Completely undecided on degrees/future, please help! (1 Viewer)

UCC

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Hey guys,

Just wondering if any of you could give me some advice on which path to take at university and beyond. I am interested in interior design as a profession, however, for the past year or so I've become completely inspired by the video gaming industry. The main inspiration is coming from games like Skyrim, the Grand Theft Auto franchise and the Assassin's Creed games. I have no experience with making games or any of the technical stuff, so I am undecided whether this is something I should pursue directly at university.

An interior design degree could also translate over into the gaming industry through virtual environments and interiors, but again I am not sure. This would take longer to develop. As I said, I'm not familiar with any software, and because I'm busy with studying for the HSC in a week, I can't explore anything right now.

Any opinions or advice are welcome, I just feel a bit lost as to whether I could pull something like this off. It would be a dream of mine to work on my own independant game, and to work with an international company would be amazing. But I'm not sure I have what it takes!

Thanks guys.
 

UCC

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Completely undecided, please help!

Hey guys,

Just wondering if any of you could give me some advice on which path to take at university and beyond. I am interested in interior design as a profession, however, for the past year or so I've become completely inspired by the video gaming industry. The main inspiration is coming from games like Skyrim, the Grand Theft Auto franchise and the Assassin's Creed games. I have no experience with making games or any of the technical stuff, so I am undecided whether this is something I should pursue directly at university.

An interior design degree could also translate over into the gaming industry through virtual environments and interiors, but again I am not sure. This would take longer to develop. As I said, I'm not familiar with any software, and because I'm busy with studying for the HSC in a week, I can't explore anything right now.

Any opinions or advice are welcome, I just feel a bit lost as to whether I could pull something like this off. It would be a dream of mine to work on my own independant game, and to work with an international company would be amazing. But I'm not sure I have what it takes!

Thanks guys.
 

UCC

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

bump
 

louielouiee

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

A girl who loves gaming?

Nice ;)
 

zeebobDD

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

why not take a degree in game design at like UTS, and once your in the university and you have a change of heart, you can always transfer to another degree
 

MrBrightside

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

If you want a career in games development, be prepared to travel overseas and live there during your work life.
 

louielouiee

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

Would there really be no options within Australia?
 

slyhunter

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

Would there really be no options within Australia?
Not entirely, but it's limited, you'd be confined to mainly the US, Western Europe and Japan for gaming development
 

onedaysnotice

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

Well I'm planning to start my own indie game company when I finish uni, so you can find a job here with me 8D
 
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MrBrightside

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

Well I'm planning to start my own indie game company when I finish uni, so you can find a job here with me 8D
Hate to burst your bubble, but it kinda doesn't work like that. You need publishers to promote and distribute media and a honest, quality, built up brand which people are willing to pay for. There's a reason why there ain't many of these game dev companies around in Aussie land. It's:

a) too damn hard to start it up without a solid team of experience leaders in the field which demand over 100k in salary.
b) not worth the funding and time it requires, as the project will 99% fail to become a world block buster hit.
c) hard to capture an audience from a start-up.
d) you would need investors to even become remotely successful in the field. Most game devs in Australia are trying to break into the mobile gaming market and earn little over 35-40k salary. It's that run down. So while it may look like a great option on the outside, it really isn't on the inside.

And the companies in Australia working on game dev (I only know around 2, a lot of them went bust) have their counterparts and HQ usually based overseas due to cheaper labor costs and probably better technology, such as internet speeds.
 

onedaysnotice

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

Hate to burst your bubble, but it kinda doesn't work like that. You need publishers to promote and distribute media and a honest, quality, built up brand which people are willing to pay for. There's a reason why there ain't many of these game dev companies around in Aussie land. It's:

a) too damn hard to start it up without a solid team of experience leaders in the field which demand over 100k in salary.
b) not worth the funding and time it requires, as the project will 99% fail to become a world block buster hit.
c) hard to capture an audience from a start-up.
d) you would need investors to even become remotely successful in the field. Most game devs in Australia are trying to break into the mobile gaming market and earn little over 35-40k salary. It's that run down. So while it may look like a great option on the outside, it really isn't on the inside.

And the companies in Australia working on game dev (I only know around 2, a lot of them went bust) have their counterparts and HQ usually based overseas due to cheaper labor costs and probably better technology, such as internet speeds.
I'm not listening, I'm not listening! xD

*epiphany* ...I'm gonna revolutionise the Australian gaming industry :O


Nah srsly, that's why I'm aiming for a degree in computer science and just majoring in games dev, instead of going to AIT or QANTM, etc. It acts a fallback in case my game development dreams are ruined :) And there's always establishing my company in america aha.
 
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MrBrightside

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

I'm not listening, I'm not listening! xD

*epiphany* ...I'm gonna revolutionise the Australian gaming industry :O


Nah srsly, that's why I'm aiming for a degree in computer science and just majoring in games dev, instead of going to AIT or QANTM, etc. It acts a fallback in case my game development dreams are ruined :)
Good choice. But your mind will probably change a few times, before you get to your major.
 

UCC

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

Well I'm planning to start my own indie game company when I finish uni, so you can find a job here with me 8D
Aha thanks! I think I'll stick with the interior design degree, see where I go from there :)
 

jkamazing

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Hey there,

I exactly know what you mean. I'm sitting for the HSC this year also (why I am on the internet and not studying I will never know...) and initially did consider studying architecture, at UTS preferably, but now I'm thinking of interior architecture.

Although I don't really have any good advice because I'm not even in university yet, I would suggest further looking into each career path and seeing whether you could imagine yourself doing it? I know it's not really good advice, and it probably doesn't make sense, but yeah........ Hahah.

Also, don't forget that you could do both. For instance, I know somebody who studied criminology in university, while as a past time was developing games (mods in particular), and ended up working in the gaming industry. So really, there's nothing stopping you from doing both!

Again, sorry for not giving that good of advice, but I hoped it helped in some way :]
 

UCC

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Hey there,

I exactly know what you mean. I'm sitting for the HSC this year also (why I am on the internet and not studying I will never know...) and initially did consider studying architecture, at UTS preferably, but now I'm thinking of interior architecture.

Although I don't really have any good advice because I'm not even in university yet, I would suggest further looking into each career path and seeing whether you could imagine yourself doing it? I know it's not really good advice, and it probably doesn't make sense, but yeah........ Hahah.

Also, don't forget that you could do both. For instance, I know somebody who studied criminology in university, while as a past time was developing games (mods in particular), and ended up working in the gaming industry. So really, there's nothing stopping you from doing both!

Again, sorry for not giving that good of advice, but I hoped it helped in some way :]

Pretty sure we're looking at the same course :) and you're advice was good! I'll definitely do something to do with game design on the side, I just feel unsure as to whether I would enjoy it as a profession (i like PLAYING, but maybe not making them :p) anyway, we'll see! Thanks for your advice :)
 

360

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Re: Completely undecided, please help!

Would there really be no options within Australia?
The Australian gaming 'industry' is not only limited but extremely competitive.
 

Moldy81

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Hey guys,

Just wondering if any of you could give me some advice on which path to take at university and beyond. I am interested in interior design as a profession, however, for the past year or so I've become completely inspired by the video gaming industry. The main inspiration is coming from games like Skyrim, the Grand Theft Auto franchise and the Assassin's Creed games. I have no experience with making games or any of the technical stuff, so I am undecided whether this is something I should pursue directly at university.

An interior design degree could also translate over into the gaming industry through virtual environments and interiors, but again I am not sure. This would take longer to develop. As I said, I'm not familiar with any software, and because I'm busy with studying for the HSC in a week, I can't explore anything right now.

Any opinions or advice are welcome, I just feel a bit lost as to whether I could pull something like this off. It would be a dream of mine to work on my own independant game, and to work with an international company would be amazing. But I'm not sure I have what it takes!

Thanks guys.
Hi, Perhaps you may be interested in the Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) being offered at UWS. This course allows for you to major in Interative Media. Another course which you may be interested in is our Bachelor of Communication, where you can major in Media Arts Production and have a sub-major in Animation. For more information on these courses, please visit our Future Students page (www.future.uws.edu.au) or contact our Course Information Team on 1300 897 669 or on study@uws.edu.au. Best regards, UWS Course Info.
 

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