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View Full Version : OMFG I got accepted to DigiPen


o_yare
03-25-2005, 01:26 AM
DigiPen is the first (and only?) accredited college in the world that offers a Bachelor of Science degree in "Real-Time Interactive Simulation" (video game programming). Their seniors have produced games that consistently are finalists or winners at the IGF. DigiPen receives over 20,000 applications each year, and only accepts areound 200 new students. 95% of DigiPen grads have jobs in the game industry even before graduation. I believe that DigiPen was also started and financed by Nintendo, and is on the same site as NOA.

The Seattle chapter of the IGDA meets monthly in the DigiPen auditorium. This includes Microsoft, Nintendo Software Technologies, Sierra, Valve, and more. Time to network!

I recommend anyone seriously interested in video game art or programming take a look at the gallery section here: www.digipen.edu . DigiPen students make some wicked cool shit for their projects.

Seriously though, I need like 100k now for college now. Anyone here familiar with student loans who can give me a little guidance?

o_cruor
03-25-2005, 02:02 AM
Congratz.

Now after graduation make sure to make non-sucky games :D

o_yare
03-25-2005, 02:30 AM
Congratz.

Now after graduation make sure to make non-sucky games :D

But my whole plan to get rich was to crank out teh suck!

Really though, I'll wind up working as a grunt programmer for an average of 5 years (according to "Game Developer" magazine), and then probably be promoted to lead programmer. After many years as lead programmer, there's a chance I could get a position as lead designer, but I'd be competing with seasoned lead artists who are probably better suited to the job.

Anyway, I plan on starting my own company someday, since a good friend of mine is about to graduate wit ha degree in 3D modelling.

Thanks for the congrats, by the way. =)

o_dirkpitt
03-25-2005, 06:00 AM
congrats man I looked at that college when I was younger but found out I really didn't want to code that much :p

o_anshinritsumai
03-25-2005, 06:51 AM
Congrats on getting in. I've been looking in getting in for a few years but I've decided I'm going for Computer Animation @ the Art Institute of California - San Diego.

o_jefferino
03-25-2005, 05:03 PM
Good Job! Hope I will be playing your games in a few years. They better not suck!

o_realchaos1
03-25-2005, 05:12 PM
Congrates to you, if you ever get involved with game modifications I hope to hear from you in the future. :D

o_spader
03-25-2005, 11:48 PM
Don't take it personal but I hate people who have a life while I don't

Shallow congrats though... MAKE GOOD GAMES, and Ill be happy

/Spader

o_yare
03-26-2005, 12:13 AM
Don't take it personal but I hate people who have a life while I don't

Shallow congrats though... MAKE GOOD GAMES, and Ill be happy

/Spader

It took quite a while for me to meet the minimul qualifications to get in. DigiPen requires completion of Pre-Calculus with a B average in your math courses...

I'm 21 right now and graduated high school when I was 17. For the last 4 years I was just kind of taking it easy at community college and working part-time. Since I only finished Algebra II in high school (and I barely passed), I had to take a lot of college math to finish Calculus I. I finally actually started doing homework and studying for the first time in my life, and was able to get A's in my math classes. This past semester I finished Calc I and qualified to apply. I turned in my portfolio of small demo games I made in my college programming classes, and some really great letters of reccomendation from my professors and I finally made it in (I also had to go take the ACT test, which I must say is probably much easier after a few years of college classes than when you take it at 17).

I strongly suggest to anyone considering the same route: Do good in math. Do good in physics. Even if you hate them -they are absolutely integral to video game programming. It took me 4 years of community college (yikes!) but I'm finally getting to go to the school I wanted to attend since I was in elementary school and first read about it in an issue of Nintendo Power.

Thank you all for the kind words of congratulations and encouragement. If any of you are interested, I can occasionally update how things are going.

o_voipme
03-26-2005, 12:27 AM
Damn, seriously? I like slept through Precalc and got an A. But that was about 4 years ago. Shit.

o_georgie
03-26-2005, 01:32 AM
Unfortunately we can't all be as great as you.

Defrag
03-26-2005, 03:14 AM
I hear you regarding the maths. I left high school ~4.5 years ago and didn't do any maths inbetween then and when I started my Computer Games Technology degree. The only part I have trouble with is the mathematics and physics, it takes a lot of studying to get it right, particularly because I am so comparatively rusty to everyone else :)

o_yare
03-26-2005, 07:33 AM
Damn, seriously? I like slept through Precalc and got an A. But that was about 4 years ago. Shit.

My math classes in high school all happened to be "Zero Period", which is a nice way of saying they started at 6:50 AM. I think I might have had a 20% attendance rate at max.

When I took Intermediate Algebra in college, I wound up with slightly over 100% in the class. Then I took Trigonometry over the summer (3 hours a day 4 days a week) and wound up with 90-something in the class and over 100% on the final.

Then, under advisement of my professors, I skipped PreCalc entirely and went into Calculus the next semester. The only difference is that I actually showed up for class in college, and did the required homework/studying. I will take this opportunity to state that I hate math with a burning passion. But when you hate something that much, it feels really good to conquer it.

o_cudweiser
03-26-2005, 08:17 AM
Finished my last and only math in college last semester. I got a D in it...but I still get credit. I effing hate math.

o_zeddz
03-26-2005, 01:54 PM
Congratulations, hope you have fun.

PreCalc is a joke if it's what I think it is. Calculus I is ok, Calculus II is where the fun starts and somewhat easier than I.

o_yare
03-26-2005, 07:06 PM
Congratulations, hope you have fun.

PreCalc is a joke if it's what I think it is. Calculus I is ok, Calculus II is where the fun starts and somewhat easier than I.

PreCalc, as it was explained to me, is like "Trig II". If you have a strong grasp of trigonometry you don't need to take it. There are actually no calculus concepts in it. The purpose of the class is to reinforce your algebra and trig skills so you don't bork the huge calculus equations you have to do in Calc.

Calc I was fairly easy, I thought. Derivatives were a very interesting concept to me. Integrals and Riemann Sums (at the end of the semester, kind of a prelude to Calc II) were a lot harder and more involved. Calc III from what my friends tell me is like calc I and II, but multi-variable/3-dimensional.

There are some heinous math courses at DigiPen, and if you take 27 units worth of courses you earn a math minor. I think I may aim for that.

o_thedarkone
03-26-2005, 11:33 PM
We were taught Riemann sums in the dumbest way possible. Right at the beginning of Cal II, they threw the formulas at us and told us to memorize them. Then, they explained how to get to those formulas at the end of the course when they went back and taught us about series.

o_orange
03-27-2005, 04:10 AM
good luck and congratulations : )
heard it's grueling.

Another game design school is Full Sail in Winter Park Florida, that's a 2 year program i think. I read in an EGM that another top school for developing games was in Australia, but i can't remember any details.

Edit:
The Iowa high school i go to has Calculus AB and BC. I'm in BC right now and I'm struggling some. AB started rough last year but i did a lot better on the second semester. I usually get the concepts but don't always see which method to go about solving integrals.
S(secx)^3 dx
it isn't obvious to me that you have to turn it into S(secx)^2 secx dx then use parts method. I broke it up but trying substituting (tanx)^2 + 1 and it goes nowhere.

but i suck at physics

o_zeddz
03-27-2005, 09:38 PM
Ah, we do all the multi-dimensional stuff in Calc II over here (or at least at my Uni. (York - UK))

As for being taught formulas, the only one I've been taught is 1/h[f(x+h) - f(x)]. From that we derive everything :shock:. Bugger me I if remember how to do integration via it though.

Maths is something you have to practice, you can't just do it. Especially things like sec³x, takes ages to spot identities and how/when to simplify things.

sec³x is okish, long winded mind. The answer is pretty horrific, considering sec²x is merley tanx. (1/2[secxtanx]+1/2[ln(secx+tanx)] + c)

MATHS IS FUN KIDS. Prefer the ComSci side to my course mind.

Defrag
03-28-2005, 02:55 PM
I've had to learn like ~300 pages of dynamics & methods this year.. and it all gets compressed into one big exam. It's going to be a nightmare trying to remember everything :/

trepid_jon
03-30-2005, 02:12 PM
Congrats on getting into DigiPen.

Full Sail now offers a bachelors in game design and development. They only offered an associates while I was there, which is what I got.

I think Full Sail's main difference from DigiPen is the pace and schedule. New classes and students start almost every single month. The associates program only took 14 months when I was there, and I think the bachelors program takes 20 months.

It's so fast paced too, and 90% attendance is required to pass each course and graduate. You only take 2 courses (sometimes just 1 course) per month, but the classes and labs can be at weird hours of the day...1:00, 5:00, or 9:00 in either AM or PM, it doesn't matter. And every class and lab is 4 hours long. In some months, you'd be going to classes and labs over 40 hours a week. It's pretty insane, but very gratifying once you finish.

When I was there, DigiPen sent us some of their games for us to review for some competition. I mean, we weren't judging for the competition, but we were scoring the games, and our favorites would be entered into the contest by DigiPen. I think Full Sail sent DigiPen some of their games for the same reason. It's all a blur, though...because that happened toward the beginning of my time there when everything was happening so fast and I had no idea what was going on.

Part of the confusion comes from Full Sail not having any dorms. They make all the students figure out their own housing situation. So it was my first time living on my own, I had no idea what I was doing, and I had to go to classes and labs about 40 hours a week at whatever time of the day.

Plus, it rains hard every single day during half the year...and I mean every single day...and I mean hhhaaaaaard. There's no way to explain it unless you've been there and experienced it or something like that.

Anyways...congratulations, Yare. I hope you have a good time, learn a lot, and have it payoff afterwards.

o_sobe green
03-31-2005, 12:32 AM
I considered going to Full Sail once. My friend is starting there soon. I don't have the financial situation to pull it off nor does my family. From what I read about it though it seemed like a great place to go.

o_yare
03-31-2005, 07:33 AM
I considered going to Full Sail once. My friend is starting there soon. I don't have the financial situation to pull it off nor does my family. From what I read about it though it seemed like a great place to go.

Meh. I come from a single-parent home and grew up on welfare. Not I nor my family have a dime to our names.

Financial Aid + Loans = College, though.

When a school determines your financial need, they take into account transportation and housing costs as well as tuition.

o_agreenagent
05-16-2005, 03:09 AM
Sorry to bring up an old post, but this is worth saying.

Full sail < DigiPen. :)

And Yare, prepare to sign your life away to Claude and Professor Erhardt. They own you now.

But I look forward to seeing you in the fall ;)

-Zac
(Current DigiPen Student)

o_karnak
05-16-2005, 05:43 AM
<<< Yale