Hi Paul,
I was passed a link to this thread by a colleague.
I'm the course co-ordinator and lecturer on the games course that you have linked to. If you want to find out more about the course feel free to email me at
[email protected] (Darryl Charles).
I've been teaching game development at the University of Ulster for about 8 years now, so I've considered many of the issues debated in this thread.
With regards to having Physics and Maths A-levels; our course doesn't have this as a prerequisite but we teach these topics on the course. Our course is strongly software engineering based and teaches core computing skills while allowing students to specialise in game development. In this way we believe that we are preparing our students for the IT industry in general - with a key skill in programming - however, we also give students an opportunity to take a first serious step towards getting a job in the games industry. In any case, learning to program while making games can be a lot more fun for many people than learning to program in many other contexts.
It is worth pointing out that not all games programming jobs require strong Maths and Physics - for example, there are roles for tool set builders, and aspects of level creation. Not all games are hardcore, triple-A style games either - more and more games are being made for the casual game market: phones, web, etc. It is also much more possible now for a few individuals to just start making games at home without having high level knowledge on Physics and Maths - but to either be a great programmer or a fantastic artist.
I hope that some of this is helpful.
Darryl