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Guildhall at SMU Q&A

Posted by michael on from the ferrari-not-included dept.

An anonymous submitter wrote in about this interview with the director of the Guildhall game development program. Slashdot mentioned it earlier.

6 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. good programmers = gamers by BobRooney · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I graduated about a year and a half ago from SUNY Stony Brook (shameless plug) with my B.S. in computer science. By and large, the geeks who spent all day gaming and coding were far more proficient programmers than the people who "heard you could make a good living as a programmer" but otherwise werent too into computing (or gaming).

    Granted, gaming as part of a curiculum isnt exactly par for the course. However, introducing analysis of production quality products into any curiculum where you're learning to build such products is a necessesity. Most "traditional" C.S. programs tend to focus more on theory than practicle application. This is great for academia, but leaves the graduate struggling to aquire production level skillz upon entering industry. With a good mathmatical background, programmers can pick things up easily and teach themselves any skills they need. The only problem is the learning curve of new technologies they were not taught puts them that far behind other programmers who went to tech school for 3 weeks to learn C# or something.

    What I'm getting at is the Guildhall is a program designed by INDUSTRY not ACADEMIA, and therefore necessarily is supperior for both the industry-minded student and the industry.

    1. Re:good programmers = gamers by ipjohnson · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You could also say sitting around playing video games distract you from actually writting real code and solving real problems. Trust me I knew many gamers that sucked at programming actually most of the gamers I knew weren't really actually that good (Clarkson U. alumn)

      I myself am not interested in gaming but I happen to have a very good job at very well known software engineering shop. It has everything to do with your love and desire to work/program computers and nothing to do with your like/dislike of video games.

    2. Re:good programmers = gamers by derfel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I work in an industry that is closely related to gaming and have a few friends working in the gaming industry. The vast increases in game complexity that have come in the last several years have created a problem. Where a game could be developed by enthusiastic youth with little discipline and education in the past, it is now a large project that requires the coordination of a large development team that crosses several disciplines. No longer can a few enthusiastic kids with a lot of experience playing games and some experience programming and a little artistic ability get the job done. With 15 of these guys programming the same game, rarely is there a build that works because they are always stepping on each other's code. Configuration management is unheard of. Frequently, months of development are lost because one of these kids who has become a project manager hears about a "cool new kick ass" algorithm that "we just gotta" use. These things combined result in endless working hours and a very stressful environment.

      IMO, the industry is just messed up in a different way than academia. The industry needs more people with discipline, the kind that gets you through a challenging college degree. Academia needs to teach more practical application development. If either academia or industry can get their act together, some cool things will happen.

    3. Re:good programmers = gamers by aafiske · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is informative? To insinuate that you have to play games to be a good programmer is ... beyond ridiculous.

      Good programmers are good thinkers. They know how to solve problems and be creative. Whether or not you spend your free time playing Quake is totally meaningless. Your skill at conquering the world in Civ III is not going to teach you how to work with people. Having a high level character in UO does not give you insight into how a computer works on a very low level. Sims don't teach you about data structures and how to think in algorithms.

      The INDUSTRY would be better served by people who are good critical thinkers, and that's what learning theory teaches you how to do. Learning physics and writing thoughtful essays about political science teach you how too. It's disturbing that people can go through 16 years of education and never figure out that's what it's all about.

  2. Telling Quote by ahem · · Score: 3, Insightful
    From the web page on 'project requirements':

    The major project in the last two terms will be treated like an industry development project with schedules, crunch time, and outside evaluations.

    So, instead of teaching good software engineering principles that lead to 40 hour work weeks and predictable progress, they endorse burnout. Real smart program.

    --
    Not A Sig
  3. RTFA by schlach · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you're going to be there for 3 years...

    The school runs for 18 months. Years have been 12 months long for quite some time.

    I'd hope more is taught about being a developer and designer of games than level design, art design and FPS design.

    Me too, if it were running three years. But it's not. Personally, I think 18 months of play-school game-hacking crunch time, combined with some expert tutelage, would be all that was needed to turn sharp CS skills into sharp CG developing skills.

    Do it like this:

    Think about what you could do if you didn't have to work for 18 months and spent that time pursuing your interests. Now think about what you could do with the same time, surrounded by people of like-mind and sharp skills. Now think about what you could do with that time if you also had expert guides. If your estimate hasn't reached "take over the world", then you're not as creative as you think you are.

    Where are the classes on designing puzzles, creative writing, composing music, and everything else that goes into being a game designer and developer?

    You don't teach creativity, you nurture it. You provide an environment that is conducive to its growth, like being surrounded by creative, talented peers with nothing to do but code and play video games. Computers get programmed - not people. People program themselves.

    That's the two cents of someone who went through college "all wrong" and has a helluva lot to show for it.