Vancouver Film School Game Design Program graduates - worth the cost of admission?

Orikaeshigitae

I'm considering changing my course of study to the intimidatingly expensive game design program at VFS. I already have a BA in English and am partway through a MA of same, but since games are really where I want to work, the dedicated Digipen-esque environment of VFS is really appealing to me right now.

Does anyone have input beyond the various review sites found on Google? Personal anecdotes, especially?

Deusfaux

can't speak TOO much on the program, but it seems like a good number of people land decent jobs in the industry after. A good number of people who go to VFS in general have strong feelings about their time there because all the programs cost so much.

consider heavily what living in Vancouver would mean to you (unless you live here already?), especially what kind of game industry exists in the city.

why not try calling some of them and ask them what they think of the program? like their experience and opinion of the grads from it

zilo

For-profit game design curricula are almost never worth the money. Not to say they're useless, but Digipen and their ilk don't offer much value for the money.

If games are really where you want to work, start making games. Game developers are much more interested in what you've done than what's written on your degree. Unity3D is free, Unreal3 is free-ish, there are tons of games out there with active mod communities.

Orikaeshigitae

i already live in vancouver.

zilo, a large reason i like vfs is that as part of the curriculum you do end up creating a game. while that can potentially fuck you for the same reason that people tend to avoid group work in high school, that experience seems like it'd be a great help, as well as the industry contacts i'd make within the faculty.

is it thirty thousand dollars awesome? that remains to be seen.

Rikushix

An old high school friend of mine just started at VFS in Game Design a couple of months ago and loves it so far.

That's better than nothing, I suppose.

Beck

What kind of games do you want to make?

If you want to make real video games, like, as an artist, you can be entirely self-taught. C and Python are really all you need to start making games. And internet resources are going to teach you all you really need to know about theory. The problem with schools is that their curriculum are mostly designed for people who want to work at places like Bungie and Bioware and, well, different strokes for different folks, but it's a lower-level of artistry there. But some people want that. It's less stressful, certainly.

I haven't graduated from there, but I have heard good things on the grapevine. My understanding is that Digipen is still pretty much the best. And a computer science degree will get you what you need, too. But a game-centric school would be great and how could you go wrong with one in the awesome city of Vancouver?