A career in video game design?

Question

I'm looking to do something with my life and was thinking about going into the video game industry. I dont have any experience exept for playing them, but i'm thinking about taking a coarse at IAOD in Toronto. I was wondering if this is a career with a great job market so i wouldn't have to struggle to find a job when finished school. Also does anyone know approximatley what kind of money the coarses would cost me?

Thanks all for your input.

Answer 1

It's a booming market, but it's also a massively competitive one, so you'd need to do more than take one or two classes. The basics: you need to chose whether you'd be more interested in the graphic design and animation for the video games or whether you want to do the actual coding. Obviously there are a lot more options, but those are the two basics.

You'll want to not just take a few classes classes, but get a degree in computer programming or computer animation--preferably, take classes in both. The cost of tuition heavily depends on what kind of school you go to. My brother goes to a very exclusive private school and plans to go into game design, and the tuition is steep. But you can definitely get a degree at a much less expensive school, like a good public college.

If you go the animation route, you'll need to develop a portfolio and a sort of "demo reel" of different clips of your best animation.

If you go the programming route, your classes and reccommendations are going to have to speak for you.

Whatever route you go, you will want to do internships to get experience and build a resume.

I've provided a link to blizzard's website--that's the website for the company that makes the world of warcraft stuff, as well as some other things. They have a big employment seceiton where they explain the differences between different positions and what they require for them. Blizzard is a pretty big company and it has high standards--they're standards you'll have to meet if you want to work for nintendo, or sony, or microsoft, or any of the other big game producing companies.

Unfortunately, I don't know much about the Canadian higher education system, so I can't tell you the price or where to go, just what the job entails and that you'd be looking at a lot of education and competition.

if you want to do it, don't let the school daunt you. Go for it.

Best of luck in finding what you want.

Answer 2

It's a good job field but it's very competitive. With the US economy not doing so well, some game developers are going bankrupt and closing, unfortunately, so finding a good job will be harder and you'll probably have to fly to another state and relocate. The salary is pretty good if you stay long enough. It is a very creative job so I doubt you'll be bored. Try downloading the Unity engine and making your own games. Make as much art as you can now so you'll have a portfolio to show colleges and different companies. As far as coming up with story and character ideas, that is up to you. Think outside of the box and be as creative as you can.