failed Uni application :/

[Chimeray]

I went to Digital Arts & Entertainment in Belgium as well. I think it's one of the best decisions I have made. Mind you, it's mostly a generalist education but I think that actually is its strong point. If you do jack shit in your spare time you won't be good enough in a certain branch to move to a professional carreer so you gotta work on that besides school work. But all the extra knowledge of different disciplines really helps in the end!

So yeah, I think getting a degree can be great because you get to meet like minded people, can collaborate on projects. Learning things on your own, with pressure to find a job, usually takes way more time in comparison to having it explained and having assignments that teach you workflows step by step.

Of course there's folks out there that can figure it out on their own but you need to have mad perseverance for that I'm not ashamed in saying I would never have ended up where I am now if I hadn't gone to uni, it's rough out there. Uni can help you land and internship... etc. I think it's great, just make sure you don't waste 3 years of your life by being passive during that time!

Edited June 22, 2013 by Chimeray

[Thrik]

IMO the most important thing is to make good use of your time. A lot of people let years go by in their late teens and early twenties without really moving forward. I personally thought college was a good experience because I got to dip my toes into numerous disciplines and more importantly it developed me socially and helped me to become a functional, productive adult. But at the same time, I actually think that most of the skills I use in my successful career now I developed during my free time outside of college classes.

To put it another way, being in education gave me something to do for a few years while I worked on endless personal projects and taught myself everything I wanted to learn. Some of what I learnt at college fed into my long-term goals, some didn't. At the very least, having some kind of education looks better on a resume than none, and I had some great experiences that're nothing to do with work, met some great people.

So I wouldn't get too beat up over not getting onto the course you want. Getting onto an alternative course or going elsewhere isn't the end of the world, nor is taking on a shitty job in the meantime and spending a lot of your spare time working on your skills. Just do something — give yourself actual projects to work on, just like you would at Uni. Whether you release them or not can depend on the end quality, but keep doing so in mind.

As long as your heart is in the right place you'll succeed. Many people who go to Uni don't have that true heart and passion for making games, so it doesn't help them much professionally. The dudes that succeed would probably have done so anyway, but they'd also have probably gone bankrupt and ended up homeless if they didn't do either education or low-grade work to keep things ticking while they got themselves to the right level.

[Vilham]

If you didn't get in after demonstrating that I'm really not sure I'd actually want to go to that University. They either have impossibly high expectations or they're fuckin' clueless.

Out of interest, I wonder how many of MapCore's pros went to Uni?

studied computer science

Which is helpful because A. I can script in basically any language B. I know when programmers are bull shitting me. (not that I can necessarily do anything about it ) C. I had to do all my work on level design in my spare time and push all my uni projects towards games related stuff

Edited June 22, 2013 by Vilham

[TarrySruman]

I've taken a few classes at my local community college. There are some great classes there for learning 3D stuff. Since its in an area with a lot of film/game/TV industry most of the teachers are actively employed doing the things they teach, and just teach classes on the side. It's pretty great because it's ridiculously cheap and the teachers are extremely knowledgeable if you ask questions.

[e-freak]

University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt. Same as penE, moc, Sector-Effector and a few more on here. Its okish - given that its free I wouldn't call it a mistake. Got me a few good contacts, a bachelor's degree and 2 years of toying around with a few different things.

BA Digital Media in Game and Animations.

[Brander_Rly]

As long as your heart is in the right place you'll succeed.

*Eyes brimming with tears*

Edited June 22, 2013 by Brander_Rly

[Tschoppo]

Lot of useful stuff in here..thanks!

I've applied for an internship at Deck13 and if that doesn't work out i've applied for a BA in Computervisualistic and Design in a regional german town.

Plan C would be DAE in Belgium, really looks quite nice and not too expensive.

I don't know why but i never heard of the Uni in Darmstadt until one week after the application process closed for this year:/

I was aware that i'd still rely on self teaching a lot, the main thing for me was the creative community and general city/student life instead of farmers and cow shit... not that i don't like the countryside but its not very supportive for an artistic education.

Edited June 23, 2013 by Tschoppo

[dux]

Game design in Uni is a massive waste of time in my opinion. There are those who have benefited from it but meh, I'd rather spend my time teaching myself and modding/mapping and putting stuff out there.

[Nysuatro]

That layout is better than 95% of university students graduating in game design

Indeed.

I study DAE (Digital Arts & Entertainment) in Belgium > West-Vlaanderen > Howest University

It's game development. It isn't for free, but there are no application requirements. Compared to other countries it's pretty cheap though.

I advise you to check the website out: www.digitalartsandentertainment.be

Howest also just built a new building called the level, just for DAE. Some well known people studied there, like Jeroen Maton who now works at Dice, Laurens Corijn...

And Nysuatro, who's also on this forum, studied there.

Anyway, everything you need to know is on the site I suppose. Don't hesitate to send them a mail or ask me if you have any questions.

The stuff you posted here is indeed awesome, they would like to see that there because a lot of people create pure shit. Really.

Good luck.

Don't forget about our dear mister Chimeray!!!

But yes, DAE is a good school. Not perfect, but good enough to spend your time and money on.

If you have any questions you can always contact me.

[Sentura]

I still have one last project I'm working on for Uni, and that's my master thesis. Like Thrik said, it is important to make good use of time, and perhaps more than that, if you are doing theoretical work, then make sure it has purpose in a corporate environment. Currently what I'm researching has more to do with what I'd imagine a corporate R&D department does rather than academic schoolwork made for tautological purposes.

In denmark education is free, but even so I sometimes ponder if having taken a master on top of my software development (computer science) background was worth it. I guess in the end it's the knowledge you've learned and the work you've done that sets you apart. It works both ways, so if you're unsure that what you can think of theoretically can flow into e.g. a new design paradigm, then maybe uni or higher education is not where you want to go.

Edited June 23, 2013 by Sentura

[Sjonsson]

I think it is too late but you can mail my school in Malmö (the most southern part of Sweden). I just finished my first two years and the only thing I have left now is one term of internship, I can warmly recommend this school. Worst part is you have to understand (but not talk) swedish. I don't know if that scares you but we had people coming from different countries.

You can check it out if it sounds interesting at: http://www.thegameassembly.com/

[2d-chris]

Seriously though, this is true for everything ...

So if somebody says you need to go to uni to succeed, just be like arny and say feck it,

you can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets!

[TarrySruman]

ITT: Mapcore makes some guy feel way better about himself

[FrieChamp]

I was going to post a course at HAW Hamburg but realized that you need a B.D. first in order to apply : Maybe this list will help you to find any schools located in Germany that you haven't checked out yet: http://www.games-career.com/de/Studium/

[Tschoppo]

Just got accepted at DAE, let's see if they can handle one more mapcorian.

Big Thanks to you guys, especially Chainsaw n Chimeray for pointing the way ^^