I Failed At Getting Into My Desired School...Again...Anyone Else Experiencing That?

[Twintix]

I might have said this before, but I dream of becoming a game designer. But sometimes, I wonder if I should just let that be a dream. I've applied for a school that educates aspiring game developers (Be it programmers, graphic designers or just game designers) three times now, and I've stumbled on the finish line every single time. I make it to the interviews every time which isn't easy, sure, but it just feels hopeless to be so close, but still so far away.

First year, I was first reserve. Last year, I was third reserve. And this year, I was ninth. They may just as well send me a fucking rejection letter at this point. And feeling like you perform worse and worse for each year...It's crushing, but I wonder if I should just give up. Not that I think I'll amount to much anywhere else, as I'm not really all that good at anything...

So...Saying that I'm down in the dumps right now is the understatement of the century; I'm absolutely devastated. I just wonder if anybody else is/has been in the same situation. Any advice? Any stories to share? And sharing stuff that'll distract me would be appreciated.

 

[Wasted]

Your dream becoming a reality is in no way contingent on one school, can be accomplished from potentially thousands of similar programs. You should apply to multiple schools, it is foolish to focus all your time and energy on one.

When I was applying to undergrad I got accepted to my first choice and two other schools. As much as I would have loved to attend that school (top rated program, beautiful campus, in Chicago which I love, most of my friends were attending there), getting accepted to other programs allowed me to compare the pros and cons of each program. I ultimately chose my least "favorite" school on the basis that they offered me a ton of financial aid, my other two schools could not compare. I am glad I did since I felt I got a good education and graduated with no debt.

When I went towards my masters program I did get accepted to and attended my first choice. After graduating and looking back I felt that my experience could have been better and I was not happy with the program, especially when I compared it to my current colleagues experiences.

I am currently applying to a doctoral program and plan on applying to nine schools.

P.S. Here is a video by Extra Credits which gives advice on becoming a game developer if you haven't seen it.

https://youtu.be/zQvWMdWhFCc

 

[Aerosteam]

I was initially wanting to go to a university course for game design but lacked the grades for it so I looked for alternative routes - there was a course about software development that I could take for two years in a college that was in the same city. If I pass both years, I go to year 2 of the course I wanted at first. Since you seem dedicated to this, I doubt you aren't as lucky.

Questions I have for you right now:

Since you can't get into this school, what did you do instead for the past 2 years?
What have you done outside of educational areas relating to game design?
Is it specifically game design or is it anything to do with video games?

 

[Armadox]

Schooling is important, but not the only route you can take to make your dreams a reality. My suggestion would be to move your engines to full tilt, and work diligently on programming aspects and designs. Many home brew indie games started as simple learning the ropes, and they polished it into a great gem. You seem to want this, but how much are you willing to bleed for it?

 

[TakerFoxx]

Schools should be treated as what they are: a place to learn rather than a status symbol. My degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on, and I only pursued it so I could take the workshop classes. However, I learned far more about writing by writing fanfiction than I ever did at school. So if you can't get into your dream college, don't sweat it. There are many, many, many other venues that you can learn the craft from. And classes will never replace tinkering with that stuff on your own.

 

[The Lunatic]

So. This going to be a little weird but.

I went to school for game design. My advice:

Don't do it.

Yeah, helpful, right? Well, hear me out, there's more to it than that.

Become a hobbyist, look up tutorials on google, learn how to make some stuff in unity, learn some basic 3D modelling skills, some basic coding, texturing all that. You need a foundation in everything really. And this is what most of these Game Design courses focus on, it's not catering to a specific discipline, which is fine for a "Game Designer" role, but, there's no such thing as an "Entry level game designer".

So, you should set your sights on a more reasonable goal. A friend of mine broke into the industry as a level designer for an indie company, it's not impossible to go from 0 to level designer, though, it is a big step.

If you're looking to get into becoming a level designer and from there, with experience a game designer, I'd advise, after getting a foundation of knowledge in a variety of subjects, come up with game design ideas, write them down and from there, plan a level of your game and go about trying to make it in Unity.

Far too many people trying to get into the industry present a Portfolio which is basically just a series of disjointed models, textures or concept art with little to them beyond being "That's a nice piece of work". And that's not what game companies want to see, they want to see your ability to turn an idea into a game, and game levels work wonders for this, combined the attached background work, and you've got a pretty convincing portfolio.

A lot of studios really don't care about education requirements right now, portfolios are very important, and you don't need a college course to make a good port folio.

If you're convinced that you want education, then having even the most basic of portfolios will be a pretty convincing argument that a college should take you on.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Watch the film "Accepted" first. What part of game design do you mean? You can inspire change without needing to code.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

What Lunatic said. Experience trumps education in almost every case. The biggest use of a degree is to get your foot in the door to tell them about how awesome YOU are. Take it from someone working on a computer engineering degree.

 

[wulf3n]

Don't let schooling interfere with your education.

As has been said above a degree in games isn't the be all and end all of getting a job in the Games Industry. In fact a university education is new, and I'd wager the majority of the people in the industry didn't study video games at university.

Just start doing.

 

[DoPo]

What Lunatic said. Experience trumps education in almost every case. The biggest use of a degree is to get your foot in the door to tell them about how awesome YOU are. Take it from someone working on a computer engineering degree.

Also from somebody who has a software engineering one. Yeah, while being taught some stuff at some place is definitely useful (especially since it places you in contact with many people around), it is not the be all and end all.

However, degrees are looked at for graduates, since there is very little else to base opinions on, from the employer's point of view. If you could actually show some experience, it's definitely more relevant than just a degree.

Actually, this is where those people I mentioned come in play - they can also be very valuable in finding a job - you could hear of a job offer that's hard to find from them, or you could apply through them for a job. Other than that, they are great, as they likely share interests with you and may be able to help out with stuff you may be struggling with.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I know I've been incredibly lucky with my post secondary experience. I found a school that really welcomed me and I'm entering my 4th year (student loans pending <.<) to begin the second last year of film education I'm planning.

I feel kind of guilty posting here as a result. :c

 

[Twintix]

I know I've been incredibly lucky with my post secondary experience. I found a school that really welcomed me and I'm entering my 4th year (student loans pending <.<) to begin the second last year of film education I'm planning.

I feel kind of guilty posting here as a result. :c

Don't be. I feel a bit better seeing some of these responses.

It's just that I've felt a bit of a panic recently, like a middle age crisis, but when you're 20. You act too young because you feel too old, that kind of deal. And not getting into the school was part of the reason, as well as panicking about an education, because soon you might not even be able to get the simplest job without a post-high school education of some sort. The thought terrifies me, that I might one day be left doing something I hate because I didn't have good enough education to do things I love.

Anyway, thank you for all the responses, everyone! They were very encouraging! I won't be sitting here and doing nothing this fall; I'll get my hands on Unity and GameMaker Pro and start experimenting with some game ideas that I have.

 

[TotalerKrieger]

Recently received a rejection letter from a Veterinary Medicine program I had applied to. Pretty devastating. It is the only school I can attend without having to pay prohibitively high international tuition fees and I'm just not willing to risk taking on so much debt at 26 years old. I will apply once more, but I was rejected outright based on my interview score. Every other aspect of the application was as good or better than the scores of those who were offered a seat last year. Pretty discouraging, as I thought the interview went okay and they are tight-lipped about what the problem was. Sometimes it seems like North American professional programs are only looking for genuine Type-A personality extroverts, no exceptions. Interestingly, there were next to no male vet med students that I encountered during a day long tour of the school. I was the only male in my interview group as well. Do most dudes just not give a shit about animals or what?

My backup plan is to become a hospital lab tech, which seems like a decent job....but in practical terms such an outcome makes all those years of university and all those years of high school gunning for A+ grades a complete waste of energy, time and money. I could have coasted throughout HS on 70-80% grades, attended the local trade school and would have started earning a 50-60k income several years ago. I may smoke my paper-hat biology degree in that case...

Apologies for the whining, just needed to vent some thoughts and emotion into the void.

 

[Aerosteam]

I'll get my hands on Unity and GameMaker Pro and start experimenting with some game ideas that I have.

A mythical man once said to the legendary Miyamoto: "mo dimensions mo problems". I think it's better to start with a 2D game.

If it interests you, I've got a user group going where I post about updates for a game I'm currently making.

 

[Cowabungaa]

snip

This post is important. At one point in my schooling (mostly unrelated course, had a little game design but wasn't the focus) I interviewed quite a few game developers. Mostly small-time, but also one of the lead artists of Guerilla Games. He actually studied at one of the leading game design courses of the Netherlands and he and even his teachers ended up saying; these courses are very limited, the portfolio you'll end up needing to get anywhere in the gaming industry (and this counts for most creative industries) in the end won't be filled with school projects.

No, your portfolio will be filled by things that come completely from yourself, things you care about, things that show where your artistic/creative aspirations and inspirations lie. The most important things you'll do and make probably won't be things you'll have made at school. What school mostly is useful for is connections, in the end some pointers and getting your foot in the door. You'll have to get out there yourself, develop yourself and create your creative persona.

So yes, continue in your spare time. Fiddle around with 3D software, game-making software, some 2D things. Hell, screw around with Unity at one point just to get the feel of it, just, y'know, don't upload the result to Steam. But that's how you'll start getting there. Of course, even that is a big maybe. The game industry is a brutal and hugely competitive industry, and getting in there is tough as nails.

 

[renegade7]

I might have said this before, but I dream of becoming a game designer. But sometimes, I wonder if I should just let that be a dream. I've applied for a school that educates aspiring game developers (Be it programmers, graphic designers or just game designers) three times now, and I've stumbled on the finish line every single time. I make it to the interviews every time which isn't easy, sure, but it just feels hopeless to be so close, but still so far away.

What does a "Game Design" major actually consist of? There is no single job title of "Person who makes video games". In that industry there are graphical artists, musicians, voice actors, programmers, writers, computer scientists, IT people, administrators, PR reps ("community managers", I think is what they call them), and even (believe this or not) physicists and mathematicians, all with similarly diverse academic backgrounds.

In college I had many friends who were in the game design program. Their success in getting into the industry was no higher than those I knew who wanted to be in the industry but had other majors like music, STEM, or business. Your degree does not define your career. Go to school for the skills and knowledge you want to have, not for the job you want.

 

[the_dramatica]

I'm also struggling to get into the program I want. If only I had better habits.

I've spent the last few years doing contract housekeeping through my families small business but I don't want to do it my entire life.

 

[Totenkreuz]

If it would make you feel better, then I will say that alot of people I know didn't even go to some sort of game designer school. They got their jobs by just having good ideas and, well, dreams. They worked hard as they didn't really have some of the know how about how to run things but every single one of them seem to be doing just fine today.

I've even heard from the older people that this "game designer school" is a rather new thing and many if not every single company would rather look at your past work, skills, general charisma and how you formulate your ideas than some paper from a school.

Well, I also heard about the "he worked for EA" joke but thats for another day hehe.

Cheers.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Treat it like looking for a job. Pursue any and all possible leads, apply to schools you dont even want to go to but would maybe be okay with(and if there arent many, your bar is too high lower it) treat this like a goddamn war of attrition and your applications are soldiers you send off, fire and forget as many applications as you can! Some People seem to give up hope and become apathetic really quickly in the grand scheme of things and just give up. Be tenacious, keep working on it and be like a dog with a bone.

In the meantime attempt to self educate so you are better prepared for this when it does happen, maybe theres some local short courses you can take or you can just buy some good books off the internet to study?