Guys, you pretty much convinced me of staying in uni, and the other reason is that I'm too afraid to drop out. <_<

I'll let them suck another 9000.

I just want to ask you one off-topic question:

How did you find time doing side projects while in uni. Because I find this absolutely impossible for me to do. I just have too many coursework stuff. Sometimes when I decide to miss a few lectures, I kind of spend a little bit on my game, but then this is missing the point because I'm paying for these lectures. There should be another solution.

btw, I found some cool amateur indie projects and I can easily team-up with some people and I would reeeeaally like to do this . I also have much more work to do on my game. But I can't find any time at all. Even four or five hours is too much, and I'm talking about weekends. I always have some coursework that I need to submit and there is always something to refine and refine till forever. :wacko:

But then there are game studios that need 2nd year students for internships and I was wondering how do other people do it and even manage to land internships for the summer :o . I asked some of the smartest co-nerds at my uni and nobody has any time for side projects.(or they lie, which I doubt), but my uni is not game-oriented at all, so they don't have to worry about that, only I.

It seems I'm the only one that does side projects.(2-3 hours a week, sometimes 10-15 hours if I miss lectures, which I try not to do). The only time that I would be able to invest in my projects is during the Christmas vacation. (and I have 2 courseworks for that vacation)

For example, today I decided to spend just one hour on my game, and guess what, it's 3 AM now and I will definitely miss the 9 AM lecture tomorrow. :(

Is the fault somewhere in my schedule, or is everybody the same? How was it with you? :huh:

How did you find time doing side projects while in uni.

The only time I had could do a relatively major side project was during the 1st and 2nd year. I basically went directly to computer lab in-between classes, and worked on my game there. The whole thing took the entire quarter, even then, I still hadn't gotten the time to do the AI.

In my 3rd and 4th, my side projects were little programs that took me at most a day each to make. So they weren't really big projects.

Glad to hear you're sticking it out, codeBoggs.

I've never met anyone in the UK who spent more hours on university than they go on to do in a full-time job, so it's only going to get harder from here. It's typical to have something like 10-15 hours of taught time, and up to the same amount again on self-directed study and coursework. That leaves 10-20 more free hours per week than a typical full-time worker has.

All I can suggest regarding time for your own projects is to work smart, not hard. There is always coursework hanging over you, and the feeling of "I should be working...", and the best students I knew either handled it by doing their work ASAP, leaving them less to worry about, or by leaving it to the last minute, leaving them free time in the meantime. The worst of both worlds is to start early and refine all term; you get diminishing returns from forever tinkering with your work so I recommend you do it, check and amend it once, then submit it.

The worst of both worlds is to start early and refine all term; you get diminishing returns from forever tinkering with your work

I was contemplating about the exact same thing today. I'm super glad that you are on the same opinion.

I tried doing stuff early, doesn't work at all, I just keep re-checking everything all the time. Will try to do to everything in the last minute, although I tend to think I'm weak when it comes to coding under time pressure. But this is the smartest option for now.

I've never met anyone in the UK who spent more hours on university than they go on to do in a full-time job

Hmm, then there is something really wrong with the way I do things, because I don't even go out with friends, at all.

But if I have to be honest, I grasp new things slowly, maybe this is the reason. Will see about that.

Thanks for the nice suggestions again, guys.

Projects have to take a back burner while you're in classes.

Tom, but then my CV is placed on the back burner when I don't have any projects and I can't get any internships. :mellow:

Are there also any optional modules you can take regarding game development?

Unfortunately, no. I'm designing user studies, interviewing people and parsing filesystems. We had to make a few games for a project, but everything is pretty simple, like minesweeper and space invaders, I can't really use that for a portfolio. I hope all that stuff helps me in the long run because it doesn't help me now.

And why can't these games be in your portfolio?

I don't know. I'm afraid that my CV will lose attention and the guy will just throw it away.

There was an internship position at one game company and I applied there a few days ago. The internship was for 2nd year students. They replied to me that I'm rejected and they won't give me any feedback because they have too many applications. I had 3-4 games, both 2d and 3d stuff. And they don't even want to give me a simple 30-sec feedback on email.

If these people are so busy, do they stop to take a shit once in a while? :huh:

And the other thing I can't understand is, if someone wants to receive less applications, why doesn't he/she just put more stuff in the required qualifications?

start there and grow your portfolio instead of going for big and impressive as first entry.

Okay, sounds doable.