A.A.S. in Electronic Game & Simulation Design. Montgomery County Community College

Transcription

1 A.A.S. in Electronic Game & Simulation Design Montgomery County Community College

2 Program Origins Student Demand Academic Buzz Media Buzz

3 Process Overview What can we offer? What existing courses fulfill those goals? What new courses do we need? Who s going to teach this?????

4 What Can We Offer??

5 E-Commerce

6 Community Ties Attend Conferences Game Developers Conference Montreal Game Summit IndieGamesCon Industry Groups Local Companies Off-the-record comments

7 Program Foundations International Game Developers Association The IGDA rocks! IGDA Curriculum Framework College Core Curriculum

8 Local Industry Idryonis Studios Ternary Software Skeeball Merit Industries egames Kraisoft

9 Types of Jobs Programmers Artists Designers Business

10 What Can We Not Offer? A Game Programming Degree 4 year traditional CS degree a must! A Game Art Degree Most art programs don t get fully into 3D and animation until the 3rd year. Guaranteed Local Employment

11 What Can We Offer? A low cost and local path of exploration in this field Full Sail & other technical schools are really expensive and far away! Game Design Quality Assurance Business New Media Production

12 What Is A Game Designer? "A video or computer game designer develops the layout, concept and gameplay: the game design of a video or computer game. This may include playfield design, specification writing, and entry of numeric properties that balance and tune the gameplay. " -

13 Who Are Some Game Designers? Will Wright (Sim City, The Sims) Sid Meier (Civilization) Shigeru Miyamoto (Donkey Kong, Zelda) Peter Molyneux (Black & White, Fable)

14 Keita Takahashi Designer of Katamari Damacy

15 Curriculum Breakdown

16 Semester 1 (15 Credits) ENG 101 English Composition 3 Elective Mathematics (MAT 115, 116, 161, 162, or 170) 3 CIS 111 Computer Science I: Programming and Concepts 3 COM 101 Introduction to Media Communication 3 CIS 176 Electronic Game & Simulation Design 1 3

17 Semester 2 (16 Credits) ENG 102 English Composition II 3 COM 103 Introduction to Video Production Equipment 2 COM 180 Applied Media I 1 CIS 111B Comp. Sci. II: Object Oriented Programming 3 CIS 177 Electronic Game & Simulation Design 2 3 PHY 121 General Physics I 4

18 Semester 3 (17 Credits) CIS 235 OO Programming in C++ 3 SPC 110/230 Fundamentals of Speech or Intro. to Bus/Prof Communication CIS 276 Electronic Game & Simulation Design 3 3 CIS 277 Electronic Game & Simulation Design 4 3 COM 104 Intro. to Audio Production Equipment 2 COM 181 Applied Media 2 1 COM 120 Scriptwriting 2 3

19 Semester 4 (16 Credits) Elective Art or Creative Writing 3 Elective History of Western Civilization 3 ECO 110/121 Elements of Economics or Macroeconomics CIS 278 Electronic Game & Simulation Design 5 4 COM 280 Media Production Workshop 1 Elective Physical Education 2 3

20 CIS 176 Foundation course Intended for majors and non-majors Introduction to the industry Job roles History Development process

21 CIS 176 Continued Character & narrative development Introduction to project management and quality assurance/usability testing Basic game theory Game tuning & balancing Marc Leblanc s MDA framework

22 CIS 176 Major Projects Interactive Fiction Game Video Game to Board Game Video Game to Real World Game Redemption Game Design Research Paper

23 Zork????

24 Interactive Fiction No graphics, forces a focus on gameplay NO art pipeline Not a toy development environment! Work within limits of technology Allows for the simulation of real world game development skills ALAN -

25 CIS 177 Introduction to 3D art Terminology Basic modeling Blender 3D - Free Built-in game engine

26 CIS 276 Math & programming concepts What is this course? Won t offer until Summer or Fall 2006 to help bolster enrollment.

27 CIS 277 Game prototyping and design 1st of the 2 course capstone series Students design and prototype games Begin working cross-discipline Most will develop 2D games Experienced developers will have option to utilize 3D engine and tools.

28 CIS 278 2nd capstone course Full game development 4 credit production course Produce a solid and polished final game Build portfolios Work on job placement or transfer

29 Primary Technologies Low To No Cost Alan Interactive Fiction Environment GarageGames Technology Torque 2D Engine Torque Game Engine Blender 3D Modeling Tool Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)

30 Other Technologies Industry Standard & Pricey Photoshop Maya Visual Studio MS Office Etc.

31 New Technologies Across CIS Subversion - Source Code Management BugZilla - Bug Tracking Software

32 Student Support I want to put video games in the library! Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is one of the titles! Fulfill college mission by providing access to game technology Slowly building a comprehensive library of video game titles for multiple platforms Special game development lab

33 Inter-Disciplinary Collaboration Art Computer Science Communications English Math

34 Student Profile Primarily male All ages I wasn t even thinking of going to college until I saw this program. I m tired of writing accounting software and want a change. I love to play games and this sounded cool. I love to play games and this sounded easy.

35 Job Opportunities Traditional Game Companies Startups Graphic Design & Marketing Firms Education & Training Entrepreneurial Casual Games Serious Games

36 Building A Pipeline Summer and weekend programs for children of all ages Promote introduction course in high schools Become the hub for local game activities Tournaments User Groups - Local IGDA for example Transfer agreements

37 Conclusion Know what you can offer Be truthful & realistic with your students about what they can achieve Seek lots of industry advice... Don t steal our contacts!! Be agile Don t over compensate academically Play lots of games (and not just video games)

38 My Web Site Curriculum Overview Master Course Outlines Contact Information