What Is It Like Studying GAME DEV at University? 

Yeah, it throws a lot of people off - we like to mix things up down under haha!

Thanks so much, I really appreciate it! And don't worry, I can be like that too - especially when I get hooked on a game like BG3 last year. It can be hard going 100% all the time, so taking time to recharge and just play some games is totally good too. Keep chipping away when you can, and you'll be surprised how far you can go - best of luck!

I appreciate that, happy you enjoyed the video!

Yeah, it seems to vary quite a bit. Some places offer 2 year courses, and others 4 years - but I'd say Game Dev degrees tend to be on the shorter side because they're more specialised in one area. My degree had quite a lot of freedom to pick and choose classes, especially in the final year which let you pick up some other CS subjects as sub-majors. Great for an introduction, but not as useful as a dedicated CS degree that covers a larger number of areas in more detail. It really depends on the person and what they're interested in!

@@MrBluecapDev I definitely think the more hands on and focused approach is better, in my degree i had to go through subjects like physics 1 and physics 2 and even Chemistry and Biology, that made the degree a lot longer than it needed to be imo

Yeah, I'd agree with that. Being able to work on projects under "realistic" work conditions was really practical, and it also helped add to my portfolio. And I totally understand the pain of having to do what feels like unrelated subjects. For me it was business and networking subjects - they were the bane of my existence haha

@@kondratov8269 i can understand physics but chemistry? wtf lol

@@koli4213 I even had to take one Biology class lol

Thanks so much, I really appreciate the kind words!

Love to hear that, and glad you liked the video! Plenty of fun subjects to look forward to in the next 2 years!

I'm from India do you think I should also do the same couse because we do not have advance game dev uni here

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed the video!

Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!

Thanks so much! I really appreciate it, and I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

Thanks so much for the kind praise! I'm actually working on a follow up video that focuses on what happened to me after university and what it was like getting my first job - so be sure to keep an eye out for that :)

I really appreciate that! And I hope you enjoy the new stuff coming up just as much

Thanks so much! Yeah, Games Dev definitely has its ups and downs, but I'm loving every second of it. Glad you enjoyed the video!

Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed the video!

It's awesome to hear other people are enjoying studying Games Dev too. There's a school in Australia called the Academy of Interaction and Entertainment (AIE), that are heavily focused on all areas of Games Dev (Programming, Art, Designing, etc.), and their courses are 2 years as well. I was considering going there, although I leant towards UTS because I felt it had a stronger coding course and had great industry connections - not just in games, but all areas of IT. But both courses offer lots of great opportunities to work on real, small-scale projects like you do in the industry. And I totally agree! I hope more people give Games Dev a go because it's a lot of fun!

Thanks so much, glad you liked the games - they were a labour of love!

I really appreciate that! Playmaker's society was still starting out when I was in my final year, and SXSW Sydney is such an awesome opportunity for all the students - definitely a little jealous of some of you students, I would've loved to have been able to take part in both of those. But UTS is always stepping things up with it's Games Degree, so I totally recommend the course to anyone considering it as well - it's really top quality.

That makes sense, those smaller quarters would make it really hard to get some momentum and add all that extra polish. Fortunately, UTS worked on longer semesters, so there was more time to work on projects, and we started working on making our own games in the first year. And UTS was in the process of establishing a Game Dev society that ran outside class where you'd work in really big teams to make a game together - which has really taken off since I left. I agree that practice is so much better than theory, and I'm grateful that UTS was very project oriented, because I was able to graduate with 5 games to my name.

Uci has now revamped the gdim major and now from the first class we are making games. We’ve made a game every quarter so far.

@@TtroubleTT I've heard its now Games and Interactive Media, and it became official the year I left. Glad to see they're putting more focus on actually making than pretending. When I was there it was called Computer Ge Science.

Thank you! Fury of the Pharaohs was a labour of love and we all worked super hard on it. One of my friends was working hard on the art and level design, and another was going all in on animations and shaders. "Slightly" biased, but I think the game is really fun - you can probably still download and play it, although you'd probably need a few other people to get the most out of it. And that's a really good idea - I'll add that to my video to do list!

Yeah, Games Dev is lots of fun, but it's also a lot of work. If you put in the effort you'll get a lot out of it, so best of luck with your applications - I hope it all works out. And thanks for the great feedback, it's really appreciated!

Thanks so much, I really appreciate that!

Thank you so much, I'm happy you enjoyed the video!

Glad you enjoyed the video!

Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed the video!

Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed the video! Being so close to Rockstar sounds super cool, best of luck with all your future game dev endeavours!

Thanks so much, glad you liked it!

Glad you enjoyed the video! Best of luck with your Gam Dev studies!

@@MrBluecapDev Thanks man!

Thanks so much, glad you liked the video! I really enjoy making videos and I've got a lot of ideas, so there's plenty more of me to come haha. As for jobs, it can be hard to get a foot in the door, but I think that's the most difficult part. Pay varies a lot from company to company and by role, so that's quite tricky to estimate. Working conditions, I've found to be quite good. Again, it depends on the company you're talking about, but in general it's pretty realistic. There might be times where people work overtime when it's crunch time and there's a deadline coming up, but otherwise I'd say it's pretty normal in my experience. I highly recommend taking 3 to 6 months to just play around and see if you like making games. Make a bunch of really small games (and you can use RU-vid for this), and see what parts you enjoy the most - whether it's design, or coding or something else. There's no need to rush into a decision straight away, but if you have a dream like you do, give it a shot - you don't want to have any regrets. I hope that helps a bit, and I wish you the best of luck!

Thanks so much! We originally were hoping to release it on steam, but we got caught up with finding full time work and continuing further studies. Unfortunately, it just slipped through the cracks. But it's got quite a bit of attention, so maybe I'll look into tinkering with it again soon!

Thanks so much! It was a real team effort and it was a lot of work, but it all paid off!

That means a lot, glad you enjoyed the video!

Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed the video!

Thanks so much! Don't underestimate architecture, the artist and level designer from my group started in architecture and she makes some truly amazing work. It's all about finding that overlap and transferring those skills over - best of luck getting into game design!

Thanks! I'm glad you found the video interesting

Thanks so much! It really was a labour of love from all 5 of us, but I'm so happy with how it turned out!

It was definitely a labour of love, but we all enjoyed making it so much! There are quite a lot of games about Greek/Roman/Norse mythology, but not a lot about Egyptian, so we wanted to make a fun game that could highlight more of those obscure figures.

@@MrBluecapDev Definitely worth it in the end ! I looked it up on steam after watching the video but couldn't find anything. Have you thought about uploading it ?

​@@ThatCarrotFella​ It's something we thought about but never got around to. Once the game was finished, we all went looking for full-time work or continued with studying, so we didn't have a lot of time. And we were also working with a publisher through UTS to convert Rescue Angel to a mobile app, which unfortunately fell through. So Fury of the Pharaohs just slipped through the cracks. But a few people have asked about publishing it, and I've always been curious to revisit it, so maybe that's something I'll look at doing in the near future!

That's a good point. I disliked online learning because I really enjoy the social aspect of it. But I totally get that online learning/working gives a lot of freedom too!

Thanks so much, it's all about constantly chipping away at it! That's a really cool dream to be aiming towards, I wish you best of luck with that!

That's awesome! Hope you're enjoying your game's degree too - it's a lot of fun!

Yeah its been really fun so far, I got to make a coop roller ball project first tri, and its been uphill from there ^-^ @@MrBluecapDev

Great to hear, sounds like you're gonna have a lot of fun in your course!

Small world! I went to Waterloo for Geomatics for a few years before dropping out and just teaching myself game dev from RU-vid videos lol! Thankfully with Unreal 5 becoming so popular there's a massive number of tutorials out now compared to 2014, so learning anything is extremely simple and quick.

That's some really great advice! There are so many types of game design/development, not just digital games. We even had a subject that focused on designing a board game for other classes to play. And I highly recommend talking to students and alumni, they always give a far more realistic view and expectation of what it's like studying a particular course.

It's something I'd considered briefly, but hadn't given it much thought. If that's something you'd be interested in, I could maybe look at putting something like that together!

Yeah, I've been incredibly fortunate that there have been several good games courses available to me. As for life post-uni, things have been simple but quite nice. I was able to get a full-time job in VR straight out of uni that I've been working at for the last 2 years. And I started this channel for a bit of fun to help me stay focused and finish a project for once instead of start a bunch and never complete any (which has had mixed results haha). If you're interested in a bit more detail, I could always look at making a post-uni type video or a "day in the life" if you think that would be good?

@@MrBluecapDevooh, that would be a great idea! i'd love to see that! i saw a few other game dev youtubers do that (such as DuckDev) and they're really informative videos so i don't see why you shouldn't make one too

Thanks so much! To answer your questions: 1. It varied a little bit, but for a typical semester, I would do 4 subjects. Each subject would normally have a lecture and a tutorial/lab. Each subject would range from 2 - 4 hours total, so I'd say about ~12 hours a week of straight classes. But sometimes classes would just be time to work on assignments if nothing major was being covered. But a lot of my time was spent working on all of my assignments outside of classes. 2. So each project I showed off, was for just one subject per semester. And I would have another 3 subjects with their own assignments that I would have to work on too. These weren't necessarily Game Dev related subjects, so I'd be working on reports or studying for quizzes. But I really enjoyed creating games, so any extra time I had was spent focused on developing those projects further. And not all projects went for an entire semester. For example, Psychoscape was only for the last 5 or so weeks of the semester, and the first half was all about designing a board game, which was quite fun too. 3. Majority of the art we used was free assets we got from various sources. The one artist in our group designed the characters from a model for Fury of the Pharaohs, and she also created Luci and Dave for Rescue Angel, as well as doing all the art for Psychoscape. As far as I'm aware, everything else was from either the Unity Asset store or Quixel or other asset libraries. My uni course had a larger focus on code and design, so creating original art wasn't a necessity for our projects, but it was nice to add that personal element when we couldn't find exactly what we needed. Hope that covers everything, but if you have any more questions, let me know!

Thanks so much, that means a lot!

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much! It's a hard question to answer, and it really depends on the person. I'm a big advocate of school because it tends to give a more realistic idea of what working in Game Dev is like, such as working in groups and Agile development. I personally find that you also learn a lot more from other people than you could from a book or online course. And schools typically have better industry connections which can help with getting a job when you're finished. But some people just don't like school, and depending on where you go, it's not necessarily cheap. What I'd recommend is to try teaching yourself some small things first and see how you like it - the Brackeys channel is a great place to start if you haven't found it already. Follow some tutorials and make your own small games, and see how you like it. If you're still enjoying it and you're not heavily against studying, then try and apply to some schools and see what happens. And don't forget, just because you choose one path, doesn't mean you have to ignore the other. If you go to school, don't be afraid to teach yourself some extra things that you find fascinating that aren't taught in class. Or if you prefer teaching yourself, there's nothing bad about doing a small 3 - 6 month course to boost your skills and see how on track you are with your learning. I hope that gives you a rough idea with everything, I wish you the best of luck with your future Game Dev adventures!

Thanks so much! We were originally looking at putting it on steam, but unfortunately that fell though due to a bunch of other commitments from the team. But who knows, I might revisit it in the future!

@MrBluecapDev well if you do you got at least one player trying it

Good for you - that's an insane amount of discipline! You're right, it can be a bit hit or miss with the content online, and it can be tricky if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. But I think your way of doing a bit every day is definitely the best if you're going to be self taught. It all takes time, but with a drive like that, you'll be seeing awesome results in no time!

In my experience, having that extra bit of unity practice always helps out, especially transitioning into university from other schooling - makes things more manageable when starting out. Best of luck with it all, I hope everything goes well for you!

I totally agree with that. I personally love challenging games because the pay off is so incredible. For me, my issue was poor design - unrealistic difficulty curves and a poor understanding of a player's knowledge of the game's mechanics and interactions. While I tried to replicate that experience in my earlier games, I simply didn't have the design skills to strike that right balance yet. But I've worked on it a lot, and been able to improve over time!

Thank you, I really appreciate that!

Yeah, having some of the basics down before starting definitely made those Year 1 subjects much easier. The other years were still quite challenging, although it was up to the individual on how much they wanted to push themselves. Best of luck teaching yourself Game Dev!

Thanks so much! Haha

Oh wow, that sounds really interesting. My first year was slower mostly because it was a course with no assumed knowledge, so majority of the subjects were on the simpler side. Thankfully I was making game projects for majority of my remaining semesters though. But no general subjects does sound nice though haha!

Thanks so much! Both options are really viable and it depends on where your interest lies. I'm more of a natural programmer, so my course which had a primary focus on coding and design was appealing for me so I could level up the 2 main skills I wanted to focus on. If you're interested solely in design, there are definitely courses that can fast track your skills and probably give you more in depth knowledge than others. From my experience, working with designers with a bit of programming knowledge is great because they can prototype relatively well on their own. But that doesn't necessarily mean you need to study straight programming either, there are other easier ways to pick up those basics. I'd think about what you see yourself doing/enjoying, and pick a course that suits those interests. Hope that helps!

@MrBluecapDev I already have a couple years of freelancing experience in narrative design and I quite liked it, just that it was way too lonely for me. However, when reading in the net upon design, this career path sounds SO horrible! Low pay, high competition, etc.. programming at least would be a skill and much safer choice. I am trying to learn a little bit on my own before applying, but watching code all day, solving math issues is simply not the same as brainstorming texts and so on. I am not sure if it is for me and it is tearing me apart! The uni of my choice seemingly has great opportunities for both (thats in Breda University, Netherlands. But I already have finished a degree and picking 4 years more as a student abroad is a tough choice to make :( just wenting off, sorry! 😅😔

​@@Eddy-nn7wj Yeah, Game Design can be quite competitive. But narrative design is super cool, and combining it with game design could lend itself to a nice skillset. If straight code isn't your thing, you might want to look into visual scripting. Both Unity and Unreal have their own systems. You create scripting logic with code blocks, without having to write lines upon lines of code. It's a nice skill to have, and act an easier entry point into seeing whether programming is for you. I know it can be daunting, but I always tell myself I don't want to have any regrets - maybe it will work out, maybe it won't. But if you have a passion for this, then make sure to give it everything you've got. Try a bunch of different things and see what works for you. I wish you the absolute best of luck, no matter which path you head down!

@@MrBluecapDev thanks man 🤗 hope to see your game on Steam one day!

Thanks so much! I didn't even think of that, but that's definitely a much better comparison haha

That sounds like a good plan. University isn't for everyone, so if you're confident in your ability to be self taught, then you should back yourself. Definitely release that game, and I hope you get lots of success from it!

Thanks so much! It's a lot of fun, but also a lot of work - I really recommend giving it a go if it's something you're interested in! You can always start small with a couple online tutorials to see if it's something you want to pursue in the long run.

yeah haha, I tried a number of tutorials over the years and unfortunately it all feels hyperspecific, and it rolls right off, here's hoping the education system does me better@@MrBluecapDev

That's awesome, thank you!

Yes, I've been working in the Games Industry for over 2 years now. I currently work at a VR company and focus on content and feature updates for their main game!

@@MrBluecapDev Good to hear. What company do you work for, if it's not a secret?

Unfortunately no. We were working with a publisher in collaboration with UTS to publish Rescue Angel as a mobile app, but we weren't able to keep up with development, as 2 of the group had started full time jobs, 1 was back at Uni, and 2 were moving out of Sydney - so the group fizzled out. There was a group of students from the class before me who released their project "Regional Town Fantasy Manager" on Steam though, which is really cool. And I know UTS was working on trying to get some publishers to help future students release some of their projects - but I don't know what stage that is at. However, I'd be keen to pick up one of my old Uni projects again and see how far I can take it.

Not quite sure what you mean. If you mean was the game resource heavy, I don't remember it being that intensive - we had plenty of people on a range of devices using it. If you meant did the game do well, it was really well received and liked by a lot of people, but unfortunately due to other commitments we didn't end up taking it any further. Hopefully I answered your question haha!

If you're really interested it should still be available on itch.io. We were considering putting it on steam, but unfortunately that never happened with everyone getting busy with full-time work and further studies. But who knows, maybe I'll revisit it and do it up a bit more

@@MrBluecapDev I hope so

Good question. It was something we considered at one point, but right after that subject finished, a lot of us were looking at starting jobs or continuing with study. We also ended up in talks with a publisher to release Rescue Angel as a mobile app, but that took up all of our spare time and unfortunately it fell through. I guess it's something we all just let slip through the cracks. But I've always been interested in picking it back up again - maybe now's a good opportunity!

I studied at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia. If you're from Sydney, I highly recommend it - it's a great course, and they're constantly making changes and improving it!

It can be - I feel like it really depends on the person. Learning online can be faster, but you have to know what you want to learn. If you don't know what you don't know, it can be really hard to identify areas you need to work on. You also have to be extremely disciplined - you need to set your own deadlines and hold yourself accountable, otherwise things can fizzle out. It's definitely doable, but that's not going to suit every person. I also find university is far more social which is something I prefer, even when I had to study online because of COVID. You can meet other like-minded people, and you can learn from one another and push each other to do bigger and better things. It also provides a really good introduction to working in teams to produce games, which is something that's lacking from most online courses. Either way, university/college and online learning are both good and bad in their own ways. Ultimately, it depends on the person, and how they prefer to learn and what type of goals they have :)

@@MrBluecapDev you know what? this video is a good reference to point out if someone gonna learn by themselves Thank you for the video!

I think there is something to doing group work in a group where you see and interact with each other in class. There is just a different vibe you get with people meeting in person, even if you divide to do independent work for long stretches. Also, the difference with COVID was people were forced online without being prepped for online study. A friend of mine is a university proffessor who did a mix of teaching online and classroom before Covid and how she prepped an online course vs in person was different. So prepping to be in person and being forced online made it a difficult experience for many on the student and teacher side. I found online classes did me in, I flunked the two I took electively (before COVID). Having to go to a classsroom, pay attention to a teacher, and even engaged with other students in the subject in person kept me way more focused.

Thanks so much! I'll do my best, I had to really scavenge for some of that older footage - but I'll try to make sure newer projects have cleaner gameplay.

ok@@MrBluecapDev

Nope, it just comes from the latin word for light. There's actually a saint named Lucy.

@@barry5 dude I'm Italian... What the heck are you telling me... 🤦🏻‍♂️ If you know nothing then just be quite, you're only blaming yourself... 🤦🏻‍♂️

Definitely no malicious meaning there. I think it was just an angelic sounding name we all liked the sound of, out of a big list we had whipped up. Although ironically, her name is spelled Luci cause we were trying to be different, which doesn't help our case hahaha!

Very true haha. I currently work full time in the game industry, so it was well worth it to me. And I personally believe that RU-vid tutorials can only get you so far, but each person has to find what works best for them