darthmole12

I'll vouch for the USC video game program. Though some of the classes (such as the gateway "Video Game Production" class) are not useful, the programming track is at least pretty solid. The classes (Intro to Game Programming, Game AI, Game Graphics, and Game Engine Design) are all taught by people in the industry working at EALA. Suffice it to say, without the Game Programming class I took, I definitely would not have gotten into the industry. A large part of getting a job is all about who you know...and USC is definitely big on networking and the "Trojan Family."

One thing I would definitely recommend rather than setting up an FTP is using CVS to synchronize your project. The way it works is someone sets up a CVS repository which holds the centralized code/asset base for the project. Then when someone updates a file locally, they "check in" their changes with the server. It will also recognize any conflicts in changes if two people on the project change the same line of code, etc. If you have more than a couple of people working on your mod/game, you definitely should look into it. It's pretty easy to setup, and using a client like Tortoise CVS makes it easy to use. Some sort of asset/code management is used professionally in the industry...whether it's CVS or Perforce or AB (personally here at EALA we are using Perforce for code management and Alienbrain for asset management). For a small project, though, stick with CVS, especially since it's free. However, I can speak from experience that working on a project with a couple of coders is MUCH easier if you have a CVS server setup. I've done one side project without CVS, and I've done a few with it, and it definitely helps you accomplish a lot more.