What do I need for a Masters in Interactive Design or Game Design?

[Rxanadu]

Hello, everyone:

 

I recently graduated from college with a B.S. in Computer Science.  However, I'm not at a loss for what I want to do at the moment; I know I want to make games, but I don't know who I want to work for as of now.  Most of the game studios want to make money or make games milking the nostalgia of the 80s and 90s more than they want to make games that I feel comfortable talking to my family about.  So, for the time being, I've decided to try and apply for graduate school.  Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy my time in undergraduate school; I always saw learning computer science and programming as a means to an end for learning how to make games.  With this in mind, I don't want to apply for a Masters for a Computer Science degree.  

 

I love games and want to contribute to the creation of games in any way I can.  Ever since I started making prototypes with Unity3D, I've become more interested in designing a game with mechanics for not only telling new stories but for helping those with physical disabilities to play the game with less difficulty.  I want to make games with a larger variety in characters than the ones we have so far.  This has led me to try and pursue a Masters in Interactive Design or Game Design.  But I'm not an artist in the traditional sense.

 

Most of the schools offering programs in interactive design (i.e. game design) are offered primarily in art schools.  Most of them require the applicants to have a portfolio along with their statement of purpose.  I've created basic 3D models for use in my prototypes and game jam entries, but none of those entries would get me near an art studio. However, my main fear is that I'll have to make more art within the actual program even if I do get in.  My main focus on going into an Interactive Design program is to create the design for games in terms of how the game is structured not how the game looks artistically.

 

My objective with this post is to see if anyone pursuing a graduate degree in relation to games has any tips or insight for me in regards to what I should do for finding and applying for a graduate degree.  In particular, I wanted to know what I should put in my statement of purpose and what I should ask my teachers when requesting my letters of recommendation.  I only recently came to the conclusion of wanting to pursue a graduate degree, so I'm not sure what I need to do for that process in terms of getting a Masters in Interactive Design.

[Joewintergreen]

There was a thread here a while ago which will probably be of better use to you than an answer to the question you're actually asking. Obv not sure how you've come to the conclusion that getting your masters in an explicitly Video Games field is a good idea for you (maybe it is) but I believe the consensus amoung game developers is that it usually isn't. If employment with a game dev company is what you're after the uni qualification is actually not likely to help you a whole lot and if you're already making protos and game jam things in Unity you're probably better off just continuing to do that and getting better at it.

[I Saw Dasein]

Generally "I don't know what to do with my life so I guess I'll get a masters degree" is a rookie move. 

[Problem Machine]

If what you want is to make games, I don't see how a master's degree would help you do that. If you're not interested in learning how to do the requisite art for a game, I think you'd best start looking for a artist partner who can get on board with your vision and handle that end of it and just make the game that you want to exist. Spending more time in school is just burning years you could be spending on making games, especially since it doesn't sound like you enjoy school itself anyway.

[subbes]

Generally "I don't know what to do with my life so I guess I'll get a masters degree" is a rookie move. 

 

Second only to "I guess I'll go to law school!" in the Bad Decision rankings.

[syntheticgerbil]

I was considering that week. I can now check law school off the list. Thank you.

[elmuerte]

There go my plans for a master degree in law....

In all seriousness, a masters degree is quite worth it (depending on your goals in life). Master is about creating the knowledge that gets thought for bachelor degrees. Or at least, this is the case for technical masters.

[Rxanadu]

If what you want is to make games, I don't see how a master's degree would help you do that. If you're not interested in learning how to do the requisite art for a game, I think you'd best start looking for a artist partner who can get on board with your vision and handle that end of it and just make the game that you want to exist. Spending more time in school is just burning years you could be spending on making games, especially since it doesn't sound like you enjoy school itself anyway.

 

I was a part of two failed attempts to make a game on Giant Bomb.  Those experiences set a sort of fear about me for making games with others.  This in turn has caused me to be more self-motivated to at least learn how to create sample art.  Hell, it's not great, but I created the boss used in this

.  I've also recently finished the basic structure of a game where you defend a tower by rolling yourself into incoming projectiles.  

 

What I'm trying to prove is I'm self-motivated, but I still need dedicated people to help me with my projects.  These people are what I lack in making myself a better game developer, but I've always feared they would leave me with a broken shell of the game I wanted to create when the "going gets tough," as it were.  

 

I'm actually looking for a game design school for two reasons: I'm more or less being forced into it by my parents.  Without me knowing, they told almost all of my relatives I was already going to attend grad school after graduation; that was the first time I had even heard them discuss the idea!  The second reason is directly related to the first: if I'm going to go to grad school, I may as well specialize in doing what I've wanted to do since high school: make games.  I want the foundation of leading a team to completing a game and putting it either online for free or on the market for sale (I'm not aiming for Steam just yet, though).

 

I knew well before I graduated I didn't truly want to (nor need to) go to grad school to become successful.  

 

This is an odd place to ask for this, but I do need some help with finishing the game I mentioned above.  Hopefully, you actually played the game and saw it needs much more polish.  But the foundation is finally there; I just needed to finish that aspect before I asked for help.  If any of you know of any 3D artists, musicians, or programmers willing to create free assets for the game and help me put the game up for free online, the help would be much appreciated.   It worked for Tom Francis, and he made Gunpoint.

 

For the time being, have them contact me on Twitter via "@Rxanadu."  

 

Thanks again for taking the time to read this message.

[Erkki]

The rolling into projectiles prototype actually seems like an interesting idea (but also seems impossible at the moment - maybe start with one projectile at a time and then keep adding more? or turn it into a reverse shoot-em-up where your goal is to get hit not to avoid getting hit) Anyway, seems like an idea that could be taken somewhere interesting, why not just take that prototype to it's full realization with your own art and then try to find people to do the art. Jonathan Blow made the entire Braid with programmer art before recruiting an artist.

[Rxanadu]

The rolling into projectiles prototype actually seems like an interesting idea (but also seems impossible at the moment - maybe start with one projectile at a time and then keep adding more? or turn it into a reverse shoot-em-up where your goal is to get hit not to avoid getting hit) Anyway, seems like an idea that could be taken somewhere interesting, why not just take that prototype to it's full realization with your own art and then try to find people to do the art. Jonathan Blow made the entire Braid with programmer art before recruiting an artist.

 If I don't get any people to speed up the development process, I intend to do that after a break from the game.  After working for about a month on this game I thought would be a game that would take a week, I probably need to work on something else in Unity or UDK to learn more skills to make development of this game easier and faster.

 

The fear is that I spend too much time away from this game, I do the same thing I've done with every game I've started: it stays in development limbo indefinitely.

 

I still have to think about it.

[Problem Machine]

Relying on other people is difficult. The one time I've tried to do a project with other people, for one of the tigsource game jams, it ended with everyone else flaking out on the project. Unfortunately, yeah, that tends to be the most common experience. I don't really have any advice on how to find someone who's not flaky... it sounds like it's the sort of thing you just have to try over and over until you hit the jackpot and find someone you can work with.

 

Your situation re: grad school is weird, but this could be a good opportunity for you to find collaboration partners. One of the big advantages of such a course is that you will have, in the same general physical space as you, a substantial number of people who you know for a fact will be interested in game creation.

 

As to how to get into such a program... I don't really know. I'm in kind of the opposite position, where I got a bachelors degree in a program supposedly about games but, in reality, more of just a fluff major to pull in gamers/suckers. I'd like to, some day, get a masters in a more concrete field, such as computer science or mathematics, so I have a degree that actually means something. I've learned to distrust programs focused on game design -- frankly, in terms of design, the 'common wisdom' is highly questionable in the first place, and I am suspicious of anyone who claims to be an authority on the subject. Chris mentioned this a bit on Idle Thumbs a couple of weeks ago, but what are considered 'best practices' in game design are often just ways to make a specific experience that people have grabbed onto as being the 'right' way to make a game, despite the fact that it shuts out a huge swathe of possibilities for what a game can be.

 

But I digress.

 

I guess my point is that it's easy to get sidetracked. Wherever you end up going, I guess, try to make sure it's someplace where you actually spend your time making games, since that's what you want to be doing. That way, you win either way. Put zero trust in the school itself to take you where you want to go, and spend whatever time you have there making what you want to happen in your life happen. Use it as a staging ground. Maybe it's presumptuous for me to say that sort of thing, but that's how I see it.

[I Saw Dasein]

Second only to "I guess I'll go to law school!" in the Bad Decision rankings.

i was going to say "it worked out for me" but i'm in the office 8AM boxing day so...

[juv3nal]

It's only a bad idea if you have to take loans to pay for it. If you've got enough parental support/grants/scholarships/financial aid/grading/TA income to cover it, post grad schooling is not such a terrible idea.