Want to learn how to design video games?
Love gaming and wondering how to design video games?
If you live for video games and want to make a career out of designing the latest and greatest video games, earning a video game design degree could put you in the right direction. Pursuing a degree in this field will show you how to design video games, and help you enter the rapidly growing industry of video and PC games.
So what exactly is a video game design degree? What does it entail? A video game design degree is more than just animation and programming. It’s unique in that it focuses specifically on the video game industry. It’s a very particular degree which does mainly steer you towards the video game industry, but there are many opportunities within that field. Each college will have varying programs, but they all should include the following subjects of study:
- Software Engineering
- Graphic Design
- Animation (2-D and 3-D)
- Programming
- Game development (narrative)
- Physics (who thought you’d study physics in game development?)
Game design isn’t exactly a “piece of cake”, and there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration. For anyone who has played Guitar Hero, you may know what I’m talking about. The special film clips in the original game show “outtakes” of characters gone awry, arms detached from the guitar players, band members who just don’t look human. The courses shown above are just the tip of the iceberg, but will help you develop a strong foundation on which to build your knowledge of game development.
How to design video games… degree types
There are several types of degrees that relate to gaming and game design. Some offer a Game Software Development degree, which focuses more on the actual writing of the software, and software engineering (this actually shows you how to design video games). Then there’s a Game Art & Design degree which refers more to the actual animations, modeling 3-D objects and characters, and is the more creative path. Other majors in this field include Game Production and Game Programming. Game Production has basic foundation courses that include game programming, the business of gaming, and breaks down the production of PC Games, handheld games, and console games. Game Programming includes graphical programming, artificial intelligence, artificial life, data structures, and game engine development, just to name a few.
The field of video game design is rather large, and there are many career choices and degree options available to you. Once you find out which degree is right for you, then you can begin to find the best college with the program that suits you best… and you will be well on your way to learning how to design video games!
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