On Game Schools - How to Find a Good Degree - Extra Credits

[Music] hey guys please join me in welcoming Our Guest buddy Sarah white known as shiran on Deviant Art and creator of the fluffer Nutters web comic she's going to help us tackle something you guys have been asking about for a long time game schools we've been planning this episode for a while because it's something that needs talking about game schools are one of the greatest things to happen to our industry but at the same time they're also one of the worst while many are a place to experiment and to learn many others are nothing but repellent leeches working on loopholes in our educational system to defraud kids it's one of the most heinous and inexcusable crimes in our industry but every day I see schools exploiting somebody's dreams to leave him $100,000 in debt with a meaningless degree that will not get them anywhere and that has to stop we're going to avoid talking about any specific school and instead focus on what to look for if you're thinking about going to a game school so it's useful for anyone even if you're watching this a few years down the road because too many game schools out there pre on the fact that parents don't know how to vet these schools like

they would a traditional College in order to make a profit off students who want to believe in a dream so first off here's the scam while there are many legitimate game schools out there many of them are for profit which opens us up to a host of illegitimate profit-driven schools what these schools do is send out recruiters or put up advertising that promises that if you go to their schools you'll get to become a game developer you remember that dumb old tighten up the graphics on level three ad if not look it up it's hilarious that ad has nothing to do with what a game developer actually does but that's the sort of vision they try to sell they try to hook people in by selling them the idea that they'll get to play games for a living or they'll get to tell people their grandiose ideas and get them made when that's simply a lie these schools try to Target people who either don't want to go to a traditional college but whose parents are telling them they have to go somewhere or people who really want to get into the industry but don't have a support network that'll guide them to a better school worse still these schools tend to Target students whose High School grades and SAT scores might not be enough to get them into a traditional College that'll get them the career they want they often tend to sympathize and say they understand but hey games are a creative industry just because a person didn't do well in high school is no reason to keep them from

working in games which is true but it walks a dangerous line toward falsehood because what many of these schools are actually doing is simply accepting anybody who's willing to sign the loan papers they might claim otherwise but they have no real entrance requirements other than being willing to pay and even worse these schools are usually barely accredited often maintaining their accreditation by buying failing colleges that have a better accreditation rating also they can skirt the minimum requirements the government demands to give out a diploma and unfortunately this means that none of the credits from these schools usually transfer so if a student wants to transfer out or goes through the program can't find a job and wants to get another degree they have to start all over but what makes this to me seem criminal is that these schools are aware that the education they're giving doesn't remotely leave the students with the skills they need to actually get into the industry a few people might come out of these schools and actually land a job but that is due to their strength as an individual not to anything the school gave them so now you know the dangers let's talk about how to find a good game school first you have to decide if a game School is right for you I'll be totally Frank it's completely possible to get into the game industry by going through a traditional education I mean James got his bachelor

in Classics a solid traditional Foundation means a lot you can get a degree in computer science from any reputable school if you want to be a programmer you can take a liberal art or a math related major if you want to be a designer or you can go to a conservatory if you want to be an artist you're just going to have to do a lot of extra work on the side making games for your portfolio and getting out to things like GDC to meet industry people while you're keeping up with all your other classes additionally traditional education also usually offers an opportunity to experience more disciplines and transfer to a wide range of other things if you find that games aren't really what you want to do but let's that you're dead set on working in the game industry that is what you want to do with your life so a game school is probably right for you but you better be prepared to work any game School worth it salt is going to push you harder than most traditional colleges regardless of what discipline you're taking programming design art sound there's way more to learn about making games than they'll ever have time to teach you so be prepared to work more than youve ever done in your life if you think you're mature enough to handle the workload and self-directed enough to continue learning even outside of what's taught in class then you are probably ready for game school so how do you find a good one follow these Steps step one

check their accreditation status they should have it posted on their site it sounds a bit counterintuitive but a regional accreditation is usually considered better than a national one but you want to make sure that they're at least accredited by one of the national accreditation institutions if not don't go there achieving national accreditation is a pretty low barrier for someplace calling itself a school if they can't even manage that they're not worth your money step two look at their entrance requirements if they look too good to be true they are any good school will tell you what the average SAT score of their successful applicants is if they aren't looking for you to fall in the top 30% of test takers out there they're probably not asking enough to truly prepare you for the industry as a rule of thumb you want your school to expect a lot from you step three look up any awards the school or the students may have won this steps a little biased toward schools that have been around longer but if an educational facilities really preparing you to do top tier work the evidence should be out there see if they've ever gotten one of their students games entered into igf igc indiecade the P 10 or any of the other game awards that are judged by professional developers it's a great way to see what the industry thinks of that school step four look for games out in

the marketplace that have been made by teams largely composed of students from the school Games like World of Goo portal or anything by that game company are good examples now this one isn't a deal breaker by a long shot but it's a good plus if they have it step five ask the school what their hiring ratio is in the industry not including jobs in QA not every faculty member will know but they should be able to instantly direct you to someone who does they shouldn't be wishy-washy about this detail at all if they get dodgy about answering that should set off some alarm Bells step six see if they have paid recruiters as a general rule of thumb I found that you want to avoid any school that pays Head Hunters to find students this practice is sketchy Enough by itself but if they pay those Head Hunters by commission giving them a bonus for each student they get to sign the payment contract then you really need to watch out a good school will attract students without these sort of predatory practices step seven check out the professors have they done anything noteworthy are they names you might recognize if you Google their names are they cited by other industry members have they shown up in the press or been asked to speak at industry conferences good faculty is essential to a good game school this doesn't mean

that they have to all be notable but at least having one or two people you know are highly regarded within the industry or Academia certainly helps step eight look for portfolios of students from that school many students will put up their work on their websites as part of their efforts to get a job after looking at a few you should be able to get a general sense of what level of work that school is turning out step nine along with the portfolio I recommend looking on game career guide for articles written by students of your perspective College it'll not only tell you something about the school but also the level of writing that the better students are coming out of the school with step 10 if the school markets themselves to you as being in any way about playing video games this is one of the clear red flags do not I repeat do not go to such schools Step 11 look at the course descriptions if you're looking to get into the industry rather than becoming an academic you need to do Project work so make sure that a decent number of the classes are project focused writing a design doc means nothing when you're competing with students who've made entire games also if most of the courses seem to be focused on teaching you tools like teaching you Unity the Unreal Engine mudbox or the like then it's probably

not very good any game developer will tell you that you should be able to learn tools on your own because you're going to be spending your entire career learning new tools it's the fundamentals you need to learn from a college education and finally perhaps the most controversial thing I'm going to say at the undergrad level look for a 4-year degree anyone who tells you that they'll make you a game developer in 2 years is pretty much straight up lying to you now there are very very few exceptions Vancouver film school being one of them but even that the best of these schools the students who really make it often have already taken some college or have a degree if a school promises to to make your dreams come true in a highly competitive highly technical industry in Just 2 years you better research it completely before you gamble thousands of dollars and 2 years of your life on what is probably an empty promise game schools are great and will be a big part of helping this industry grow I encourage you to go to them if being part of this industry is what you're passionate about I hope this has helped some of you and I really hope it steers you away from the predatory schools it's time they stopped getting rewarded for such practices good luck and see you all next week [Music] w

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