video game development only takes place in larger cities.

Not really. Many of the larger companies are in big cities, but game development can take place anywhere there is an open basement or garage available. It all depends on what type of game dev you want to be. If you want to work on the great big titles, you will want to work on the east or (more likely) west coast.

I am personally approaching being in the same boat as you. I live in Ohio, currently 16 years old. By next year I will have graduated from high school and hopefully my associates in science (yay for ohio's PSEO program!) Judging by what I have seen, there are quite a few game development programs around the country, most of which are new (last 5 years or so). So in that regard the choices aren't as limited as they first appear. You should be able to find one fairly easily if you search specifically for them. Also make sure you know what it is you want to do when you are a game dev. If you want to be a programmer, I got the impression that avoiding 'liberal arts' colleges is a good idea, while if you want to design, do art or music liberal arts colleges are a good place to go.

by a penguin in a tuxedo.

Isn't that a little redundant?

Yup.

Unfortunately the day has already come and gone where an Associate's degree meant much to employers. Most tech jobs now require a B.S., and unless you already have ridiculous amounts of experience, they won't even give you the time of day unless you have one.

On another note, QA is not exactly a job that requires tough credentials either, which means a few things:

- Many more people will be applying for it than other positions.
- The position itself isn't as vital as others within a company and in the current state of the economy, guess which positions won't see much hiring.
- Every gaming geek wants to be a game tester when they grow up.

To get your foot in the door, I wouldn't advise you restrict your job options to the game industry right away. Compared to the overall software industry, games are a small portion, but ones that get a lot of attention (see aforementioned gaming geeks ). You would have much better luck finding a job if you don't restrict your options right away. Once you land one anywhere in the related field, *then* you should start finding a game company to work for - but you would have a job meanwhile, because that search will almost undoubtedly take a long time, and as kryo mentioned no experience will very much hurt your chances, so at the same time you'll be building up experience while searching.

What ANnie said

I'm actually going to take some webdesign courses while working on my Bachelor's (only a year away...) so I can get a job with a local group doing website design (www.watchdoit.com -- I interned with them over the summer, and to quote da boss 'the only reason [they] didn't hire me is budget').  While it's not exactly 'in the field', it gives me a (decent) paying job and work experiance that is at least a little related (compared to holding a sign for a car lot...) while I try to poke my way upwards.

It's more than close enough to be relevant to put on a resume, so certainly nothing to feel odd about. It would be much harder to describe how your sign holding experience would help you make strict development deadlines in a programming job, after all

From the HR people I know, Bachelor's is really the minimum for any kind of decent job in any field. Master's is what's preferred now. If any more were required, you'd need a degree just to get into fry serving these days.

That'd need a PR degree, since you have to figure out a way to actually sell that crap to people

Isn't that the point I made?  Or is this a Toe-may-to Vs. Tah-mah-to discussion?

Yes, it was

If you don't want to move from North Dakota, perhaps switching over to healthcare field? Healthcare is also stable and always needed. And from where you are it requries only a few months or less than a year of school. Jobs like pharmacy techician or medical assistant use to only require on the job training...but those days are over.

Learn programming or animation and a BS degree is the only way to go for video game field...unless you find out where all the gaming employees hangout(make connections).

Or start your own business fixing computers...(complete with the rediculously expensive geek squad)

Quick 2 cp here:

You don't need to have a BS or BA to work in video games.  In general, you just need to be able to show the employer that you can do the work that they need done.  This generally means that you need to have experience before you apply.

That may seem like an impossible obstacle, but it isn't.  When I was trying to break into the industry, I attended a convention where Robin Walker was speaking.  He gave me probably the only useful piece of advice that I've ever received: "If you want to start making video games, you need to start making video games".  Basically, whatever it is you think you want to do, start doing it.  If you want to be an artist, start modeling and texturing.  If you want to be a designer, start making maps and missions for existing game englines.  If you want to be an audio designer, start putting together effects, voiceovers and music.  If you want to be a software engineer, start programming.  There are a gazillion tutorials on the internet for all of these things, and forums that will provide you with answers you can't easily google.  Build up a portfolio and a website, start showing off what you've done.

And once you're getting pretty comfortable with your craft, the way to really sell it is to make a mod or develop a small game from scratch with a team of people.  If you are part of a team that makes something which other people enjoy and attracts attention, you have about 1000% higher chance of getting into the industry.  It's also a good way to know if you'll actually like the development process or not; working late hours with a bunch of different people trying to find some crazy ass way to glue things together is a pretty common thread in development.  There are definitely some big differences between professional development and amateur, but in the end the process is about the same thing; making something fun.

That said, let me backpeddle a bit; if you want to be a programmer, you will be severely limited by the merit of your Computer Science / Computer Engineering degree.  It is also unlikely that you will quickly rise to an Art Director without a degree from a Fine Arts school ( and a great portfolio ).  Having the academic background means a lot, but it isn't a total barrier for entry.

Also, a quick word about QA: it can be a rough way forward.  It is appealing to many because it is probably the single easiest way to get "in" to the industry.  There aren't many ( if any ) requirements around education, or specialized skillsets, and there's always a need for lots of testers.  But getting into that designer position from QA is a long, long hard road.  Getting peopel to view you as not "just a QA guy" can be difficult, especially at larger companies.  You aren't going to get any real developer training on the job, although you do get a pretty good sense of the development cycle and what makes games work ( which is why some QA folks eventually move into Producer roles ).

If you really really want it, you can make it happen.  But you will need to make sacrifices.  You may need to move.  You may need to learn a new skill on your own.   You may need to give up parts of your life to make time for it.  In the end though, it's worth a shot if you think it might be the only thing you want to do.

Hope this helps, and good luck with whatever you choose!

   Welp, after roughly five years of bouncing in and out of college, I'm about to get an Associate Science degree this spring. I have a 3.5GPA, which I know is nothing to brag about. But now that I am about to get a basic degree I need to make some decisions; difficult ones. Should I keep going to school? Where am I going to work? Should I move now to find work or wait until I have a job lined up?  

I agree with kryo, stay in school. An associates degree isn't going to get you real far right off the bat, but what the hell do I know, I'm a sophmore in high school  

   I've lived in North Dakota my whole life. It's a really nice place, it truly is. There's one problem though, it lacks the one type of job I'm looking for: video game development. Video games are what I've wanted to do ever since I woke up one day to find an odd grey box hooked up to the TV. My older brother was moving a little red man around onscreen, jumping on what appeared to be brown blobs wearing boots. I sat there, waiting for my turn to play, thinking: "This is awesome!" Watching the little red man, which I now know as Mario, jump on Goombas is one of my earliest memories. It spurred my interest in video games that will continue until my own personal "Game Over."

lol, you and me had the same experience. I got hooked by the little red man and never looked back I hear what your saying about the little to big city transition; going from small town of Avon to Cleveland Ohio is one helluva jump.

    I have no delusions about game development though. I'm not expecting to strut up to a game developer and have a fun high paying job served to me on a silver platter, adorned with parsley, by a penguin in a tuxedo. Oh no, I'm expecting to get a low paying job doing arduous and repetitive tasks for the next 3-5 years.. Also, because I have no artistic or technical skills my only route in seems to be through Quality Assurance. The low of the lows as far as salaries go, but I'm fine with that. I've lived miserly my whole life, why stop now?

You got the right idea. Goos ol' pesimissim.

    Where to work though; and who's going to hire a 23 year old with no experience and an AS degree? Optimally I'd prefer to stay in the Mid-West or at the very least head north into Canada. This is limiting my options. If I get turned down by companies in those areas I'll have to  find a job in Washington, California(shudder) or Texas(apparently there's more than two things that come out of Texas).

The way I see it, with the whole economic crisis and all, an AS will become valuable with less and less people being able to afford a college education. What I say is go onward with your education while you still can, then you'll be golden.

If your looking for a quality and cheap college education, I hear Ohio State U is really cheap nowadays with all the people applying to it.(about $17K   I think)

I bet you're done hearing the rants of a 15 yo sophomore who has hopes of a free ride through college and a chance for a doctorates degree in psychology Sad, I know, but taking Greek Junior(summer too) and Senior year really gives me one hell of an advantage. So does going to St. Ignatius High School(woot! ).

Vale!

Yup! Nothing quite says  'excessive' and 'unnecessary' quite like a penguin wearing a tux though. 

I'm really quite suprised at the response so far in this thread. Constructive feedback on the interwebz?! CRAZY! I was expecting someone to take a chainsaw after my bubble.

The discussion has given me some things to ponder though.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. 

P.S. Is now a good time to start bugging developers about internships?

Internship in the field is never a bad thing. You never know when you luck out or impress the right person. My brother (BS in Computer Science) interned at a little company in the Silicon Valley called E-mu (they made chips for various sound boards and accessories) when he was at the university. He got hired on right after graduating, and shortly after Creative Labs bought the company and he's worked for Creative ever since.

Obviously that's sort of a "results not typical" type of infomercial story, but it illustrates that you just never know, and you're always better off taking every opportunity that comes your way.

Another thing to look for (from what I have heard): colleges with coop programs. RIT (where I plan on going as long as I get some decent scholarships) in New York has a mandatory coop program for 1 semester to get a 4 year degree. Their coop is paid, and according to their website, quite well (about 44k a year, although you are only there for a semester so probably around 16-18k).