I am now serious about going to school for game design and i am thinking I want to be the guy that creates the 3d models, what do they call that position? lol
Either that or a Level Designer. Does anyone know of any schools that offer a general beginners course that would teach a starter in most aspects of game design? I am willing to move anywhere in the US, So does anyone have suggestions for schools? Will the govt. give me grants again if I have already gone to school and just decided welding isn't right for me or will I have to pay myself this time?
Thanks
I'm in the same boat as you. I'm going to school for 3d modeling as well (though technically my major is Animation and Visual Effects but 3d Modeling is what my focus is). One thing I urge you to understand is that being a level designer and a modeler are
totally different jobs. I'm stressing this because I wasn't clear on it myself for a while. If you want to be the one who takes concept art and turns it into the model you see in the game, you focus on 3d modeling and become a game artist. If you want to take the 3d models people have
already made and make a city, or a house, or a dungeon, and so on, you become a level designer. They are very different jobs and going to school for one will mean ruling out the other. Likewise, you can't go to school for game design if you JUST want to make the 3d models. Game design, is, well, lots of stuff, but you can't major in that and also
focus on 3d modeling, because you're going to have to learn other elements of game design as well.
You wont (or really shouldn't) be able to find a school that will teach you just the starter aspects of game design or 3d modeling. The school I go to teaches you how to do this for a career, and teaches you
everything involved in it. For example, despite being in Animation, I have to take a bunch of foundation classes (anatomy, figure drawing, perspective drawing, and so on), because you really do need to know this stuff to be able to 3d model. You
need to draw, believe it or not, to make a 3d model. You can't just open a 3d modeling program and make an object without source images visible in the program, and chances are you're going to have to draw those images yourself.
Start building up a really impressive portfolio, stat.
Aye, this can be a big problem for people with no experience in making art who are looking to go to school for it. Most schools require a portfolio, and if you're like me when I was first looking, you wont have one. Personally I always thought this to be an idiotic rule, it's like asking someone who wants to be an architect to have already designed and constructed a building. How can you ask someone who wants to be go to your school to learn something, to have already learned enough of it to get in?
Like most people without a portfolio, I turned to art schools that don't require one. I was initially going to go to the Art Institute, but when I realized the specific one I was going to wasn't properly accredited I decided to find a different school instead. I'm now in the Academy of Art University, which is regionally accredited. And in fact, some people who once went to the Art Institute who are now here have remarked to me about how low the school's standards are in comparison to the Academy's. To give you some perspective, in my first figure drawing class, the sample art shown on the grading chart as a D would have passed as an A at an Art Institute, no joke. The Art Institute is a degree factory and going there is a waste of money. Do not go there. By the way, you should really research accreditation some more, I can't stress how important it is.
AAU is a really good school, despite what the negative reviews online will tell you, but it's very, very, very intense, and there are a lot of drop-outs. The retention rate is only around 30%. Basically, due to the fact that you don't need a portfolio and hence anyone can get in, there are a lot of people who get in who just can't handle it, but expect it to be easy due to it being an art school. AAU weeds them out after about the first year, and by Year 2 the only people who will be in your classes are the serious ones. Most of the negative reviews are from these people. So AAU is
like a school that requires a portfolio, but they give you a chance... and if you crash and burn and drop out, they've got your money. Speaking of which...
AAU is expensive. Really expensive. It's expensive because they've worked out an ingenious way to rip-off students. You see, classes here cost about $9k a semester (4 classes each), which isn't terrible in comparison to most other art schools. But where they get you is the housing, which costs more than $6k. Housing itself costs about $4,500, but they force you to buy a meal plan (so you get food you don't have to pay for (because you already did) at their cafeterias for the semester) for about $1,800, AND they force you to agree to pay for two semesters (Fall and Spring), so you can't simply go and live in housing for a semester then move out. Oh no, no, they need your delicious money, so they make sure that if you are going to pay for housing, you need to live there and pay them for at least a year. It really is ingenious how good they are at ripping off students. But like I said, it's a good school, and very intense. By the 2nd or 3rd Semester you'll be seriously wondering if you can handle the massive workload (dozens of hours a week). The druggies and the kids using up mommy and daddy's money will drop out, and the people who are serious and can handle it will stay.
If, after researching colleges for yourself, you wind up wanting to go to AAU, feel free to send me a message if you want to know more about it. I'm currently in my 3rd semester there (still first year technically as I started in the summer), but I can answer plenty of the questions you may have.
» Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:50 am 
