Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:58 pm Post subject:
Some German help?
Hello everybody,
I've pretty much decided upon my career, and that will be game design apparently. I'm also interested in studying in Germany (might meet some of you guys :p ) and this is slightly problematic.
In one year, I'll give the Romanian baccalaureate/Abitur, and wanna see where it'd be nice to study.
Berlin is already a quite good choice. You could then also decide to study computer science in the University of Potsdam and the Hasso Plattner Institute and as well in the "Highschool for Movie and TV" (roughly translated from "Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen") which is near the Babelsberg Movie Studios.
All these offer courses in (3D) Programming, Design, Interface-programming/design/theory, software-development in general etc too so you could choose from a variety of courses and highschools.
From what i've heard, you should also try to learn programming, as game designers and designers in general exist a lot and it is supposed to be a lot easier to get a foot in the game industry if you can write your own code. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
Being able to work around and understand code in the gaming industry is just about a must since the beginning. I don't think there's ever been a time where an artist could be *just* an artist. You have to know how your art is going to be influenced by the game, what physics you're able to use, etc. And with 3D modelling, you have to know more programming than ever, as most artists know how to program their own plugins for the design program they are using.
So yes, I would definitely suggest taking programming alongside design theory. I'd have to side with LKO as Berlin being the best choice (I wish I had gone there instead, I hear so many good things about it from other designers ) _________________ "Don't beg for things; Do it yourself or you'll never get anything." QUICK_EDIT
In all honesty, its not the school that's what you're looking for it's the teacher. So I'd look into who is teaching what, and if anyone in the area, online, or what-have-you knows anything about them. One great place to ask questions is: CGSociety. Not only are they a wealth of design knowledge, but they also have workshops with live people, etc. in case that interests you as well. _________________ "Don't beg for things; Do it yourself or you'll never get anything." QUICK_EDIT
Sorry for resurrecting this, but Berlin seems to be a bit overrepresented in this thread.
Given that Hamburg has a strong computer game creation community, and is an important location for the whole web/media industrial complex, it should get some love as well.
The University of Applied Sciences offers a Masters course "Time-dependent media - sound, vision, games" which treats subjects such as game design, entrepreneurship, etc.
The idea is that you study Computer Science first, and then learn how to use the basics you learned in order to create multimedia applications/games. Logically, this is the much more technical way of approaching things, making you a full-blown computer scientist before turning to the topic of computer games.
Check out the module plan to see if it could be interesting to you.
The SAE Institute Hamburg offers two game-related courses: Game Programming and Game Art & 3D Animation.
The institute is not an accredited German university; according to their site, they're working with the Middlesex University in Great Britain, which controls their programs and thus allows them to hand out Bachelors. I suspect that their Bachelors will officially be from the University of Middlesex or something (which is not an necessarily an issue, since the whole point of the Bologna-process was the equalization of degrees). You do get a separate "diploma" from the SAEI.
Note that qantm is an SAE brand, and their regional offerings all link to the SAE courses.
The Macromedia University for Media and Communication, has a course on Game Design, earning you a Bachelor of Arts. Guessing from the BA and the course plan, this one goes very much into the design aspect of games, less the technical aspects of creating a computer game.
This course is available on their campuses in Munich and Stuttgart.
The Mediadesign University seems to be a similar thing, offering a Gamedesign Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts on campuses in Berlin, Düsseldorf and Munich.
Of course, if it's less the academic credentials you seek, and more the knowledge, you could always check out the Games Academy.
That'll strand you in Berlin again, though.
Similar to the SAE Institute, the Games Academy has recently started working with partner universities in order to offer Bachelor degrees.
In their case, however, it's not integrated - rather, the partner universities accept the time you spent at Games Academy as academic credit, and thus enable you to shave several years off of the normal courses.
According to the GA site, you can earn a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design from the HBK Braunschweig in two semesters that way, or a Bachelor of Science in Media Computer Science from the Ostfalia Wolfenbüttel in three semesters.
As visible from the degrees, the former is for those who finished the "Game Art & Animation" course of GA, the latter is for the "Game Programming" graduates.
Personal opinion: If you care for academic credentials, go for an Applied Computer Science ("Angewandte Informatik") degree with a later focus on Game Design or Game Programming. That way, you'll have a reputable degree and a solid basis for whatever CS-job you end up in.
If you really don't care about the degree and just want to become a professional game designer, look at Games Academy. They've got the best reputation for this kind of stuff in the country. (And with the mentioned university cooperation, you could still decide to try for a fast-tracked degree afterwards.)
Lastly, some translation nit-picking: "Highschool" is pretty much the worst way to translate "Hochschule", roughly or not: While the words are literally equivalent, "highschool", as per the American school system, denotes a secondary school, after students pass elementary school, while "Hochschule" is used for schools of the tertiary school system in Germany. (Because it is higher than school. You have normal school, then high school.)
Point being: In order to attend a "Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen", you would have had to graduate from the German equivalent of highschool, and with the proper degree (Abitur). _________________ #renproj:renegadeprojects.com via Matrix - direct link QUICK_EDIT
Resurrecting the thread as well. Thanks a lot for the input, Ren, even if I'm damn late.
I've also found an interesting place in Darmstadt: http://ag.fbmd.h-da.de/
Maybe you guys heard anything of it? For me it would be interesting, since it's a German state uni and I'm exempted from the costs +
Wahlaufgabe 2
Entwickeln Sie eine ein Konzept für ein einfaches Spiel gleich welchen Genres mit dem Thema „Side Effects“. Diese kann sowohl ein Brettspiel als auch ein Computergame für eine Plattform Ihrer Wahl sein. Beschreiben Sie die Spielidee in einem Diagramm. Gestalten Sie die Spielumgebung und visualisieren Sie diese in 3 Konzeptbildern (Zeichnung, Digital Painting, 2-d/3-D Computer Art). Entwickeln Sie ferner die wesentlichen Figuren/Character und visualisieren Sie diese. Setzen Sie Ihre Spielidee prototypisch um. (Brettspiel-Dummy oder Computer-Prototyp).[...]
Quote:
My translation
Project option nr.2
Develop a concept for a simple game to any genre with the theme "Side Effects". This can be a table game as well as a computer game, for a platform of your choice. Describe your game idea in a diagram. Shape the game environment and visualize these in 3 concept images (drawing, digital painting, 2D/3D Computer Art). Develop further the figures/characters and visualize these. Put your game ideas in a prototypical view. (Be it a table game dummy or Computer prototype.)
I somehow don't get it: Am I allowed to use the OpenRA game engine? Or am I allowed to use it without WW's assets? Or do I have to use something like Unity? What's even more annoying is that I did send a e-mail about this detail, but sadly I didn't get a response - and 5-6 weeks passed already. QUICK_EDIT
It's a bit unclear written in the german original in the first place (due to several typos and bad grammar).
Hmm, i think with "platform of your choice" they mean something more along, PC, Tablet, Phone-app or maybe even platform like Windows, Unix. Since the platform also includes non-PC things like a table game, you could theoretically also create a complete new platform.
Since the platform is free, they might also want to see you thinking out of the box and not using the same thing again: e.g. something crazy like magnetic marbles with numbers in an electro-magnetic field which replace dice or something else
Since you're supposed to create a "new" concept or game idea, i think you would restrict yourself too much by using OpenRA which already narrows it down to a RTS with resources and armies. Except you plan to heavily modify the engine to suit your later needs.
It also seems to be only the start of a project so you have to create the concept/rules only and not a complete game. I think it's more along "you show them, how it could work in theory". They just seem to want to see you being able to plan this stuff and have a vision of it, but not really make it yet. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
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Some German help?
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