what education do you need or is recommended to be a video game designer?
608527
I think learning how to write computer programs will help you a lot.  Take lots of different languages, like C++, Java, and so on.\n\nI don't know much about graphics though, and you need to learn about them too.\n\nA C-Sci major can probably give you more useful information.
372464
Probably go after an engineering degree from an ABET acredited school, and then perhaps a masters. For more info check out Disney's imagineering group.
908368
Having worked in the gaming industry for so many years, your question proposes a paradox:  you can't have 'easy' and do what you want to do.  Blender3D and Gimp are all that can be offered to suit your request but you'll have to either learn them on your own with the vast online documentation, buy some books to help, or take classes.  There's no easy road such as you've asked for.
1044317
Webpage design are often an easy way to get started. It can involve from a limited amount of coding to a whole lot (when he gets involved with scripts and scripting languages). The result will often be graphical, so you always see what you're doing, contrarily to other things where you only see words and numbers. Since it is graphical, he/she will also need to create some graphics for the webpage (2 birds with one stone).\n\nIf he likes animations and graphics more than coding, Macromedia Flash is fun and doesn't require an extensive amount of coding (sometimes none at all).\n\nFor writing simple programs, he/she can look into Visual Basic. That is the language that is being taught in high school and often in business courses. VB lacks a bit in power though and it is not possible to make more advanced games on it, so when he feels comfortable with it and he's really up to the challenge, C or C++. Those have really everything he will ever need for game development. My friend (he's a genious though so we can't really compare) was able to rewrite the whole original quake game by his first year in college in C++.\n\nFrom what I've heard, people in the gaming industry are often overworked and underpaid, but really enjoy their career. I guess it's a tradeoff.
870411
Most colleges have degree programs for graphic designers. However, all you really need is a sense of color, shape and layout. A degree from a good school will get you in the door but talent will be rewarded regardless of education level. One thing everyone starting out in graphic design should learn is Adobe Photoshop. It is the universal tool for professional graphics.\n\nI have several versions of Photoshop and all are similar enough that learning one will carry over nicely to the others. Even a cheap version, such as Photoshop Elements, is similar enough to the full version of Photoshop to be a great learning tool. I recommend getting Photoshop Elements and taking books out of the library to learn it. If you learn Photoshop well, you will always be employed in the graphic design field.
41584
I got a visual arts media degree. I started working as a customer support rep at a software company now i'm an instructional designer for a govenment contractor. My advice is to study anything you are really interested in studying and don't not do it becuase you think you're not going to get a great job. The job will come as soon as you find something you really love.
657945
A degree might help him get knowledge, but experience is what he needs. There are a lot of books that he can read to learn how to do this. You dont need a college degree to repair computers and to start your own business. You only need a degree if you want to work for a company or for somebody else.
692500
He should take classes in graphic design. Classes are not industry-specific, so basically after he completes his courses he needs to tailor his resume and art portfolio to reflect the type of industry in which he wishes to work. Then from there I highly recommend using www.dice.com to post the resume and it's also a great place to apply for jobs.
498309
I say it really depends on what kind of person you are. If you are highly motivated, have a lot of charisma and charm, have a specific talent you can pursue and develop, are willing to work hard, and have ideas and drive about a particular career, you can go out there and do that work and get the training, knowledge, and experience on the job that you need to succeed (and make money) without a diploma. \n\nObviously this doesn't apply to being a brain surgeon or supreme court justice, but it does apply to lots of jobs.\n\nA degree often serves the purpose of "proving" that you have the training and experience for certain types of jobs. You might be a great writer, speaker, and researcher right now, but a television news program will often require that you "prove" that skill through having a journalism degree, an internship, and other experience. The degree program can be the easiest, fastest way of getting all that, but there are other ways if you're motivated and smart about it.\n\nCollege can be seen as a series of games; but you know what? so's the rest of life. Decide which games you want to play because you like what you get at the end of the game. Figure out which games you can stand to play and the games you're going to be good at, then play those. College might turn out to be the better game of the various choices, it's up to you to decide.\n\nHere's one guy's very provocative (and interesting) view on this topic (he's as cynical as you are about the system):\nhttp://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north303.html
677462
You will have to learn - or find those who know - several programming languages, come to understand how databases work, and become an imaginative designer and digital artist.\n\nThe user interface of the game is written to use Shockwave, and of course it exists on the web so also knowing how to author web pages and design websites is a must.  It goes without saying that being a master of write programs that run in Shockwave and of programs that run on web servers is required.\n\nThe programming language for Shockwave is called Lingo.  I have included a link to a page about that, was well as doing 3D programming inside Shockwave.  I have also included a link that compares Lingo to other programming languages.\n\nFor animation and things to occur on the screen, you must write programs in Lingo.\n\nYou also must have a way to register users, store their player charters, keep track of the state of the game (what is where, and so forth), and generally be able to manage it.\n\nThis requires learning a couple more computer languages.  First, a programming language to operate/manage/coordinate everything happening in your virtual world.  There are a number of suitable languages for this.  You probably should pick one of the following:  C, C++, C#, Java, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby - since they are among the most popular.\n\nAll of these languages, except C#, run on virtually any currently popular operating system (Linux, MS-Windows, Unix, Mac OS X).  All of them are free, except I am not too sure about C# - you probably have to buy the compiler or development tools from Microsoft to use it.\n\nI have included a couple of links to Wikipedia which explain computer programming and list a bunch of programming languages, broken into categories.\n\nA couple other programming languages which were invented for non-networked role-playing games are ZIL (invented to run zork on a virtual z-machine which was implemented as the ZIP) and SCUMM (used by Lucas Arts RPGs).  ZIL had no support for graphics back when it was invented.  SCUMM apparently does, since it is used in so many graphical games.\n\nSecond, you must be able to create, define, manage, and manipulate a computer database.  This almost always requires learning SQL these days.  There are many free database servers that use SQL:  PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.  You can also buy a commercial SQL database.  However, commercial ones are very expensive and as your database needs increase, so does their cost.  When you are just getting started and have little cash, that can be a problem.\n\nAll the parts of a large computer game quickly become hard to keep track of in and of themselves.  Professional computer game software companies like "id Software" use a database just to keep track of everything, even when building a single-user computer game.  You have:  artwork, NPCs, scenes, and so forth.  That is another reason why having a database and knowing SQL can be useful.\n\nOnce you have your game written, you will need to make it available to other people.  The bandwidth going in and out of your home will generally be quite limited.  So what a lot of people do, is they find a "hosting" company that will let them put their custom application up on the web, manage the computer it is on, provide a host name, and provide bandwidth.  All this costs money, so expect to have to pay for it.  Fortunately, for you - the price of this service seems to keep going down and the capabilities+capacities seem to be increasing.\n\nSince a computer game is basically a "computer simulation", you should learn a little about how to program simulations.  That will give you some useful background.  Also, object-oriented programming is an paradigm that tends to fit the needs of a game programmer (and simulation author) very well.\n\nFor that reason, the three best choices of programming language right now are:  Java, Ruby, and Python.\n\nJava is compiled, meaning there is more work don
502086
Depends on the specific use of the software. If you want to design games, you'll need to know graphics engineering and several computer languages. If you want to design business software, an accounting and finance background would help.\n\nIn general, you want to study:\n\nComputer science sequence.\nComputer engineering sequence.\nLinear algebra (this is actually fun)\nCalculus I, II and III (IV if your school is on a quarter system, such as at Cornell College or North Central College)\nDifferential equations.\nSimulacra and Simulacrum.\nLogic.\n\nYes, it's math intensive, but worth it. Start the math in high school (if you're not there already) by taking college algebra, trigonometry, geometry, pre-calculus, and even AP Calculus or Calc AB/BC if your school offers it.\n\nAlso, you can take a CLEP test or AP test to test out of some of your college classes in order to let you have more time to focus on software design.\n\nGood luck!
776654
How about designing a game.\nI presume from your question that some universitys are easier to get into now.
966638
I'd imagine fairly good designing skills and drawing skills enough to be able to draw out your designs.\nProbably a good GPA\nOh and an interest in the field
820880
If you are in the UK there are several different routes.\n\n1. Do a degree in food technology or design technology specialising in food.  After degree you can go one of two ways...\n1a. If over 23 (I think, might be 25 but I'm fairly sure its 23) you can do a Graduate Teacher Programme which basically involves working and getting paid as a teacher in a real school under supervision of a qualified teacher and a university which supervises the course.  You complete assignments and it can be completed in a very short amount of time.\n1b.  At any age, do a PGCE at a university.  The governement offers a lot of incentives such as a grant.  You are in uni most of the time, but have placements in schools.\n\nA second route is to do an education degree with qualifieds teaching status (QTS) , this takes 3 to 4 years and means you don't need to do a post graduate degree.
492080
Some of the best graphic design schools (BS wise) are in the USA. Most California universitys are very good for a BS in Graphics. If you want to try, the UK also has a lot of great schools for graphics (BS wise as well). Though for Canada, I've never heard of any. Though look at the one in the source, might help you out.
826383
If I was going to name one, it would be an AS in BS.\n\nTo give a truthful answer, however, it would be an arts degree, such as "associate of arts in graphic design," "bachelor of arts in multimedia design."\n\nOther discipline names you might search with would be "interactive media," "computer graphics", "new media" and "computer aided design."
1187655
At my high school we didn't have majors, and I still got into University. There are some specific requirements for certain art programs though. You have to have taken some art history courses and have a portfolio with some samples of your own original artwork. Aside from the specifics, you need good grades and recommendations from teachers. A recommendation from an art teacher or artist would be even better.