's also worth pointing out that we opted for the more general term 'computing' rather than 'computer science' (even though there is computer science content) in line with published recommendations by a 2015 ACM working group (https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2858796.2858803), and suggestions from colleagues who joined us from Imperial. The term 'computing' is broader and more widely recognised by employers internationally. So, it is important to also consider courses titled as such. They also produce highly employable graduates; though, admittedly, usage of the term 'computing' is less restrictive, so scrutinizing the actual course content is critically important.

With Regards,
Michael

(edited 5 years ago)

Struggling to decide where I want to study Games Programming.

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