Personally I wouldn't bother. Your priority should be acquiring a solid understanding and experience in software engineering concepts.

I have done fundamental physics subjects for electronics engineering. For the most part, it has only a small relevance to what I'm doing in game physics right now. The games generally don't require complex and accurate physics; most of that can be picked up by reading a few introductory books on the subject.

You will find that numerical computing concepts will be more important (as most physics engines rely on it), which are extensively covered in mathematics and software engineering.

Obviously physics looks good. I don't think I've ever used anything I've learnt from a level physics in games though (mainly what I have taught myself as and when the need arises). Of course having a physics understanding will help you grasp other things more easily and so it is useful. I would definatly recommend maths more than physics perhaps.

I did a computer games development course at uni, first year it taught maths as thought no one really knew it (quite basic but programming focused). Second year it taught physics type maths that would be relevant to a game (colllision etc).

As far as getting a job, I haate telling people I have a degree in computer games development. It sounds well hmm I guess one of the cool "easy" subjects so I don't really like mentioning it purely because of this sort of stigma it seems to have (despite it being a good course). I'm sure I am not alone in this feeling and employers may feel the same. That said, my brother did a computer science degree and did only fairly high level languages/web stuff so he's pretty clueless when it comes to c++ (games).

I did get a job right after leaving uni (c++, non-game related but with opengl) so it certainly didn't hinder me. In fact I was one of the few on the team who had any opengl experience so it was quite the plus.

Quote: Original post by xxDAFFOxx
so it is recomended not to take physics then. also i was going to take a level maths. the only problem me and my family have with doing a games development course at uni is getting a job after coming out because i thought they were scarce

If you want to be a physics programmer, then yes it would be useful along with A Level maths. If not, then it isn't essentially though handy.

Given that you are in A-Levels now, You won't be looking for jobs for 5 years. Anything can change by that point.

If you want a rewarding career as a software developer (in any field, including games) you need to take physics, up to at least one university-level course (along with multivariable calculus, which along with linear algebra is required to understand the physics).

If you just want a job as a code monkey, don't bother with the edumacashun thing. You won't need it.

If you want to consider yourself an educated human being, Newtonian physics is a requirement.

If you're serious about being a programmer and want to be taken seriously, get a well-rounded education. It's not just a matter of whether or not you need it, but more a matter of being able to carry on a conversation with your educated colleagues. Math and physics is important to any programmer. If you want to be a game programmer, however, then the more you know the better. There's nothing sadder than seeing some hack struggling to solve problems that you learned your first year in college.