Here's some of the more relevant bits from those pms.
I'm having some major trouble deciding where to go and I've heard some things about Digipen.
Bad things or good things? honestly you will here a lot of both. Some people get a lot out of Digipen and some people it destroys their mind and "ruins" their life.
Plenty of things come to mind. I will list them from a positive perspective.
1. Digipen is expensive - much more than normal college. if you arent rich there is plenty of financial aid available. make sure to fill out the forms and secure money.
2. Digipen is hard - the amount of homework given is insane. you must work a crazy amount. dont expect to play games and go clubbing in your free time. you will NEED that time to complete assignments and projects. expect to do 40+ hours of homework most weeks. getting average to low grades is very normal. Failing a class is also common. The drop out rate is close to 50%.
3. Digipen will change you - this seems corny but its true. It will force you into adulthood and professionalism. You must become a pro with intent to feed yourself and pay your bills after graduation.
5. There are other schools - I cannot say much about them though because I have not been there. Google will give you a list of schools that have game/art classes, such as full sail etc. They may be cheaper or closer or better. I really have no idea.
6. Be patient and positve - # of studies != amount of improvement. As long as you keep working and have fun you will be awesome.
7. Avoid pointless drama - the student body is large. there will undoubtedly be people that are very angry at digipen and their homework. They will gather in large groups and talk about how stupid everything is. Alot of time can be blown on this and it will drain your energy. just stay positive and focused.
8. Its all about your portfolio - at the end of 4 years you need to have a collection of stuff to show studios so you can get hired. Most of it will be comprised of your homework as you will spend a lot of time on it. dont ever think "this is just homework, stupid homework that doesn't matter". If you make it awesome you will learn alot and potentially use it to get a job.
9. They will not teach you everything, so teach yourself - There is much more to making game art than they will lecture or test you on. You will have to go find alot information yourself on the internet, forums, other people, books and helpfiles. Dont get sucked into "they dont teach enough" or "they havent taught me that". Learn to seek information yourself, study it, and then apply it. you must "learn how to learn". You will have to learn new software, new techniques and new ways of doing things constantly.
10. Knowing is not enough - you must learn things and then use them over and over until they become part of your skillset. practice for fun.
11. Its never easy - most of the time (this is a general statement) you will always start with nothing. a blank paper or screen. you must make nothing into something awesome. learn to see work as a challenge not as a problem. unless of course there is some sort of problem Smiley
12. Decide what kind of artist you are - not the most important thing in early stages. but eventually you will want to decide and work towards one the main divisions of artist: Concept, Character, 2D, 3D, Animation, Texture paint, Modeling, in game assets, cut scene animaiton etc. You will have a better time getting a job if you specailze. Your portfolio will kick ass in one area simply because you put the most time into it. a variety of skills is good but know what you will say when someone asks "why should i hire you?". "because i kick ass at ______!"
13. learn to balance quality and time - the game industry is extremely fast paced. deadlines are tight. it can get REALLY dramatic. Keep your cool and understand your speed and how long it REALLY takes you to complete specific tasks. Develop processes and apply them according to the amount of time given. If you make amazing characters but it takes you 2 years to complete them it will be hard to hold a job. bussiness people fund games to make money. the more time you spend the more money they lose. There is a balance you must strike between making something as good as you want it and finishing within the deadline. Dont worry about this so much. The main focus of Digipen is to teach you process. But its up to you to make it your own and be productive.
14. Super skills not required - you dont have to be awesome to enter digipen. they will not deny your application. they will teach you that art needs to be learned and is not a talent. work hard and you will be awesome.
15. Digipen is mostly guys - if youre a guy dont expect to meet lots of women. its not a normal college. if youre a girl... prepare to receive lots of attention.
If I am accepted but still decide to get a job before attending, my application will be still be there when I'm ready to finally attend right?
Yes your application is still good if you choose not to come. You do not have to repay the admission fee. If they required any work of you to turn in before school even starts (BFA had you turn in 100 pages of drawings, I think the game design degrees make you right a report) they may want you to redo it to stay current. But no biggie its just work. Youll be doing pelnty of that when you get here anyway.
Should I take classes at another school before attending Digipen?
If you go to another school for a while you may want to complete general ED classes there and transfer credits to Digipen. It will be cheaper and lighten your class load when you get here. Contact Digipen and get a list of classes that transfer. Make sure to get the list because there are specific classes that Digipen WILL NOT TRANSFER CREDITS even tho it seems like a basic class. Then just focus on knocking those out. Its not required to do so but many people have taken such a path and I'd say that it has helped them.
As people learn about new things they may change they're minds about what they want to do. In Digipen it seems like you have to have to HAVE TO know what you want to do before you even apply. Is this truly the case?
Its actually quite common for students to switch degrees here. but the longer you wait during the degree the more it will conflict with your schedule.
Also, I was reading the newsletter that Digipen sent me about student success stories and noticed that 6 out of the 11 students stories were BS in Real-Time Interactive Simulation majors. Not a single BAGD in sight...I'm not going to lie, it worries me just a little bit.
The RTIS degree has been around for something like 15 years or more and alot of the teachers have been here for around 10. Its a very good program and has had a lot of success getting people high profile jobs. The BFA has also been around for a while. It has a good success rate but not as high as the programming degree. The game design degree is new to this school. New teachers, new curriclum. One of my team mates is BSGD. He takes about half the same classes as us. Much of his time has been spent on research and analyzing. writing papers. stuff like that. BSGD is a combination of programming and game design. With a good amount of randomization it seems.
you mentioned that your girlfriend worked every year while at digipen(which sounds insane), were those jobs at the school?
No she did customer service at Nintendo of America. Answering phones about broken systems, helping people connect their Wii to the internet. Stuff like that. And yes. It was insane. Indeed there are school jobs on campus. However they are limited and the positions get filled very quickly. If you want one act sooner than later.
What if I fail?
It is also possible to fail. There was a time in my life (now that I'm 26 I can say shit like that) when I summed up the greater half of my past to be a series of failures. Even though I had worked hard things still went wrong. It happens. The best thing to do is move on and work hard. After that there were some successes and some failures. But the failures no longer bothered me. They were not pure failure as there was something to learn from them. And the successes were totally fucking awesome. If its up to you, don't fail. But if you do, take what you can from it and either try again or move on. Of course I suggest trying again over moving on.
