Lo folks, as some of you may remember from one of my previous threads (doubt it as it was about a year ago ) I was hoping to get into the games industry.

Right now I'm currently doing a HNC course in computer game development and I'm looking at what course to take at uni next year as there is no HND in the subject the the entire of the UK.

So far I've been limited to three courses and I'm a tad mixed up in them

1)3D + 2D animating type course: Not directly a gaming course but it will give me the skills to be able to animations (duh) and was hoping for any animators out there how easy/difficult it is to land a job doing this in or out of the games industry

2)Computer games Dev: teaches me how to create 2D games, implement sound into games, basics behind the programming and as it says in the little hand out I got via this little course I can make mobile games and go into the Indie market. Was hoping for anyone in this branch to inform me will I be able to get to work with companies such as Lionhead etc or will I have to summon some money out of a hat and make my own company (Hope not) or will I be stuck making pac man for nokia phones?

3)Programming, not much needed to be said about this one at all

Thanks in advance

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can you take more that one?

It depends what you want to do, do you want to be an animation, do you want to be a coder, etc...

All jobs in the games industry are pretty hard, but it looks like that you simply need to choose what you want to do and then take those classes. If you want to do programming then I suggest learning C++, C#, and Python or Java. If you want to do animation and level designs then buy the software Maya. Buying books on all of these subjects is a really idea too.

Also try to go for a Computer Science degree instead of a Game Development Degree since it will open more doors in the future.

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When I spoke to the gentlemen at the uni open day he suggested that I could do a 2/3 animation mixed with a 1/3 of the Dev course or something to that effect but I'll have to inquire more to figure out how that works.

For a 7-8 years now I've wanted to be a animator for some reason I always liked creating and drawing things, surprisingly my favorite course right now in college is the animation part but the C# in XNA is not to bad either. In all reality I'd prefer to do animation as my future job be it in games or else where but as you may of guessed working for a games company is my ideal job as its the kind of environment I know I can get really stuck into and get obsessed with making what ever  I was given to create.

That said I also enjoy typing out code then figuring out how to debug the damn thing so it works even if it does involve me taking hammer to the screen a few times before I realise the problem .

But I guess what I'm really asking is; my goal at the end of Uni is to have a degree in my hand that will help me land a job in the Games Industry and right now I'm leaning towards animation, would there be any other skills other than Animation that would be handy to show to employees within the industry that I'm the right man for the job or will my HNC in computer games Dev be a hint towards them? or should I use old bribary

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Ah in that case:

Drawing - This is a really big advantage if you want to be an animator.

Programming - A general knowledge of programming languages or at least the lingo will help you communicate with the programmers go smoother since sometimes programmers tend to use lingo that animators don't always understand.

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Hey there, I'm currently in the 3rd year of a Computer and Video Game degree at the Southampton Solent university. The course focuses on 2d animation for the first year, then we learn 3DS Max, modelling, texturing and animation in the 2nd year. Then in the 3rd we produce a Final Major Project, which we specialise for our chosen field, in your case animation.

http://www.solent.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/computer_and_video_games_ba/course_details.aspx

 

Hope this helps^^