[game_edu] Brenda Braithwaite's game_edu rant at GDC

[Adam Parker]

Ian,

We do this as a part of our initial prototyping/basic programming course for
designers... although we have focused on analysing the comparative merits of
languages, rather than IDEs or middleware. I think there is some merit in
the tighter approach you suggest.

Personally, I prefer to introduce the concepts of programming to designers
through a designated tool, as part of the process is learning to think code
within a community of practice. Shared devkits allow for shared learning.

We do allow liberty for students, after this point, to spec their own dev
tech. At present, our designers tend to work within UDK for historical
reasons, but we are seeing more interest in Unity as I mentioned above.
We've also had students work with Ogre.

We also have students sketch mechanics with GameMaker and mod with GECK and
ESCS. I have a team working within LittleBigPlanet 2 as a means to exploring
its methods for designerly construction as understood through McCulloch's
notion of digital craft. (I've also wanted to implement Kodu for them, but
simply haven't gotten around to it myself...my 9 yo daughter loves it, so
way to go, sooner or later)

~Adam

On Thu, Mar 10, 2011 at 12:10 PM, Ian Schreiber <ai864 at yahoo.com> wrote:


> Has anyone tried a peer-to-peer approach on this? Meaning, one of the

> graded assignments would be to download and evaluate an authoring tool (UDK,

> GameMaker, Alice, Scratch, Kodu, Unity, etc. - there are so many these

> days), go through its tutorials/documentation, and present its strengths and

> weaknesses, that sort of thing? Then instead of us mandating a tool, the

> students choose...

>

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

> *From:* Adam Parker <aparker at qantmcollege.edu.au>

>

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

> *Cc:* Mike Reddy <Mike.Reddy at newport.ac.uk>

> *Sent:* Wed, March 9, 2011 6:49:04 PM

>

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

>

> Hi,

>

> We've also had success with designers working in UDK without programmer

> support. This was not by choice for them btw, but was a necessity arising

> out of limited programmer numbers in their cohort.

>

> Our students built a sidescrolling puzzle/platformer with a vibrant

> secondary world - a Psychonauts feel, according to several users during

> playtesting - by using Kismet and a little Unrealscript hacking. Some of

> what they wanted, such as variable gravity or transformable origami

> characters with variable powers, could not be achieved due to limits on

> their understanding of code. (On the other hand, we got a good lesson in

> positive scope reduction to polish core experience, so a win nonetheless.)

>

> On the language point, you might be also interested to know that our design

> students are getting into C# through Unity. We now have two groups of twenty

> (from a cohort of around 95) who are building their abilities through

> student-initiated and facilitated tutorials. I was surprised, but

> pleasantly, when they organised and ran these weekly sessions independent of

> our curriculum.

>

> As we were bringing Unity into the curriculum this year, my initial

> suspicion had been that it might have been a little too intense a language

> for first years, and so was planning to run with Javascript instead when we

> hit it in our prototyping courses later this year.

>

> Happily, this doesn't seem the case. They're all helping each other pop out

> top down shooters and collaborating around C# code as much as mechanics. I'd

> now recommend looking at C# if the mix is right for your designers.

>

> This outcome also helps the self-directed learning and student culture

> building agendas that I have, and in future might allow academic staff to

> focus instead on developing deeper practice awareness and theoretical

> integration, so FTW all round... :)

>

> There's obviously a boundary on how far the tools support designerly

> activity at present, but we seem to be moving towards a Photoshop for games.

> At least, students are looking for it.

>

> ~Adam

>

> (PS: I would happily wander over to Python, given the context...Also, the

> point about Unrealscript as crufty is valid. Though a good handle on its

> vagaries will allow for quality work to appear, of course.)

>

>

>

> On Thu, Mar 10, 2011 at 8:10 AM, Mike Reddy <Mike.Reddy at newport.ac.uk>wrote:

>

>> Just today, as it happens, three former students from the Arts side (i.e.

>> Not programmers) showed off their IGF recognised Indiecade prize winning

>> game, Q.U.B.E. (www.qubegame.co.uk). They had used UDK and scripting. If

>> you look at this, I'm actually envious that such a cool creation could have

>> NO programmers involved. As with everything, tools develop to "outneed"

>> their creators. But again, this reinforces Brenda's point.

>>

>> Mike

>> P.S. Anyone need a washed out programmer?

>> _______________________________________________

>> game_edu mailing list

>> game_edu at igda.org

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

>>

>

>

>

> --

> Adam Parker

> Senior Lecturer, Games Design

> Qantm College

>

> Qantm College Melbourne Campus

> 235 Normanby Rd

> South Melbourne VIC 3205 Australia

>

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-- 
Adam Parker
Senior Lecturer, Games Design
Qantm College

Qantm College Melbourne Campus
235 Normanby Rd
South Melbourne VIC 3205 Australia

+61 (0) 3 8632 3400   | Phone
+61 (0) 3 8632 3401   | Fax

www.sae.edu  | Web
www.qantm.com.au  | Web
www.saeshortcourses.com  | Web

SAE National Provider Code: 0273. SAE CRICOS Provider Codes: NSW 00312F. SAE
Institute Pty Ltd, ABN: 21 093 057 973

This email (including all attachments) is confidential and may be subject to
legal privilege and/or copyright. The information contained within this
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intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please notify
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