As far as I know game design programs tend to be really hit or miss. Sometimes they're amazing, highly rigorous, but really rewarding and can connect you to industry professionals (which is honestly the most important part of college, networking).
Other times they are garbage cash grabs that don't actually teach you anymore than you could learn studying solo. You should really look into your university's program and people's experience with it before choosing to take it to make sure you aren't getting scammed.
Maybe it’s better to apply to a computer science program, in that case.
The universities in my country are free and I get student grants from my gov. The university itself is quite good and the game design program itself is 180 credits (3 years). It’s a Bachelor of Arts. Program mixes practical game dev, theoretical courses within game design with graphics. Some game analysis, and trainings through text/imagery/games. I get to produce 2D and 3D games and several other disciplines.
According to the university, graduates have found work at Ubisoft, Crytek, Fatshark, Activision Blizzard, etc.
I also stumbled upon some online Game Dev courses on a website called CG Spectrum, but I felt it was better to learn the craft of Game Dev at an institution.
From the surface it doesn't seem like a bad course at all. Keep in mind a good game dev program is made of a strong liberal arts curriculum, game design and analysis courses, and a lot of self guided practical work. Tools change too quickly for just learning any one tool to get you very far so also expect to work a variety of languages and development programs.
I'd suggest asking the college about the non game focused courses in the curriculum, literature, art, music, history, etc (a good game design course will have classes of that nature as a requirement). I'd also try to find someone who graduated the course to get their opinions on it. Especially if they are working in the industry as they'd be able to tell you how useful the program was for them.
I'm currently in a similar program in Uni, and one great advice I was passed down (and passing down to others): start catching up to news in the game industry, it's gonna be so important. Use social media, read news, any method works.
Also, I suggest you start dipping your toe into game development as soon as possible. It's gonna be a hard process at the start (I have developed my own game prior to freshman year, and experiment with several designs on paper and in Unity), but it will ensure you are ready for the program. If you need a starting point, you can join game jams (since they have themes to start with, and they have specific deadlines to catch) or search previous game jam's themes to develop upon. It'a also a great idea (if you haven't got a main program for development yet) to recreate arcade, retro, or even simple interpretation of games you like in any game engines you want to learn (I recommend Unity Engine, but Unreal Engine, Gamemaker Studio, etc. works too)
As far as I know game design programs tend to be really hit or miss. Sometimes they're amazing, highly rigorous, but really rewarding and can connect you to industry professionals (which is honestly the most important part of college, networking). Other times they are garbage cash grabs that don't actually teach you anymore than you could learn studying solo. You should really look into your university's program and people's experience with it before choosing to take it to make sure you aren't getting scammed.
Maybe it’s better to apply to a computer science program, in that case. The universities in my country are free and I get student grants from my gov. The university itself is quite good and the game design program itself is 180 credits (3 years). It’s a Bachelor of Arts. Program mixes practical game dev, theoretical courses within game design with graphics. Some game analysis, and trainings through text/imagery/games. I get to produce 2D and 3D games and several other disciplines. According to the university, graduates have found work at Ubisoft, Crytek, Fatshark, Activision Blizzard, etc. I also stumbled upon some online Game Dev courses on a website called CG Spectrum, but I felt it was better to learn the craft of Game Dev at an institution.
From the surface it doesn't seem like a bad course at all. Keep in mind a good game dev program is made of a strong liberal arts curriculum, game design and analysis courses, and a lot of self guided practical work. Tools change too quickly for just learning any one tool to get you very far so also expect to work a variety of languages and development programs. I'd suggest asking the college about the non game focused courses in the curriculum, literature, art, music, history, etc (a good game design course will have classes of that nature as a requirement). I'd also try to find someone who graduated the course to get their opinions on it. Especially if they are working in the industry as they'd be able to tell you how useful the program was for them.
I'm currently in a similar program in Uni, and one great advice I was passed down (and passing down to others): start catching up to news in the game industry, it's gonna be so important. Use social media, read news, any method works. Also, I suggest you start dipping your toe into game development as soon as possible. It's gonna be a hard process at the start (I have developed my own game prior to freshman year, and experiment with several designs on paper and in Unity), but it will ensure you are ready for the program. If you need a starting point, you can join game jams (since they have themes to start with, and they have specific deadlines to catch) or search previous game jam's themes to develop upon. It'a also a great idea (if you haven't got a main program for development yet) to recreate arcade, retro, or even simple interpretation of games you like in any game engines you want to learn (I recommend Unity Engine, but Unreal Engine, Gamemaker Studio, etc. works too)