Recommendation for Game Development Courses

[scott1391990]

Little background before we dive into the topic.
I completed my B.Tech in Mechanical in 2013 but never worked in that field ever.
Then I started learning 3D in 2014 beginning if I am not wrong. And till now I am in that field. Everything I know, I have learnt it from YouTube, Lynda, skillshare etc. I am an architectural visualiser working on 3DS Max and Unreal Engine but I always think that I need to learn from some institute so I have better grasp of everything 3D related.

The problem is money. I would like to go abroad and learn from there as I have no trust in Indian education system but as one doesn't always get what they want, I am in that very boat.

I have a wife and a 13 months old daughter. Don't have a home, neither a car and buying a house is my main priority at the moment. So I can't spend neither a huge amount of money nor 3-4 years doing Bachelor's in game development.

Do I have any option here?
I just saw Pearledge academy and their 9 months Master certificate in game development and liked the idea of completing it in 9 months. I am in Noida extension but can relocate for the course

Please let me know what your or your friends/relatives experiences are.

 

[ishashank]

Just dropping it here https://www.youtube.com/c/FattyBull/videos

eg.

If your aim is just to learn, you can do it without any paid courses, besides UE5 is very new, but if the paid options allow career progression then it might be ok.

 

[psyph3r]

I was recently on a jury of a game design school that charges 12 LPA and holy crap was it disappointing to say the least, nothing has changed since the DSK supinfocom days.
I would say Unacademy, skillshare, youtube etc are better than any offline institute in India.

 

[nRiTeCh]

Given family responsibilities etc. and having no strong capital support its an open risk.
What you can do is join online university course but after thorough research. This was you can cut your abroad traveling exp etc and learn and earn as well with your current job.

From my own exp. can say that though it was 2 decades ago during my college days I wanted to go into game dev and designing etc. I had ideas, creativity and all (still possess those qualities)
I used to create maps, cars for Need for speed games from scratch and tools unheard back then. Many of my creations are still been downloaded and popular on many sites/communities which I lost touch off (many forums closed down and new emerged and stuff gets copy pasted/hosted here and there)
I used to do it all alone just by getting tons of ref. from the community etc. Lots of fun learning new things and actually implement and put it to use.

I was a pure hobby but when hobbies turn into career is what makes ones life. But I was one of those who was way ahead of time then. Approached many high end institutes then but none was able to offer me any guarantee or prospects on that platform and instead asked me to focus on stuff like PS, max maya and general animation thing which was extremely boring for me.
Internet was in very early stages back then so no such abroad options nor online learning/degree thing.

So my college days were to get over and my other passion was into IT..solving troubleshooting etc. and this is how here I'm. Do regret but no guidance no option back then so will say now no point looking back...zindagi chal rahi hai is all I can say.

But if ever I get any opportunity into game I will definitely consider it.

 

[scott1391990]

Just dropping it here https://www.youtube.com/c/FattyBull/videos

eg.

If your aim is just to learn, you can do it without any paid courses, besides UE5 is very new, but if the paid options allow career progression then it might be ok.

Thanks for trying to help but I am an archviz specialist and this won't be helpful to me. But like you said, I am looking to expand my skills for better opportunities.
I have watched so many tutorials that most people won't even dare watching in their entire lifetime. And I am not exxagerating. The thing is that I am at a point where I can not spend anymore time learning it from YouTube or other online means as they are time consuming. And now that I have a wife and kid, I can't be sitting in front of my workstation all day long trying to learn in my spare time and then practicing. Also, learning online has it's own benefits and learning offline has it's own. I have learned online for a long time and now it's time I found some like minded people who I can collaborate with, learn with.

I know many people who have learned from MAAC and Arena but all are idiots. Nobody wants to upgrade or take risks and they are still earning 30-40k after 6-7 years of experience. I asked so many of them to upgrade together but nobody wanted to and they are stuck doing these jobs that only put food on the table and nothing else.

Given family responsibilities etc. and having no strong capital support its an open risk.
What you can do is join online university course but after thorough research. This was you can cut your abroad traveling exp etc and learn and earn as well with your current job.

From my own exp. can say that though it was 2 decades ago during my college days I wanted to go into game dev and designing etc. I had ideas, creativity and all (still possess those qualities)
I used to create maps, cars for Need for speed games from scratch and tools unheard back then. Many of my creations are still been downloaded and popular on many sites/communities which I lost touch off (many forums closed down and new emerged and stuff gets copy pasted/hosted here and there)
I used to do it all alone just by getting tons of ref. from the community etc. Lots of fun learning new things and actually implement and put it to use.

I was a pure hobby but when hobbies turn into career is what makes ones life. But I was one of those who was way ahead of time then. Approached many high end institutes then but none was able to offer me any guarantee or prospects on that platform and instead asked me to focus on stuff like PS, max maya and general animation thing which was extremely boring for me.
Internet was in very early stages back then so no such abroad options nor online learning/degree thing.

So my college days were to get over and my other passion was into IT..solving troubleshooting etc. and this is how here I'm. Do regret but no guidance no option back then so will say now no point looking back...zindagi chal rahi hai is all I can say.

But if ever I get any opportunity into game I will definitely consider it.

Completely get you. I was not into game development. My first dream was a race car driver but I didn't see any scope here. There was no info how to get into it. It isn't that popular here as a career. And how many racers have we heard of from India? I have only heard of Narain Karthikeyan. There may be many others but I haven't heard of them.

Then I thought of becoming a model/bodybuilder/athlete and due to my low height, I had to give up these dreams as well.

Then thought of becoming an automobile engineer but there weren't many colleges that offered it. And those that did, it was very tough to get into them. So went into mechanical engineering. Again, no guidance from my parents or my elder brother or any one. Regretted it after 1-2 years of joining but as there was no other plan and lacs of rupees already spent, I kept on studying it. Didn't get any job like lacs of other Indian Engineers due to not not skilled enough, started learning 3D through YouTube. And slowly started earning through it as well. I don't even like it but I am stuck as I need money to invest in something else. And even if I get that money, I need to first buy a house.

I haven't played a single game on my desktop since 2017 due to non availability of time. Even now, I spend most of my time trying to improve or learn new skills. But that's becoming troublesome. Working from home with a kid and wife and no body else isn't easy.

 

[nRiTeCh]

Even now, I spend most of my time trying to improve or learn new skills. But that's becoming troublesome. Working from home with a kid and wife and no body else isn't easy.

This is where the peers or time will force or pressurize us but the question is to be answered by only us not them or other factors. How much is too much or too less. Learning is a never ending phenomena, even in your last days on hospital there will be an entire universe to learn but can you?
So a line needs to be drawn somewhere between demand, wants and requirements with your satisfaction levels.

Take time to game or pursue your hobby. While keep learning too but dont make it full time like a CA or UPSC aspirant.

I know out there there's a lot of young latent already churning into crores and if we try to cope with them may be we couldn't do so in this lifetime. Its their destiny and they were made for it but their education, mind and focus made it happen whereas may be their own peers or students from same college might be stuck in some year back issue or he/she isn't as bright as them.

So comparison seriously sucks and will make one fall into depression and not value what he/she has right now.

 

[scott1391990]

This is where the peers or time will force or pressurize us but the question is to be answered by only us not them or other factors. How much is too much or too less. Learning is a never ending phenomena, even in your last days on hospital there will be an entire universe to learn but can you?
So a line needs to be drawn somewhere between demand, wants and requirements with your satisfaction levels.

Take time to game or pursue your hobby. While keep learning too but dont make it full time like a CA or UPSC aspirant.

I know out there there's a lot of young latent already churning into crores and if we try to cope with them may be we couldn't do so in this lifetime. Its their destiny and they were made for it but their education, mind and focus made it happen whereas may be their own peers or students from same college might be stuck in some year back issue or he/she isn't as bright as them.

So comparison seriously sucks an will make one fall into depression and not value what he/she has right now.

Completely agree dear. But we are moving away from the topic. I just want to upgrade my knowledge and skills and obviously be in a better financial position. And I am tired of learning on my own. It consumes way more time which I don't have now.

 

[nRiTeCh]

Completely agree dear. But we are moving away from the topic. I just want to upgrade my knowledge and skills and obviously be in a better financial position. And I am tired of learning on my own. It consumes way more time which I don't have now.

As said look out for some institutes which offer learn from anywhere concept so you can save on traveling and relocating.

 

[lockhrt999]

In my previous life I taught max, maya, photoshop (teaching wasn't my main profession though). I'll tell you to stay the F away from Indian institutes. These are nothing but money magnets. They teach you nothing useful. They teach you a lot useless stuff and charge you pretty penny.

You are better off learning from online courses like Udemy and what others have mentioned. I have no idea who serves the better courses these days but back in the days I developed my specialization by torrenting gnomon and such DVD learning courses. It's worth mentioning that I, did go to one of institutes like maac and it was crap. I recently had to learn something from Udemy and I'll tell you it's billions of times better what they teach even at best of best govt Indian institutes. Don't even bother learning remotely through zoom. It's pointless. Don't youtube random tutorials otherwise it'll confuse you even more. First decide what is it you want to learn and search for such courses at websites like udemy.

For game development, you'll also have to learn some programming. TBH, programming is very useful in most fields of animation. It isn't hard. It'll take a few days to learn C# for a first timer. You can take your programming knowledge to more pertinent language later.

In the end, I'll tell you one thing. Don't take more than a few months learning though. Set a timeline with yourself. Learn as much as you can, apply that knowledge creating something you can show at interview. Don't spend too long learning otherwise you'll get into 'Tutorial Hell'. It's a real mental disorder and most self learners suffer from it. Get your skill fast and apply for job. You learn more on the job. Don't waste your time perfecting yourself while sitting at home because you never will be.

 

[Cyano_3d]

I am curious as a game developer and a 3d artist, what are you upto right now and what have you planned for the next two years?

To give a background about myself i have been in 3d since 2020 and have managed to learn quite a bit about 3D web development, game engine for cinematics, and the regular rendering pipeline for blender and maya. I just started a course from Think Thank Online ( as my canada visa got rejected so i couldn't attend their offline classes) you can check rookies for good online 3d schools and use their ranking as a guide.
I am loving the experience in a foreign education system even though its pretty ruthless with breaks and slack its not even close to the ease and comfort a generic college in india has over assignments and work. Every student is talented and the competitive nature of sharing very high quality work has been pushing me through.

I can't recommend enough of think thanks and its likes. Definitely worth checking into.

Otherwise i recommend making your own indie game in a year, making devlogs and working on it as a side hustle then publishing it in a year or two. You kearn, you create a portfolio for yourself which helps with recruitment, but that is if you want to a be a game dev