[game_edu] Ad Hoc committee

[Chris Oltyan]

A couple of points on the below:


   - a list of criterion to insure that students are getting the
   appropriate outcomes in their education (this needs to be flushed out
   extensively)

I don't know if we can do this as an industry.  I have worked with designers
who have completely opposite philosophies on game making and still have each
produced titles that score high in meta-critic, as well as being
commercially successful.  I think we can at least stop schools calling a
programming course that deals with gameplay mechanics as "Game Design" but
other than knowing what Game Design is NOT, I still don't know what it is.

   - that the institution has an adviosry board with members of the video
   game industry

This seems reasonable for most cases, and probably the best catch we have to
whether or not a program is actually created towards existing need.
However, what is the video game industry? Can indies be on the board? People
who make serious games or advergames?

   - students work in teams, study iterative design, essentially embrace
   the ethos of the curriculum framework

Teams and iterative design are over-rated :P Yes, I'm being a tad devil's
advocate here, but as a Certified Scrum Master, I think I can weigh in a bit
here.  For complex high risk projects that require multiple people, yes,
iterative design and teams are key.  However, for many small independant
single or two person jobs there are other skills needed to be successful.
Also, for the "Games as Art" bit of things, sometimes iterative design is
not needed.  I think teaching the value of iterative design as a means for
honing in on key concepts and a game's ability to deliver on certain areas
is valuable, but it does not nessesarily aid in the pure expression of an
idea in a game.  I think the game would be less fun if no iterative design
was done, but I do not believe all games have to be fun.

   - students have graduated and been placed in the video game industry

Again, hard to define what "The Industry" is much anymore.  If someone
graduates from an Art School and sells a painting, are they in the Fine Art
Industry? Do they have to have an exhibit, or a patron?  I started a PS2 and
Xbox dev studio, but we never had a published title, would that count?
Because if I were in marketing I would say "Our students have gone on to
start their own companies developing games for the PS2 and Xbox!".

I think this can work, but keeping it vague enough for growth and
experimentation and specific enough to prevent band wagoner's will be a hard
thing to do.

-- 
Chris Oltyan
Say Design, Producer and Designer
Scrum Guy
-----
"Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount
of work not done"
 --AGILE Principle
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