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Uni for programmers? (Melbourne Unis)

Submitted by Maximonium on

I'm a Victorian yr 12 student looking to get into Games Programming and design. To get the most options I'm looking to do a Bachelor of Computer Science at one of the Melbourne Uni's. Anyone know of any courses or universities that wouold suit or any uni's that are seen as being exceptional in the field?

Submitted by Jacana on Sun, 23/02/03 - 11:47 PM Permalink

I have heard Monash RMIT and Swinburne have great programs. I did Software Dev at Swinny Tafe :) One of my instructors was doing a software course at Monash and said it was great.

I do know that you really should look into the course. A lot of them are fairly Java focused and do not offer a lot in the way of C or C++.

Last I heard from my instructor at Swinny Monash was looking to start a Games Dev program. Might be worth checking into.

I also know Monash will be fairly .NET focused as they were one of the major test centers for it. One of the Monash instructors was invloved in the development of .NET :)

Hope that helps you out... Just know that last I looked there wasn't any programs in Vic that were games focused - so you'll be getting a standard CS degree.

-I spent my Valentines Day getting drunk with 40 guys!

Submitted by Cam on Sat, 01/03/03 - 9:51 PM Permalink

rmit has a course called a b.design (multimedia systems) - which is kinda weird but could fit the bill of what you are after.. its a cross faculty course with art and design, engineering, computer science, and business. with third year you choose to major in one of the faculties. their first lot of third year students started this year.. so they're still working out the kinks.. but the first year i think there were about 30 students.. our year there is about 50.. and the newbies i think there is about 70..

it has games related subjects.. and if you find you'd be more interested doing other stuff that you never thought of before.. it leaves that open too.. but very much still getting organised sadly..

Submitted by rgsymons on Sun, 02/03/03 - 6:20 AM Permalink

There has been a number of meetings with prof's and industry people lately and you should expect announcments soon regarding new courses.

Be sure to pick a course that is as heavy on c++ as possible. Studios know you won't have used a dev kit before and will need to be trained, but they will not want to introduce you to c++ (which is what all dev kits now use and I don't expect that to change by PS3 or Xbox2 in 2005).

If you are into code, get a Comp Sci degree, it will give you far more choice and flexibility.

Since AGDC we have hired people fresh from Monash and AIE. (They are doing well.)

Cheers,

Ross.

Submitted by Jacana on Sun, 02/03/03 - 9:24 AM Permalink

Hey Ross,

Thanks for the feedback on that. Always great to hear from those who are -there- :)
Oh yea - the coffee mug rules! It gets the most use out of anything from the GDC!

Submitted by rgsymons on Sun, 02/03/03 - 9:55 PM Permalink

No worries, glad the mug survived the journey back to Canberra. We are sponsoring AGDC again so you'll get another this year. (it's my goal to have one on every dev desk :)

La Trobe looks like they will be coming out with something soon, it will likely be a "straight" Bsc Comp Sci award but with a heavy focus on games and multimedia.

Cheers,

Ross.

Submitted by Jacana on Mon, 03/03/03 - 12:05 AM Permalink

Hey - I love my coffee. I am sure that mug was packed better then almost everything else I brought up *grin*
Do we get a new design for next years GDC? Would be fun to sort of have my little Bullant coffee cup collection going!

What's your opinion on La Trobe as a technical Uni? I was only in Melbourne for about 6 years so I only went by word of mouth. So the recomended tech Uni's were Monash, RMIT, and Swinburne.

Just to add - I think at one stage I was reading RMIT's course stuff and one of their degrees does have a small amount of game focus. They mentioned that they had the head of Tantulus (iirc) as a guest lecture on the subject.

- If you don't have anything nice to say say it so everyone can hear!

Submitted by Daemin on Mon, 03/03/03 - 12:19 AM Permalink

quote:They mentioned that they had the head of Tantulus (iirc) as a guest lecture on the subject.

The most we ever got at Adelaide University was two people from Ratbag coming down for a talk once, which was pretty cool in its own right since we all went up for a few beers in the Unibar (which they paid for AFAIK).

Submitted by rgsymons on Mon, 03/03/03 - 8:34 AM Permalink

Haven't thought about it, but I would think we'd change it (boring not to), probably put one of our characters on there this time. I know we will be putting the AGDC 2003 logo on the other side.

Monash, RMIT, and Swinburne are the front runners, La Trobe do not have "form" but are trying hard to align a course with what the industry here are requesting. We will have to see if there is substance to this when they release their course offerings for next year.

I know most companies here (Melbourne) are happy to provide guest lecturers if they are given enough warning. It's really down to the course designers and lecturers to give us enough time to prepare and make sure that what is presented is relevant for the audience.

Cheers,

Ross.

Posted by Maximonium on

I'm a Victorian yr 12 student looking to get into Games Programming and design. To get the most options I'm looking to do a Bachelor of Computer Science at one of the Melbourne Uni's. Anyone know of any courses or universities that wouold suit or any uni's that are seen as being exceptional in the field?


Submitted by Jacana on Sun, 23/02/03 - 11:47 PM Permalink

I have heard Monash RMIT and Swinburne have great programs. I did Software Dev at Swinny Tafe :) One of my instructors was doing a software course at Monash and said it was great.

I do know that you really should look into the course. A lot of them are fairly Java focused and do not offer a lot in the way of C or C++.

Last I heard from my instructor at Swinny Monash was looking to start a Games Dev program. Might be worth checking into.

I also know Monash will be fairly .NET focused as they were one of the major test centers for it. One of the Monash instructors was invloved in the development of .NET :)

Hope that helps you out... Just know that last I looked there wasn't any programs in Vic that were games focused - so you'll be getting a standard CS degree.

-I spent my Valentines Day getting drunk with 40 guys!

Submitted by Cam on Sat, 01/03/03 - 9:51 PM Permalink

rmit has a course called a b.design (multimedia systems) - which is kinda weird but could fit the bill of what you are after.. its a cross faculty course with art and design, engineering, computer science, and business. with third year you choose to major in one of the faculties. their first lot of third year students started this year.. so they're still working out the kinks.. but the first year i think there were about 30 students.. our year there is about 50.. and the newbies i think there is about 70..

it has games related subjects.. and if you find you'd be more interested doing other stuff that you never thought of before.. it leaves that open too.. but very much still getting organised sadly..

Submitted by rgsymons on Sun, 02/03/03 - 6:20 AM Permalink

There has been a number of meetings with prof's and industry people lately and you should expect announcments soon regarding new courses.

Be sure to pick a course that is as heavy on c++ as possible. Studios know you won't have used a dev kit before and will need to be trained, but they will not want to introduce you to c++ (which is what all dev kits now use and I don't expect that to change by PS3 or Xbox2 in 2005).

If you are into code, get a Comp Sci degree, it will give you far more choice and flexibility.

Since AGDC we have hired people fresh from Monash and AIE. (They are doing well.)

Cheers,

Ross.

Submitted by Jacana on Sun, 02/03/03 - 9:24 AM Permalink

Hey Ross,

Thanks for the feedback on that. Always great to hear from those who are -there- :)
Oh yea - the coffee mug rules! It gets the most use out of anything from the GDC!

Submitted by rgsymons on Sun, 02/03/03 - 9:55 PM Permalink

No worries, glad the mug survived the journey back to Canberra. We are sponsoring AGDC again so you'll get another this year. (it's my goal to have one on every dev desk :)

La Trobe looks like they will be coming out with something soon, it will likely be a "straight" Bsc Comp Sci award but with a heavy focus on games and multimedia.

Cheers,

Ross.

Submitted by Jacana on Mon, 03/03/03 - 12:05 AM Permalink

Hey - I love my coffee. I am sure that mug was packed better then almost everything else I brought up *grin*
Do we get a new design for next years GDC? Would be fun to sort of have my little Bullant coffee cup collection going!

What's your opinion on La Trobe as a technical Uni? I was only in Melbourne for about 6 years so I only went by word of mouth. So the recomended tech Uni's were Monash, RMIT, and Swinburne.

Just to add - I think at one stage I was reading RMIT's course stuff and one of their degrees does have a small amount of game focus. They mentioned that they had the head of Tantulus (iirc) as a guest lecture on the subject.

- If you don't have anything nice to say say it so everyone can hear!

Submitted by Daemin on Mon, 03/03/03 - 12:19 AM Permalink

quote:They mentioned that they had the head of Tantulus (iirc) as a guest lecture on the subject.

The most we ever got at Adelaide University was two people from Ratbag coming down for a talk once, which was pretty cool in its own right since we all went up for a few beers in the Unibar (which they paid for AFAIK).

Submitted by rgsymons on Mon, 03/03/03 - 8:34 AM Permalink

Haven't thought about it, but I would think we'd change it (boring not to), probably put one of our characters on there this time. I know we will be putting the AGDC 2003 logo on the other side.

Monash, RMIT, and Swinburne are the front runners, La Trobe do not have "form" but are trying hard to align a course with what the industry here are requesting. We will have to see if there is substance to this when they release their course offerings for next year.

I know most companies here (Melbourne) are happy to provide guest lecturers if they are given enough warning. It's really down to the course designers and lecturers to give us enough time to prepare and make sure that what is presented is relevant for the audience.

Cheers,

Ross.