First Post!
Tonight and tomorrow are all about Koninginnedag. I'm not a big fan of the monarchy, but it's pretty much just an excuse to get drunk for most people. Works for me.
3519 Comments
In other Dutch news we're going to tax MP3 players. Awesome.
Also on FileShack
- Plan of Attack 1.1 - new beta release, comes with bug fixes and new weapon sounds.
- Stargate TC - Half-Life 1 total conversion based on the movie / TV show.
- CW Heartbreak Ridge - final release of this 21st Century Warfare mod map.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 44 replies.
Its not posting and I'm getting PRL'd. Too long?
I wanted to attend Digipen straight out of high school, however my parents had many concerns and laid down the veto. The school was accredited, but by the same division that accredits ITT Tech, beauty training, and a truck driving school amongst others so did it really mean anything? Its a technical school, so would I be able to get a master's somewhere else if I wanted one? Would the degree apply to anything besides gaming?
Well I'm not here to answer those questions. Infact, I'm going to completely ignore all of them. Also, I hearby request any post attemping to poop on my thread to create a monster flame war be nuked, because we've already had dozens of those over the months. Instead, I'm simply going to describe how the year went. Maybe this will shed light on the school for some, maybe it will gives others a better understanding. More importantly, it gives me a chance to show off my game (linked at bottom) that I spent 7 months on and think is pretty kick ass. =P On that matter, if any of you lurking sophmores and juniors (whom I know are around) or perhaps seniors (I just assume) want to show me up then by all means go for it.
I personally spent one year at David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tn right after high school (sup Plapper) as a CS major. In the middle of April in my second semester there I realized the CS program was complete suck, and that I would not ever learn what I needed to learn there. I applied to Digipen on my own accord, got accepted my first day home, then spent the next 3 days in deep talk with my parents until they finally realized its what I wanted. Just a lil' backstory for ya.
The School
Most of what you may have heard about the school is probably true. My freshman class started out around 180 students or so, that number I'm not sure of. The freshman RTIS class (real-time interactive simulation, ie programming) had a total of 5 girls, that number I am sure of. The art program has a somewhat higher percentage of girls, but the two programs don't interact at all until later years so I can't comment on them further. Everything else is exactly how you probably imagine 180 super nerds crammed into a lab. Suffice to say, it can get kind of gross. However, based on my previous college experience it isn't too much worse than say your average physics or engineering department. The difference is that all Digipen students are spending a *lot* of time in the lab.
A lot of you are already thinking "omg you don't need to waste 4 years at Digipen to get into the game industry omglol." I said I wasn't going to comment on the matter, but I will briefly. Yes you can get into the industry with a mod, but for every single mod that succeeds there were probably 300 that failed. You do NOT need a degree - you need the skills. For some people they can go to a 4 year school and get a bachelors and somehow during that time make mods to build up their skill. Personally, I can't do that, I need someone with a pointy stick to get me to do things. Digipen is that pointy stick.
A friend once said, and I quote, "Going to Digipen is a whole lot like getting fucked in the ass. Except instead of a colon full of semen at the end you get a degree. Inbetween it's pretty similar though." I wouldn't say its that bad (more below), but it's an amusing interpretation none the less.