[casual_games] Casual_Games Digest, Vol 29, Issue 2

[universedave at gmail.com]

As a hiring manager, I can see a game degree having a small amount of added value; it shows me that the candidate is excited enough about making games to want to take a chunk of time and focus on it.  On the other hand, I pay far more attention to the portfolio pieces that students create while in school.  The best candidates are going to be those who view their game school careers as a 4-year parent-sponsored internship - an opportunity to learn their craft, create awesome demos, learn to work in a development team, and (perhaps) build some lifelong bonds with future collaborators.

Dave Rohrl
Independent Casual Game Producer/Designer/Consultant
650-438-9512
Universedave -at- gmail -dot- com



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-----Original Message-----
From: Audry Taylor <talshannon at hotmail.com>

Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:12:45 
To:<casual_games at igda.org>
Subject: Re: [casual_games] Casual_Games Digest, Vol 29, Issue 2




>>I feel like education is taking a beating here. I don't think going to school is a bad thing. 


It can be for someone entering an entertainment industry.

Most people who go to film school make lousy or mediocre directors.  Most of the best directors in the world didn't go to school for film, or learned more outside of film school than in it.

Some things are better learned by joining the industry directly, rather than by taking a side trip down ego lane, which is what college often becomes for many entertainment industries.  College will gladly teach creative people how to be cliche, formulaic, predictable, and copy cats of the masters they study so diligently.

The major exception to this is animation; most high-quality professional animators did go to a serious animation school like CalArts.  An artist can definitely benefit from a tough college major full of deadlines and diversity.

But all kinds of writers, directors, musicians, some artists, many actors -- most of these are better off learning their craft by doing their craft, not by having it graded. ;-)  Obviously there are exceptions, but almost every creative person I know who became a success didn't get a degree for what they do; some even got kicked out of schools for the thing they have since become successful doing.

Audry Taylor
Creative Director
Go! Comi
http://www.gocomi.com

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