Which major

>>536524

What's your passion? What are you good at?

>>536525
Game design, specifically character art and design, but I've read in a lot of places that having a game design major will really limit my job out look

>>536537
It absolutely will.
Take a look at your average college-level game development club.
Compare the amount of ``game designers" with the amount of artists and programmers.
The game designers will outnumber the programmers 3:1. Sometimes even as much as 7-10:1 as the semester goes on.

Do you understand?
``Game Design" is a synonym for "idea guy."
If you have too many idea guys and no one to implement your ideas, then you will not develop a game--only an abstract set of ideas that may or may not work, and certainly will not see the light of day.
As an artist (not concept art, those belong to people with skill), you can pull your weight, maybe. But without programmers you are most certainly dead in the water.

I can't wait until you're forced to enter college as a Computer Science Bsc. because you "want to make games", like your hundreds of classmates will also tell you, only to drop out because you couldn't handle the math, or weren't actually interested in being a programmer and preferred to live out your idea guy delusions.

>>536524

Computer science is pretty tough. It's got significant math requirements that are tough if you aren't a mathfag, and generally the courses suffer from "I'm going to assume you already know all this content because you learned it on your own in high school and program every day outside of class."

I'm sure there's good courses / professors that don't suffer from this, but it's pretty common. Also the theory aspect tends to rely on math concepts (understandably) and assume you're already familiar with them, so if you don't know what a [math_term_you_don't_use_every_day] is, it can get confusing.

I would only do "game design" at like Digipen or Gnomon (dunno if they offer that), basically somewhere that you're going to have access to a lot of networking, and you're going to be taking a rigorous course where you're learning a lot of shit (in the case of Digipen you go through the entire process of creating a full feature game, with a team, and even a little mock launching thing).

Anything less is kinda pointless.

there is no such thing as "game design"

tl;dr no one is gonna pay you money to deisgn games. unless you already designed a few successful ones in the past. which means you also have programming/art skills to begin with

Holy fuck do not pick Game Design if your not going to the most prestigious universities for it.

I cannot warn you harder, I wasted two years of my life doing a community college course on it. I was too stoned out my gourd to realise what a painful waste it was.

>>536758
Too late senpai, does it help that it's one of the top art schools in North America?

As somebody with a games design degree, not games design. I legit wasted like 4 years of my life, not that my life is worth anything. Still, having to find a new interest and goal in your mid 20s while is hard to deal with.
On the other hand, if you aren't naturally gifted at maths and are already into programming, i wouldn't bother with comp sci.

>>536550
>Computer science is pretty tough. It's got significant math requirements that are tough if you aren't a mathfag

So then become a mathfag.

>>536767
It is Full Sail?

>>536524
Game design is a meme major, any retard with more than 5 years of gaming experience can do that. Get a CS degree and you'll never be unemployed, plus most universities will allow you to take course that are tangential to game programming (AI, graphics programming, etc).

Isn't taking a game design course just as stupid as going to an art school? probably even worse.

>>537216
>So then become a mathfag.

You don't *become* a mathfag, you're either born one or you're not.

>>537226
>Game design is a meme major,

Not if it's at Digipen or a top tier school like it. But that's because you're taking a bunch of programming classes, art classes, writing classes, math classes, almost as if you were minoring in all those fields.

Plus you also collaborate with a group from the start or nearly the start, and your final project is something you can put on a resume, and along the way you're going to develop contacts with people in the industry because the school has ins with those studios (much like what Gnomon does).

>>537274
>isn't school stupid?
Only if it's a stupid school. Ponder this: If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?

coding skill make you different from artist.
do thing you like -> not bored -> good at it -> high chance of making good or at least ok money.

I'm not from USA (which means I barely have a programming college in my country) but what exactly does one learn to get a game design degree?

>>537301
>you don't become an artist, you're born with it or not
>you don't become a piano player, you're either born with it or not
You just don't want to put the time into it.

>>537301
I did though
Just have to do it outside of class

>>536538
This.
I'm studying computer science at uni and 3D animation at a technical institute.
I can tell you for my experience that (how this anon said) is more the ones that are studying CS just for game development than for other things. They all just drop out.
On the other hand at the 3D institute they are giving us programming classes and I can tell you it's not enough, I'm really happy that I'm studying both careers because I can see how one compliments with the other one and also, I can tell those of my 3D classmates who won't be able to make an entire game, just the models and/or animations.
If you want to be in an all-in-project made by you and you want it to be good enough I recommend you learn how to program first then you'll be able to do whatever you want.

>>537461
You don't.

Most of them is entry level 3D work, but without enough hours to make them proficient
Entry level Programming(but not enough to get the people in class to learn programming)
Messing around with a game engine(unreal, etc), most likely in 3D
And some conceptual shit, but without enough of a process to really get you going.

Programming and some entry level 3D work, alongside learning how to make project goals and progress plans, will most likely get a Bachelor or Master student who did some C programming further.

I'm doing the CGSpectrum Animation diploma.
Feels good man.
>500k scholarships

>>536524
>Computer science
You'll have more options for employment across the board. It's a good skill set to have, not just for games but for anything. Good programmers and/or coders are needed everywhere.

>Game Design
You'll be hard pressed to find jobs right off the bat in the field and will most likely end up taking work in other areas besides "games". It's a brutal market and only the best connected and most motivated ones end up getting work. If you can stomach it, get a focus in game production or some other form of organization for making games since that is an area that is severely lacking in competent people.

No matter where you end up putting your time and energy don't be afraid to take opportunities in areas you didn't want to get into 100%. I got my degree in Fine Arts and then branched over to Game Art after a few years.

>>536524

I went Computer Science, and now I work as a programmer at American Express and make a shit tonne of money, and in my free time I work on personal projects / on projects with friends.

>>537869
>good programmers and/or coders are needed everywhere.

m8 the stem shortage is a myth.
its the tech companies fault for not scouting for employees and instead let average people fill out resumes.

>>536538

Why not just take both? I got a Game Design degree in Arts and Design, and a minor in Computer Science because at some point along the way, I realized "Hey, this AI course might come in handy."

In response to OP- if you can't decide, start one, and take classes from the other. The real purpose of college, at least from the perspective of a game designer, is to meet up with people who can commit to making shit. They're hard to find, but when you got a team, all your portfolios shine.