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What do you all think of this courseload?

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9 comments, last by loom_weaver 13 years, 8 months ago
I'll have to agree with Telastyn. It seems pretty light and some of the courses (e.g. AI and 3D) seem to be entering very advanced topics without the necessary background.

Before entering AI one would need a solid foundation in data structures, digital logic, and advanced algorithms incl. graph theory.

For 3D one should have a firm grasp of linear algebra and computer system architecture. Assembly language and operating systems would be immensely useful as well.

I'm always skeptical when I see things such as "Math and Physics for Games". How do they cram two very important topics into a single course? Is it "Math lite" and "Physics lite"? What do you miss out compared to taking the real 'hard-core' courses?

In comparison take a look at the courses offered by a typical 4 year bachelor degree in Computer Science:
http://owww.csc.uvic.ca/courseinfo/undergrad.html

No you don't need to take all of them but knowing what is available can be useful when comparing to another program.

Courses marked 2xx are 2nd year, 3xx are 3rd year, and so on. Like your program, one typically takes 5 courses per semester.

Some highlights:
CSc 225 - Algorithms
CSc 230 - Assembly
CSc 305 - Graphics
CSc 349A - Numerical Analysis
CSc 355 - Digital Logic
CSc 360 - Operating Systems
CSc 370 - Databases
CSc 435 - Compiler Construction
CSc 450 - Networking

All of these courses cover material on a wide variety of topics that I've found really useful in my career and all of the above have direct relevance to game programming imho. I'm quite happy with my degree and my only regret is that I should have pursued even higher level courses in algorithms and operating systems.

Knowing you have a burning desire to create you want to equip yourself with the best tools/education available to be able to manifest your creative ideas into an actual game.

Note that education only gives you a solid theoretical foundation and provided it's good teach you how to synthesize material from across disciplines i.e. think for yourself. Without my internship experience I would have known little about LANs, SCM, IssueTracking, system administration, SDLC, frameworks, tools, etc. i.e. all of the practical knowledge one needs to know when in the workforce but that's an entirely different discussion.

[Edited by - loom_weaver on October 27, 2010 8:09:16 PM]

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