The Escapist posted a complete issue dedicated to education related topics One of the articles, for which I was interviewed in, looks at the challenges and pitfalls with schools offering dedicated game development education.
Of course, this is something the IGDA has been wrestling with for years. And, as I note in the article, “we want to be a valuable resource to all educators interested in game dev education and provide the resources and guidance they need to not suck.” Indeed, the IGDA’s Education SIG is working on a knowledge base project to catalog course syllabi, among many other worthwhile efforts.
The UK has been pushing heavily for a much more formalized approach with full on accreditation standards. This has largely been fueled by negative perceptions around game programs that were initially set up to exploit the newfound demand. (With the infamous quote that grads are not fit to work in QA, adding more spark to the debate.) Though, to be fair, there are indeed many great programs in the UK.
At a recent industry/academia summit in Montreal, many of these challenges were explored. From finding and teaching the teachers, to establishing more robust internship programs, or even addressing the resistance of parents towards a career in games.
Anyway, this all leads back to the question of talent. Will be interesting to see when the industry as a whole (especially the bigwigs, execs, managers, etc) wake up to realize we need to pay a lot more attention - and resources - to talent (and I don’t just mean compensation). From acquisition to retention and continuous improvement. Education is one small part of that overall equation - but a very important one.
A few months back, Clint Hocking did a “rehearsal” of his GDC exploration lecture at IGDA Montreal. Since I had just started playing Crackdown, his one point of “providing many small/dispersed rewards, encourages exploration” really stuck in my mind.
Those dang agility/hidden orbs scattered across the map motivated me to explore the richness and depth of Pacific City, way beyond what I would have done in a normal, more linear, game.
Mind you, the fact that they were linked to Xbox achievements was certainly part of the motivation as well. And, more generally, the idea of all those achievements serving as small rewards to more thoroughly explore the game overall is an interesting one. That is, minus the achievements, would most folks simply clear the 21 gang leaders and be done?
Raphael van Lierop has a lengthy discussion on achievements running in the IGDA’s forums…
Somehow, you expect Sweden to mostly be snow/cold country. When I was offered to stay at the “beach house” during the Nordic Game conference, I was somewhat confused, but delighted nonetheless to be staying with other speakers similarly invited.
Turns out the beach house was not actually on the beach (more like a 10-minute walk away), but no matter. The uniquely rustic experience isolated a bunch of us away from the main hubbub of the conference itself and afforded for one of my most different/special event experiences to date.
And, the conference itself was very good as well! With over 1000 attendees from the various Nordic game development communities, the conference was bustling with energy and enthusiasm. The speaker line-up was diverse and of a high level. The sub-theme on audio was unusual for the more general audience on hand, but it was certainly refreshing and inspiring to have that much game audio/design related talent in one place.
Now in its fourth year, Nordic Game is a significant regional conference and I am personally pleased that I finally got to participate at it (thanks to E3’s implosion ;)
Here are some photos from the trip - a few of the event itself and a few from the “beach house”…
Malmo’s historic town hall in the central square of the city.
My personal tour guide, Per Stromback (Spelplan) settling pre-conference logistics.
An idyllic scene from within one of the many parks of Malmo.
Nice to see all the bikes in use, making for a very green city.
Beach house host Sten Selander (NetPort) and Per loading up essential supplies.
Japanese Invasion: The bulk of speakers from Japan arrive at the beach house.
Tsutomu Kouno (Sony Japan) and Babsi Lippe (Avaloop) enjoy a beer on the “Hollywood swing”.
Masaya Matsuura (NanaOn-Sha) browsing Sten’s record collection.
Maki Hirami (NanaOn-Sha) and Yuki Grove enjoy the BBQ.
Watanabe san (RobotSound) succumbed to the jet lag.
Daniel James (Three Rings) out for a stroll on the beach.
Kouno san flirts with the waves…
…while Babsi and Dare Matheson (Harmonix) brave the freaking cold waters.
Panoramic shot from the 54th floor of the Turning Torso (where the VIP reception was hosted).
And, the other side of town.
At the base of the Turning Torso…
…and looking straight up. Was very disorienting, especially with the clouds moving!
Erik Robertson (Nordic Game Program) struts his stuff on stage, welcoming the attendees and introducing the opening keynote speaker.
Kouno san discusses the creation of LocoRoco.
The career fair area was heavily trafficked.
Matsuura san (center) performs a techno-dance song to close out his lecture. Not viewable: the dancing Aibo!
Awesome
viking-worthy trophies! Jorgen Tharaldsen (Funcom) picks up the award for most promising game for Conan.
Event party action at the Hipp (an revamped theater).
Danish Brain Power: Lisbeth Klastrup and T.L. Taylor of IT-U Copenhagen in lively debate.
Katsumi Mizushima (NTL) chills back at the beach house.
Babsi loads up while Paulina keeps back.
Babsi helping Mizushima san prep for his Dragon Ball Z talk.
Harmonix art duo Ryan Lesser and Dare Matheson give insight into the art direction/evolution for the Guitar Hero series.
As one of North America’s largest game development centers, Vancouver has been ripe for its very own game industry focused event. Cue the Vancouver International Game Summit, a decent first attempt that attracted 300+ attendees.
The event wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly awesome, either. The organizers made a valiant attempt to put things on, however, they dealt with a challenging “wait and see” attitude of many local developers. Also, there was a lack of thematic cohesion and no declaration of who the core audience was supposed to be beyond “games + Vancouver”. This bore out in the very diverse audience (educators, recruiters, gov/support orgs, bankers, lawyers, students, etc), but with very few actual game developers for them to connect with.
Most of the content was good, and I particularly enjoyed Alexander Seropian’s keynote dissecting industry economics and production challenges. Sadly, I spent most of the second day in bed after my kids’ flu germs caught up with me.
Hopefully, this first one will generate enough confidence to get more support from the local community and help mold it into a much more robust event (like we’re seeing on Canada’s other coast).
Beth A. Dillon did up a nice summary of the Summit over at Gamasutra, with more detail on individual sessions…
As usual, here are some snaps from the trip. (And, someone else put a bunch more up at Flickr.)
Steve Bocska (Hothead Games) moderates the “how to get published” panel (arguably, the best panel of the conference).
While not officially recruiting booths, recruiters were in full force…
Josh Holmes (Propaganda Games) did a textbook “game industry is broken” rant that got the audience engaged in some good discussion.
Oddly, the north tower of the Sheraton Wall Center (the venue for the conference) was shaped a lot like a PS3.
Trevor Sones (Reboot Communications) and Lynda Brown (New Media BC) were two of the key people behind the Summit.
Vlad Ceraldi (Hothead Games) and Alexander Seropian (Wideload Games) tackling a tower of raw fish and seafood for dinner.
Bob ? (Seven Group) and Jessica Tams (Casual Games Association) at the Minna Mingle.
EA Canada top gun Rory Armes delivering a surprisingly not crap keynote for a suit.
Having a BBQ lunch in the gardens was a particularly nice touch.
Friction on EA’s Need For Speed team? David Elton taking out some frustration on Stephane Grefford.
IGDA Vancouver Chapter strategy session: Jason Elliot (Art Institute), Su Skerl (Hothead Games), a very sick me, and David Elton (EA).
Nice to see Michelle Hinn guest-blogging at Terra Nova. She’s the indefatigable chair of the IGDA’s Game Accessibility SIG. One of her initial posts pointed to PBS’s coverage of accessibility and video games, largely centered around the SIG’s activities at GDC.
One of the opening lines is how worrying about accessibility in games is so un-sexy compared to funner challenges like wrestling with AI and physics. Still, it was a rather inspiring TV spot, until you get to the part during the SIG’s GDC session when the camera pans around to the audience. There’s less than a dozen attendees (including the volunteer CAs) in a room that could easily fit 150+.
Oh well. Guess most developers (or the publishers who pay them) are just too busy with AI problems to be worried about making their games more accessible. On that note, Sheri Graner Ray had a great comment about making games more accessible. Period. More accessible to everyone, not just for folks with disabilities… Similar thoughts are echoed my Ernest Adams in his recent “why action games suck” article at Gamasutra.
