Art, Programmng or General Design?

[Chimpey]

Hi

I am currently studying a 2 year Games Development course at my college and have almost finished my first year. During the year I have found that Level Design/creation is my most desired role to work towards. And have already began using my free time to build levels, model etc

But, I need to start deciding on my University course to take and trying to decide which degree to follow is becoming problematic. The three options are mostly 3D art & animation, Programming or a general design course.

After spending a good deal of time with programming I have found its not really my thing and I can get rather tiresome of it. This leaves me with the other two courses. Which of these 2 do you guys think will be most beneficial for me to become a Level Designer?

Both seem very good and very appealing to me and I think I will enjoy both

[Adrir]

You don't need a games degree to get a job in the games industry. Just study something you are passionate about.

[PuppyBlade]

By general design do you mean things like page layout and composition? If so, I'd say go with the 3d Art and Animation, the tools would be similar to what you'd use designing levels for a 3d game.

[Zooch]

I don't know exactly what the "general design course" means, but it sounds like 3D Art and Animation would be more valuable to you. I know the most sought after employees are the programmers, but I think animators come 2nd.

[Chimpey]

The "general design" tocuhes the basics of programming and 3D art, but will go more in depth with the design process more than the other 2 courses. So, things like creating a good design proposal, generation of gaming ideas etc

[ladyaurora]

The "general design" tocuhes the basics of programming and 3D art, but will go more in depth with the design process more than the other 2 courses. So, things like creating a good design proposal, generation of gaming ideas etc

Generally it is helpful for a level designer to have some 3d art and scripting/programming skills.

What programming language and 3d art program is in your curriculum?
What level editor will you be learning?
You can also just send us a link to the curriculum too.

Thanks!

[Tenacious Stu]

I do a BA in Computer Games Design at the University of Wolverhampton, West Midlands UK and in our first year we have made levels in Unreal Editor, made a short Space Invaders type game using lingo coding in Macromedia Director, Created a 3D Model of a character (that we have to design) using 3D Studio Max, looked at basic sound editing, We did a module on using Photoshop and of course wrote the few essays. Next semester I think we are doing rigging and animation as well as expanding on what we learnt in the first year.

I would recommend this type of course, unfortunately, you run the risk of being a jack of all trades and master of none, which will not hep when it comes to getting a job, however you will need to know roughly about each aspect of game development if you want to become a designer, which this course is great for. I try to do as much in my spare time as I can, but if you work more on say 3D modeling than level editing and become really good at it and build up a healthy portfolio, then I think you would stand more of a chance getting a job in 3D modeling than if you had a portfolio full of bits and pieces from all over.

Hope this helps,

Tenacious Stu

[BorisK]

Originally Posted by PuppyBlade

By general design do you mean things like page layout and composition? If so, I'd say go with the 3d Art and Animation, the tools would be similar to what you'd use designing levels for a 3d game.

what he said
im changing unis because mine has decided to focus on programming and i want to go into design. there are some unis that offer games art and game design, ive looked at both and the difference is game art needs you to be able to draw. just make sure u go to a uni that swings towards games art/game design or u will be screwed like me...................game physics and DirecX are no joke lol

[Digital Arts Center]

We offer both art and programming tracks here at UC San Diego Extensions Digital Arts Center.