What Kind of Student Attends The Guildhall At SMU?

All kinds.

The most important thing is to first get a good undergraduate degree. 

At The Guildhall at SMU, our curriculum is focused around a team approach and interdisciplinary thought and action. Yes, we need artist and programmers.  But we need students who have studied film, graphic arts, history, English, philosophy, psychology, mathematics and business as well.

We have set up our program so that there are three different people with three different skill sets working on a game. One person alone cannot program, design and develop the original concept art for a game, it takes a team-centric environment to meet strict development goals and to comply with targeted production timelines, and that is the stringent equation in which we adhere to.

When you apply, you will apply for one of our three specializations.

As an art creation student, you will draw all day long; creating environments and characters for the games in which you are creating.

Level design is all about storytelling. Tell the story, build the worlds, set the pace and flow of the game, be the creative driving force with-in your team.

As a software development student, you are in charge of writing the code (primarily C++) that will bring the characters and environments to life.

Your primary decision before you start your application is to choose one of the three specializations in which to apply. Once you decide that, you are well on your way to becoming a part of the top graduate video game program in the country.

Art Creation

At The Guildhall at SMU, our art creation track focuses on traditional art work and digital work. We look for an art background that is grounded in traditional mediums: drawing, painting, sculpting, etc. It is paramount that you are comfortable with observational and life drawing and that you approach the application process in a way that will showcase your strongest sketchbook pieces.

While in college, take courses that will lead to a degree such as a Bachelor's of Fine Arts (BFA). This education and the dedication that it takes to complete a degree will prepare you for what will be the most intense and most enjoyable 17 months of your life; The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University.

Level Design

Our level design track focuses on the storytelling and documentation that an idea goes through before it becomes an executable game. As a level designer, your main goal is to evoke emotion from the player.  This is accomplished through story telling, pace setting and outlining the flow of the game. You are a key creative driving force with-in your team.

Become familiar with level modification. Many games, such as Oblivion, Warcraft III, Neverwinter Nights and Unreal Tournament have editors embedded so that the player can modify an already existing level to create a unique player experience. These tools will help you to discover the basics of what a level designer is responsible for.

While in college, take courses that will lead to a degree such as a Bachelor's of Liberal Arts. Courses in this curriculum are geared towards English, Literature, Art History, Creative Writing, Social Sciences, etc. Most programs will have elective hours built into their degree plans; use these for beginning level architecture courses and additional creative writing courses.

Software Development

Prepare yourself to be a successful programmer at The Guildhall at SMU

Even though other industries have moved on to languages like Java, the games industry is still firmly set on C++, and likely to be so for quite a while. Hence why the most important preparation for the Guildhall is solid C++ experience.

Our entry requirements state the equivalent of a bachelors degree in computer science, but that is assuming your school teaches C++. Many universities have switched to be Java only, which is fine for most students but not ideal for those wishing to enter the games industry. We do allow you to write your entrance exam tests in other languages (mostly Java or C#), but if you have hardly touched C++ when you enter the Guildhall, you will have a relatively steep learning curve. It is in your advantage to have done plenty of C++ before the Guildhall, and doing your entrance test in C++ will help us verify that you are indeed ready.

If you still have to choose your college, find one whose computer science curriculum includes plenty of C++ based classes. If you have already started or do not have the luxury of choice, try and do as many classes where you can use C++, often when doing project you can choose the implementation language. If you can't do C++ as part of your course work, make sure you spend plenty of time with it in your own projects.

The Guildhall programming curriculum has some C++ "refresh" as part of its curriculum, but it does not teach you the language from scratch. The vast majority of curriculum focuses on game and engine related topics that are specific to this industry. As such, you will have a much easier time absorbing all of this if you are comfortable with your C++ already.

It is very hard to define what it means to have "solid C++ experience". There is a lot to C++, knowing the language (i.e. understanding all the syntax of all the constructs) is just the first 5% of becoming a C++ programmer. Experience in constructing larger programs, and dealing with all the issues that gives is vital.

If you come to C++ from Java, as is a common route nowadays, make sure you don't try to program C++ purely with its high level Java equivalents, embrace its more low level nature, and get intimate with memory allocation, memory layout, pointers etc. Failure to do so can make life very hard when progressing through the more complicated topics of the Guildhall program later on.

So how do you go about becoming more proficient in C++? As with many things, there is only one real way. Just do it. A lot. In the end it doesn't matter which course, which book, which project you embark on, as long as it gives you lots of exposure to all dark corners of the language. The larger the project, the more complex data structures it involves, the better. The topic does not need to have anything to do with games, in fact, it is probably better if it doesn't.

Besides writing your own code, one thing that comes highly recommended is reading other people's code. With Open Source so popular nowadays, there is a lot of C++ code out there for your reading pleasure. Pick a project, get its source to compile, and make an effort to see how it work internally. Learn from its use of C++. Step through it in the debugger to see what it does. Then when you have a decent understanding, add a small feature.

If you are serious about becoming a C++ pro, one book comes recommended because its the most thorough reference, and written by the designer of the language:

http://www.amazon.com/C++-Programming-Language-Special-3rd/dp/0201700735

It is not exactly an easy book to learn the language from scratch from, so you may want to accompany it by a more tutorial style book.

If you feel you have weak experience with C++'s low level nature, then I would recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Programming-Concept-C/dp/0521520436

If you wish to go even more in-depth with teaching yourself C++, here's a list of tips I have put together on things you could focus on.

Wouter van Oortmersen
Lecturer of Software Development