[game_edu] Brenda Braithwaite's game_edu rant at GDC

[Grace, Lindsay Mr.]

To push your metaphor a bit-do you need to be a mechanic to design cars, because I'd argue that having specific programming skill is more similar to the work of a mechanic than an engineer.  Mechanics know plenty about what's under the hood. 

I don't think you need programming skills, I think you need formal logic skills coupled with creativity. If you close the door on non-programmers, you're losing an opportunity.




Sent from my iPhone

Lindsay Grace
LGrace.com


On Mar 3, 2011, at 11:37 AM, "pawlicki at cs.rochester.edu" <pawlicki at cs.rochester.edu> wrote:


> Consider:

> 

> Do you need to be an engineer to design a sports car?

> 

> I think that you do. Sure sports cars are "fun". You can't

> design a sports car without understand issues of art, style,

> and the psychology of interaction with the machine and

> technology. Nonetheless, you need to be an engineer to

> design a car because you have to understand how the technology

> "under the hood" determines the user experience. The two

> are not separable.

> 

> Likewise, and for the same reasons, you need to be an engineer

> to design a game. The technology is not separate from the

> user experience.

> 

> Ted Pawlicki

> Department of Computer Science

> Hajim School of Engineering

> Univerisity of Rochester

> 

> 

>> 'Good', yes. But there are inferences in what you are saying that I'd

>> like to clarify.

>> 

>> You are describing the process as a solo one. I think that's not usual,

>> and the role of the designer in the development team is not one that

>> involves programming (at least not necessarily). Programming is not a

>> big part of the design phase at all IMO, and only once one has a clear

>> design concept can you really build anything, then iterate it. Assuming

>> that the designer holds the game in their hands until it solidifies into

>> a playable is not something I personally would do.

>> 

>> JP

>> 

>> On 3/3/2011 11:10 AM, Seth Sivak wrote:

>>> I think it is good for designers to be able to code.  They do not need

>>> to be "engineers" but be able to code enough to prototype their own

>>> designs.  As soon as you add in another person the iteration loop gets

>>> much longer, and the longer the loop the fewer iterations that can be

>>> completed.  Once the game is out of the design phase and more into

>>> production the game design role becomes more about problem solving

>>> than pure creativity, so at that point it is fine to no longer code

>>> and let pure engineers create the production level stuff.

>>> 

>>> Seth

>>> 

>>> On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 12:53 PM, jparker <jparker at ucalgary.ca

>>> <mailto:jparker at ucalgary.ca>> wrote:

>>> 

>>>    Interesting rant, and she certainly has credentials.

>>> 

>>>    Still, I don't think that game designers are necessarily excellent

>>>    programmers. They need to understand limits and possibilities, and

>>>    to be able to communicate well with programmers. Game design is

>>>    not a programming task, and game development is not a software

>>>    business. It's a business that does involve software to be sure.

>>>    Computer science programs (in my observation over only the past 12

>>>    years) produce relatively poor game designers, as their focus is

>>>    rather different than that of most design fields. It makes as much

>>>    sense that a CS major could design a good chair or house as design

>>>    a good game. And in fact, the game programmers on a team

>>>    traditionally have relatively little input to the creative process

>>>    (again, there are certainly exceptions, and things are changing in

>>>    some places).

>>> 

>>>    If a game designer has a vast knowledge of programming that could

>>>    be a good thing. I don't believe it to be a requirement. Thus the

>>>    question is 'is it worth the time needed to become an excellent

>>>    programmer'? That's hard to answer with authority.

>>> 

>>>    Jim

>>> 

>>> 

>>>    On 3/3/2011 8:38 AM, Peter Border wrote:

>>> 

>>>        For anybody else who's stuck at home this week.

>>> 

>>>        http://bbrathwaite.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/built-on-a-foundation-of-code-game-edu-rant/

>>> 

>>>        Peter Border

>>>        Game and Application Design Chairman

>>>        Globe University/Minnesota School of Business

>>>        1401 West 76th St

>>>        Richfield, MN 55423

>>>        pborder at msbcollege.edu <mailto:pborder at msbcollege.edu>

>>>        ________________________________________

>>> 

>>>        _______________________________________________

>>>        game_edu mailing list

>>>        game_edu at igda.org <mailto:game_edu at igda.org>

>>>        http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu

>>> 

>>> 

>>> 

>>>    --

>>>    From Hauptmann

>>>    --------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>    The inflated  style is itself a  kind of euphemism.  A mass of Latin

>>>    words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and

>>>    covering up all  the details. The  great enemy of  clear language is

>>>    insincerity.                                          —George Orwell

>>> 

>>>    Dr. J. R. Parker,                    Digital Media Laboratory

>>>    Professor of Play http://www.ucalgary.ca/~jparker

>>>    <http://www.ucalgary.ca/%7Ejparker>

>>>    Faculty of Fine Arts                 jparker@ ucalgary.ca

>>>    <http://ucalgary.ca>

>>>    University of Calgary                403-220-6784      AB606/AB611

>>> 

>>> 

>>>    _______________________________________________

>>>    game_edu mailing list

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>>> 

>>> 

>>> 

>>> 

>>> --

>>> +Seth

>> 

>> --

>> From Hauptmann

>> --------------------------------------------------------------------

>> The inflated  style is itself a  kind of euphemism.  A mass of Latin

>> words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and

>> covering up all  the details. The  great enemy of  clear language is

>> insincerity.                                          —George Orwell

>> 

>> Dr. J. R. Parker,                    Digital Media Laboratory

>> Professor of Play                    http://www.ucalgary.ca/~jparker

>> Faculty of Fine Arts                 jparker@ ucalgary.ca

>> University of Calgary                403-220-6784      AB606/AB611

>> 

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