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EA Starts Gamedev Program
mrseigen writes "CNN is reporting that EA has opened a game program at USC. It is the first official game development education. Yeah, right."
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Or Braunshweiger, as Oscar Mayer calls it?
Here's the real question (ready?):
Should universities be designed for vocational training?
Discuss.
Can't wait to see EA's take on it. Now instead of aspiring to be a low paid, overworked game developer, you can start straight in college as a non-paid, overworked game developing intern. And some young jackass will actually count themselves lucky for the chance.
Cornell has had The Game Design Initiative available for a while, although there is no actual major in game design.
We have something called "Art and Technology" at my school. It's similar to doing 3D and Flash and such here. You even work with robotics and electronics as well as holograms. Yet it's an art degree and you learn enough to make flash video games, 3d worlds, and VRML to use it. I'd say this programs at nearly all large public universitys. So who really needs a game development program?
If you combine a minor in CIS with an art degree with specific classes in digital art you'll get the same thing, if not better I think.
Is this really necessary to add an extra program and degree type to the already growing list of options for technical majors?
Bing Gordon, Chief Creative Officer and co-founder of Electronic Arts (Research), was named the first holder of the Electronic Arts endowed faculty chair at the USC School of Cinema-Television, according to a statement from the company, the biggest video game publisher.
I love it. The guy endows himself as a faculty chair. Forever putting to rest the notion that University curriculum can't be bought.
Academic integrity @ USC => zero.
Doesn't this sound too much of a publicity stunt (both for USC and EA sports). I mean I am under the impression that anyone with a reputable CS degree (and interested in games) should be a good hire for any game company.
And from the student's point of view isnt a 'game degree' a bit to specialized and restrictive. I mean I was really really sue that I wanted to be game developer when I was in hight school but 4 years later I realized that there are many other interesting jobs I could do. Any way thats My $0.02
Verbatim from USC gaming computer website.
Gateway computers
Pentium IV - Intel 3.0 GHz RAM
1 GB Video
Gforce4 5900
256MB of onboard RAM
USB 2.0, firewire support, sound blaster compatible
DVD drive
Is any self-respecting geek going to go to a place that can't talk about hardware correctly?
But then again, if you had self respect, the EA attachment would probably stop you cold.
My local community college has had a very good game development program for 3 years, diversified now into three possible certificates (those who want an Associates need to complete a handful of extra courses, giving them both a Computer Science degree and a Game Programming or Development certificate). The bent of the program is to give students (who already have a basis in computer programming or graphics design) a beginning introduction to the art, then give them time to work on a demo/portfolio. It's possible to jump into the industry to some degree after completing the program, but far better to go to a specialized university first (DigiPen being a common goal, though not always realized). Game programming is not a vacation by any stretch of the imagination, so jumping in with a two year degree would certainly scare me. So this is hardly the first place where this sort of thing is taught, in that it exists at the two year as well as the four year level.
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
Maybe Microsoft will designate some University in Washington as the providers of the only "official" operating system programming education, or something stupid like that?
Maybe SCO will designate some law school as the only "official" corporate lawsuit education providers?
I love how, because they are a huge heartless titan in the game world, they have the gall to claim that they're the only ones who can name "official" game dev educational programs.
I just hope this doesn't start a trend. Furthermore, I hope nobody will take their claims seriously; unfortunately, most PHB-types, who blindly follow the Industry Leader, will just nod and accept what they say. Likewise, if Microsoft designated an "official operating systems college", they'd just accept it, and alter their hiring practices accordingly...
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
I kinda like the way we got it setup here in Canada. If you want an education based in theory, understanding of key concepts and the like then go to University. If you want to learn how to do things, get a basic understanding of the "whys" then go to college. Generally the University people understand more, but can do less.
(NOTE: This is an honest true story)
Me and a friend of mine in college made money doing the "practical" assignments for friends from university. They understood the principles of software engineering, but however, could not write a line of code.
Oddly enough, they're the ones that would run the a software project, but wouldn't know how the developers actually made it work.
DarkMantle I been bored, so I started a blog.
It's a shame that such "game development" classes so often center on "game development graphics," rarely spending more than a sidenote on sound, user interface, etc., which can really make or break a game.
Or am I the only person who abhors graphics code, and the industry's latest obsession on pretty-realism?
-- I prefer the term "karma escort."
DigiPen assigned 80 hours a week of homework. When I started actually working in the game industry it felt like vacation compared to going to DP. Well, until I hit that 7 month crunch. Then it felt like going to DigPen except I was being paid for it rather than the other way around.
You're actually making my case for me. I'm not talking about a single course that goes over the topics I discussed. I'm talking about the fact that this should be at the core of a good CS education.
Big-O isn't something you just 'have a course on' and then move on, nor is it something that you needs to explain to anyone who has a more traditional programming degree. Big-O is actually one of the most important aspects of computer programming (in video games) because it comes up on a daily basis.
Optimization isn't really a worthwhile course in schooling either, because the things they're teaching you how to optimize (pre-versus-post increment) either:
1) Rarely come up as actual performance problems
2) Are topics that the compiler will optimize for you.
The things that generally wind up needing optimization that the compiler cannot help you with are things such as algorithmic inefficiencies (yes, the constants actually do matter), data layout inefficiency (for example, cache misses), poor branch prediction, failure to provide early-out of complex computations, etc.
The fact that there is even a route through the school that involves simply throwing money at the problem pushes my point along even further. Go suggest that someone at MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, U Texas or UT Dallas get their education by continually throwing money at the problem. There are no brute force routes through those schools. You either hack it, you change majors, or you go home.
I currently have no clever signature witicism to add here.
Mastery of programming languages shouldn't be a prequisite for studying computer science. Granted, those skills are pretty useful, but rather than testing them directly the curriculum should just encourage their development to give you a leg up when studying computer theory, just as a music comp. major would become pretty handy with a piano while putting together his pieces.
Believe me, it made a huge difference to me in my recent job search. No one really gives a crap about the compiler you wrote for Scheme, in Scheme, but they're probably quite interested that you wrote some security auditing software for a uni. dept. when they are interested in having some similar software written for their use.
Head down, go to sleep to the rhythm of the war drums...