   Masters Programs in Game Development
  Does anyone have any personal recommendation on Masters programs for game programming/development?  I''m looking to find a good one to enroll in for Fall 2004.  So far the best bet I''ve seen is Carnegie-Mellon''s Masters in Entertainment Technology program (http://www.etc.cmu.edu).  Does anyone know of or have any experience in other Masters programs specializing specifically in this area?  Thanks in advance. 
  Hi, I''m currently attending DigiPen Institute of Technology. At the moment, they offer Associate and Bachelor degrees in game programming. They are currently developing a curriculum for Masters and Doctorate (forgive me if my terminology is wrong, at any rate they are 6 and 8 year programs.) They are also considering a program for embedded systems as well. If you were to begin at DigiPen, the Masters program would(should anyhow) be in place for you to transfer into. This is an easy task at digipen as the longer programs are just extensions of the shorter ones with more chances to specialize by selecting electives. I''ve been happy with the school personally and I recomend you look into it.Good luck.   Ravyne, NYN Interactive Entertainment[My Site][My School][My Group];  It''s depend on what u want to study.Or u expected to study everything in the world that has to do with game development? :D.IMO,why don''t u study in the course that is more specific on what u will do such as CS,management or engineering  and put the term game development as a topic of your thesis.sorry for my poor english and it''s a little bit off topic .;  Ravyne-I was actually considering DigiPen, except that they only currently offer BS and AS degrees in game development, not MS.  Same goes for Full Sail.  You said that they''re working on a program for masters and doctoral students... do you know if these programs will only be offered as extensions for current DigiPen students?  I already have a BS in Computer Science from K-State, so ''starting from scratch'' is not really an option.  Thanks again for your info, Ravyne... I''m sure DigiPen''s a great school. ;  I''m nearly done with my undergraduate at Rochester Institute of Technology.  I know they''re putting together a masters program for game programming & development (i''ve seen the flowcharts for courses given certain concentrations) but i don''t know if the program starts this year. can''t really recommend one way or the other. Pluses: the school''s already got a good computer science dept, pretty good art dept with 3D stuff going on, and terribly sweet computing facilities. Minuses: program is just starting and, knowing some faculty involved, may be disorganized. I''m majoring in computer science, taking as many animation courses as possible, and making games on my own; kind of made a program for myself ;  Hello again, sorry for the late reply...From what I''ve seen, a CS degree will allow you to skip many of the classes by transfering in credits from your BS program, Probably not all of them because many of digipen''s courses are VERY game specific, particularly beginning with 2nd and 3rd year studies. Most people coming in with BS degrees in comp. sci. just take the whole digipen program... (PS- I hate to tell you this, but no amount of previous studies will guarantee you an A, or even a B, in Prof. Ghali''s C or C++ classes either... he''s a bit of a masochist...) At any rate, there is a per credit fee for transfered course credit, but its much less than re-taking the basic courses. Also, I''m not sure when they are planning to start the MS program, probably in the next couple years though, but not too soon. So look for another suitable program or wait on Digipen... However, and this is important, most employers don''t see a difference between AS and BS digipen graduates with no experience, IE they still get put on UI (grunt code) usually and the starting pay difference is minimal. A digipen AS or BS degree on top of your previous CS degree is probably mroe than enough to get you a job in games. Thats precisely why I am only in the AS program.   Ravyne, NYN Interactive Entertainment[My Site][My School][My Group];  Thanks for the tips guys.  I''d actually read that RIT offered classes in game development, but I wasn''t sure of the extent.  It will definitely be one of my choices for next year.  I''ll look into Digipen as well... sounds like their AS degree might be useful.  Other than those, I''ve also found a few more schools that offer masters programs: Georgia Tech and University of Florida.  Good to know more and more schools are officially supporting game development as an actual career. 