[game_edu] Brenda Braithwaite's game_edu rant at GDC

[Steve Graham]

As an adjunct to Ian's comment, I'd like question whether moving from 
Python to UnrealScript may be a good plan.

Python is a widely used, standard language applied in a huge variety of 
programming projects. There are a *lot* of Python developers out there. 
There are a *lot* of tools and utilities for working with Python 
available. There are lots of educational resources for Python (both in 
class and self-study). Considered strictly on its merits as a 
programming language, it is well-design, coherent, and powerful.

Proprietary programming/scripting languages are generally a bad idea. 
They tend to be poorly designed, poorly implemented, with limited use, 
while tools, utilities, and libraries for them are few and far between. 
They are subject to the whims of the particular company providing them. 
This is, from complaints I've heard, a widely held and expressed 
opinion. Language design and implementation is *hard* to do well -- 
there is little, if any, reason to suppose that a company whose primary 
focus is elsewhere would do it well.

With your goal of enhancing their portfolio projects, I would suggest 
teaching Python (and make sure to cover/emphasize those parts which 
overlap most with UnrealScript) and then, somewhere, add in a day or two 
of lectures about "UnrealScript for Python developers" -- preferably 
immediately before or just as they start to work with UDK.

Alternatively, using a game engine which relies on a standard scripting 
language might be an alternative. That said, we do use UDK for some 
projects here, so I don't mean to single it out.

cheers,
skg


On 3/9/2011 10:09 AM, Ian Schreiber wrote:

> Out of curiosity - not that I have anything against the awesome people 

> at Epic - I'm not sure I fully understand the move from Python. The 

> only time I've ever used Python was with the (free, open-source) 

> PyGame library, which enables the creation of actual games. Were you 

> not using that, and if not, what exactly were your students doing in 

> Python if not using it to make games? (I mean, I'm totally on board 

> with the idea of having students make games, so I would consider any 

> class where they *weren't* doing that to stick out like a sore thumb.)

> ....

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

> *From:* Dan <danc at narrativedesigns.com>

> *To:* IGDA Game Education Listserv <game_edu at igda.org>

> *Sent:* Wed, March 9, 2011 3:14:40 AM

> *Subject:* Re: [game_edu] Brenda Braithwaite's game_edu rant at GDC

>

> ....

>

> The scripting classes are in Python and end to focus on more robust

> "programs" but with fewer rules. One reason we do scripting last is so 

> that

> we can focus the students on the more stringent and often easier to debug

> code first so that they have a solid foundation of good techniques before

> moving on to a more forgiving and therefore harder to troubleshoot 

> language.

>

> ....

> That said, we are in the process of making some changes. We are likely to

> switch scripting languages to UnrealScript as we are moving to an emphasis

> of ensuring students will have created strong demos upon graduating. 

> For the

> same reason, we are considering adding an app/mobile focused class 

> where the

> emphasis is more on implementing design ideas than on coding (The plan 

> would

> be to have this as a final semester class.)

....

-- 
steve graham
associate professor
computer game design
dakota state university
skg at dsu.edu
605-480-6603

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