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A degree to make video games?
Yes, while they might be fun and easy to play, designing
and developing video games can take a high level of
intelligence and a great degree of skill and knowledge.
Not just any ‘Joe Schmo’ can walk off the
street and start building a video game, especially of
the advanced degree of quality and playability required
of many of the games of today. Still, video game design
can be an interesting, exciting, and highly rewarding
area in which to work, and if you can see yourself in
such a role, it might be worth learning more about an
online
degree in the field. |
Classes and Coursework
It isn’t all fun and games (excuse the pun) when it
comes to the classes and coursework you might experience while
obtaining an online video game design degree. There can be
a wide variety of video game and design subject matter you
may encounter during your degree work, some of which is highly
specialized toward the video game field. This means that unlike
a management degree, where much of what you learn could be
applied in a variety of roles and careers, some of the courses
you’ll likely be taking in your video game design degree
may not do you much good outside the field. Therefore, it
could be to your advantage to search for an online degree
program that buffers your specified degree work with general
education courses. Doing so could help you supplement your
education in case you end up venturing outside the video game
design field.
Here is a smattering of the types of courses or subject matter
you may encounter within your degree work.
• Game design
• Animation
• 3-D modeling
• Game math
• Character modeling and animation
• Digital composition
• Digital effects
• Background development
• Programming
• Special effects
• Design techniques
• Game physics
Jobs and Careers
While certainly more limited in scope and availability than
broader degree areas such as business or criminal justice,
there is still a variety of roles and career options to which
a person might apply their video game design degree. From
the government and military to the private sector, many industries
are searching for those with programming and video game design
skills. With a video game design degree, you may find yourself
doing graphics work for military simulations programs, working
in Hollywood assisting with the latest 3-D movie efforts,
or developing the latest and greatest version of the most
popular video game. Wherever you see yourself ending up, here
are a few options you might consider when it comes to jobs
and careers within the video game design field.
• Programmer
• Software engineer
• Game play tester
• Background developer
• Support specialist
• Digital and storyboard artists
• Animator
• Production manager/assistant
• Project Coordinator
• Conceptual artist
• Character builder
Doing Something You Love
While your work within the video game design field will likely
require more than just playing video games all day, you could
find yourself working in a field that you love. You might
be spending countless hours developing, designing, and testing
games, creating new and interesting characters, or searching
for bugs and other issues that may affect game play. But the
end result, a completed and playable video game, can make
the time you’ve spent on your craft as well as your
education, well worth the effort.
If this sounds interesting, take a look at all the Video
Game Schools that offer a degree in Video
Game Design.
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