Hi guys,

Just to give you the gist of the situation, I'm a senior in high school who needs to apply to universities/colleges in the coming weeks.


The reason I am posting here is because I've made a couple games in Turing/C++ (Monopoly, araknoid, tetris etc. ) and I dont know but I seem to take have a knack for this kind of stuff, and the feeling I get when I complete a game is definately worth the time I've invested. I've seriously looked at a career in game development, and companies seem to go for computer engineering and computer science degrees, to show academic excellence.

Now to go for computer engineering OR computer science is a tough decision for me. From what I hear, engineering is hell. I think I would benefit from computer science more because it involves more with programming and software, but I am still curious on how the computer works physically (what a computer engineering degree would focus on) . I want to know what Nvidia and ATi talks about when they discuss their video cards. But I suppose only geniuses like Carmack would be able to anyways.

Another thing I like about computer science is I feel I'd get a lot more free time, and thus time to work on independent game projects to learn from. Because with computer engineering I'd have to go through a ton of chemistry, which will probably benefit zilch in the long run.

I guess my real question is what should I do to prepare my game development career, and at the same time not die from work.

By your post, it fells to me like you already decided :)

im a comp science drop out and never had a problem with it :)

yea you're probably right

cs or ce, cs or ce, cs or ce

hmm

there are courses in computer science that I want to do thats not offered in computer engineering, that tips the scale a bit to cs :)

I did computer science, and I'd give anything to be able to go back in time and take a business course instead.

I was in the same boat a while back. IMHO, Computer Science is your best bet.

If you get into a good CS program, you'll be required to take some basic computer architecture classes. Also, most schools will probably let you take advanced CE courses as electives. So it isn't as if you'll be forced into only learning CS theory.

There are classes in CS that are very helpful for game programming. Linear algebra, compiler and language theory, data structures, combinatorial algorithms, AI, etc.

But don't choose based on the idea that CS is any easier than CE, or that either of them take any less time. Both are very tough and will probably eat up your free time quite easily.

Hope that helps.

Well, I went the engineering route and it was fun, but the curriculum was quite rigid (i.e., I wasn't able to take many electives at all) and I had to take a lot of core engineering courses (statics, analog circuits, digital electronics, etc) which didn't interest me much and hasn't had any bearing on anything I've done in games. Meanwhile, my friends in CS had a ball learning new languages, reading good books, and other stuff which actually helps make a good game. But if you're trying to avoid dying from overwork, games may not be your best bet. :)