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You are wrong.

https://www.austincc.edu/wkibb...

Go back to school.

There has never been a smooth transition. When the farms were mechanized we got major dislocations along with a vast increase in the wealth of America.

cf. "The Guilded Age".

http://www.austincc.edu/lpatrick/his1302/agrarian.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age

Assuming you are in the US, you might want to chat with your experienced friend about his misconception, don't deduct this year, and go file some amended returns to correct any past mistakes. According to IRS Publication 526:

You cannot deduct the value of your time or services, including:

• Blood donations to the Red Cross or to blood banks, and
• The value of income lost while you work as an unpaid volunteer for a qualified organization.

This sort of thing was all well-covered in the nonprofit leadership program I attended. Your friend might want to look for some education. Here in Austin, I have gotten good material and training from the Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations and Greenlights for Nonprofit Success. As a board member I like BoardSource which also seems good for Executive Director or senior NPO staff.

Personally, I volunteer my technical skills by doing constituent relationship management technical tasks (database entry, mail merges, donor research, database cleanup) to a couple of local nonprofit organizations. I do it in chunks of 1-5 hours on an ongoing basis. Took me a few weeks to get up to speed at each in order to be productive. Can't deduct my time, but mileage is deductible.

http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/

Layne

Here in Austin, the local community college has a program that is growing. They have buy-in (and at some level participation) from many of the local houses. The classes are taught by people who's day job is game development. The instructors have such a passion for what they do that they want to share that passion. I think they have taken the right approach to building a program.

Some of the names on the advisory board are names that anyone in the industry would know. And many of them are available to the students. The instructors include some pretty heavy names, too. Right now, it is just a ceritificate program, but they are working on getting it accredited. Even still, I feel like I get more out of that program than I would from a Full Sail or a Digipen (granted, I already have a 4-year CS degree and 13 years experience in the business apps arena).

But the point, is that, not all programs are "pooh-poohed" by those in the industry.....

Link to the program web site: http://www.austincc.edu/techcert/Video_Games.html

Layne

I totally agree with this, A real college/university degree which is more liberal arts based and not a specific game design degree is vital. Someone serious about doing professional game design and directing and producing should then go to a trade school, community college and pursue additional specification of their knowledge and skill set, on a Masters level.

I have a Studio Art Degree focusing of classic and traditional sculpture. Although, after studying game design for a few years at (http://www.austincc.edu/techcert/Video_Games.html ) I would prefer to be a designer, than just an artist/modeler. An idiot-user with a shiny new laptop, is still an idiot-user!!!! -Twitchings

I'm am working through a Video Game Design Professional Certification, through the High Technology Continuing Education Department at Austin Community College. The same dept that provides MCSE, Cisco and other professional and serious certifications. I also work as an IT guy at ACC, in a different dept, and I have a full bachelors in Studio Art from a serious 4 year university. I think video game design schools, programs and degrees are becoming more and more important. The industry is growing up and there needs to be some academicalization of the theories, practices and methods.

Like in Film and TV production, there is a big difference in going to a film school and/or getting and RTF degree and learning on the job. I did some film production, a few years back, just because I met the right producer at the right time, compared to the other PAs who were fresh out of RTF school, I had to do a lot of catching up and fast learning of commonly used terms and practices. Often other crew members, producers and directors were annoyed that they had to explain a simple concept to me(like what and Apple Box was .....)(I am a damn fast learner and times, other PAs with full RTF degrees got fired befor I did, but i'm sure they were hired more often than I) So there are good and bad to each metods.

I think this is true in video game design too. There are a lot of studio directors/producers and execs that are demanding for a standardization of common and basic skills and knowledge. The Game Design Program at ACC, has nearly all the major players in the Austin Game Industry on the Board of Directors. All the teachers are local professionals, so the information they provide is straight from the industry, not from some poorly written book. I looked around at many different schools, including digipen, A&M vislab, Guildhall and Art Institute and besides already living in Austin, the ACC program looked the most promising,(cheaper, especially with employee class vouchers....)

Game Design Schools and Programs are important. But, you get what you put into it and a degree/piece of paper is not guarantee for employment, it just helps your chances. Helps you get into a specific design "mindset" for gaming and really, its just all about contacts. The people/teachers/professionals/students I have met is much more valuable that what I have learned, although it is nice to actually understand the mechanics and requirements that are needed, in order to seriously make a game. It's no longer 3 potheads in a garage, that can make a game, it takes a f-in army of people who understand their part and the whole process as well.

http://www.austincc.edu/techcert/Video_Games.html

-Twitchings

Actually, every instructor I've had works in the industry. Not *DID WORK*....but *WORKS*. Classes are at night. It's in Austin, so there are plenty of studios to pull from. I've had instructors that have worked on games from all eras and genres. Some of the companies that represents: Sony and SOE, Midway, NCSoft, and Microsoft. Plenty who have started their own studios after having worked at bigger ones, too.

http://www.austincc.edu/techcert/Video_Games.html

It's not a degree program (yet), but I'm not too worried about that since I already have a CS degree. For me, it's more about having fun, learning some new stuff, and making good contacts for when I'm ready to jump into the industry.

Check out the list of names on the Advisory Board and the list of Instructors. There are some influential names on that list.

Layne

I'd sign up, but I'm too lazy.

What you describe is called emergent gameplay (requisite Wiki link): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergent_gameplay/

This emergent gameplay isn't exactly an "unlockable" per the topic, but it is what makes some games fun. As a student at the Austin Community College's Game Development program [http://www.austincc.edu/techcert/Video_Games.html ] (certificate, non-degree), those are some of the aspects of gaming that we are investigating as part of the curiculum.

Anecdote: A prior instructor Jeremy Gibson [http://www.jrgibson.com//] talked about he and a friend spending a few hours in Tony Hawk X (not sure the version) until they could grind all of the way around whatever level they were playing as an example of emergent gameplay.

Layne

Secondly, in legal terms there is no real difference between distributing the script as text and distributing a subtitled video file: both involve distributing an unauthorised translation of a copyright work

No, there is a legal difference (and not just that the studio is far less likely to sue someone who only passes out scripts).

Subtitle files might (and I don't know for sure) actually fall under Fair Use. There are 4 legal criteria, and two of them are: "What portion of the original work is copied?" (answer: Very little, because subtitles are a tiny amount of data, byte-wise) and "How does the copy effect the market for the original?" (answer: the subtitles actually increase the chance someone will buy a Japanese-only DVD and read along)

So it might even be the case that subtitles are legal Fair Use. (Or maybe not...for example, if it turns out that they don't encourage people to buy import DVDs, but instead of just download raw video from somewhere else, then the economic impact becomes negative again)