Yup, I totally agree with you Peter, I followed that path, with a Comp App degree from DCU and then a games PgDip in Abertay. I think i’m much better off for it. Definitely think i’m in better shape should i feel like moving out of the industry.
I put the art package in because some of the games course do do an all round thing, and also for games art courses that may appear.
I also think that it would be quiet beneficial for coders to have exposure to Max / Maya. I used to have Maya open daily looking at issues, its gotten less now but I still have to use it. I’ve never actually figured out the whole texturing thing within Maya. Knowing how the system works and how artist work makes a big difference when bug tracking. I’m talking exposure here, possibly a module that exposes students to say, Maya, Photoshop and possibly others. I wouldn’t expect you to have to model stuff, but it’d be really good to know how to use them.
Leaving the course with a fully functioning disk is an ideal situation, but in practice, I don’t know how realistic is. We all know how the end of final year works, with you rushing around, trying to get things working. And unless you can do some good art yourself or unless you’ve got access to some good artists, you’re final demo isn’t going to be the greatest piece of work. I’d be happier to get my stuff in for examination and take my time to make it presentable to a company afterwards.