Recently, I was invited to be a game judge for the 2013 UCSC (University of California at Santa Cruz) Sammy Awards. Other judges on the panel included game industry veterans from Sony, Activision, TinyCo, game journalists, and last year’s winners. We were all very amazed at the concepts and the quality of the games built by this computer game design class. We were fortunate to be able to experience the final products, but the real success is how the students demonstrated the skills this program instills in them.
The Computer Science Game Design Program is lead by professor Jim Whitehead and Michael Mateas who teach a string of classes called the “Game Design Studio Sequence” during the students’ senior year. This final year is prepped with the assistance of five other professors, who teach various levels of design principles, artificial intelligence, and interactivity classes. These lower level classes teach programming and prepare the students for their final test before hitting the real world.
The seniors begin the year by pitching their fellow students with their game concepts. A few winning pitches are selected and a team is recruited based on their interest in the idea. Generally, the winning pitchers are also selected as the team leads.
The teams form up as “companies”, each with its own unique name and they then have the entire school year to shape the concept into a full product. Since the sequence is filled with programmers the students often go out and recruit artists and musicians to make their game more visually appealing. These outside team members are able to receive course credit depending upon effort expended.
Among the most amazing things about this program, is that rather than prattle on about theory, it puts into practice most of the skills that the students need out in the work world. It teaches them how to build an idea from scratch, exercises their programming skills, and scheduling. Even more importantly it places them in a practical position of dealing with team management, politics, consistent communication, and recruiting outside team members. These things will all prove valuable wherever these students go.
However, seeing them in real life is a true testament to the program. For instance, this year’s Grand Prize winner was a game called Lens. It is a 3d immersive and atmospheric world that the player explores and solves puzzles by bringing in objects from an alternate dimension. The game quality is nearly up there with titles like Bioshock, but it is a much quicker experience. At the Sammy Awards show, Professor Whitehead admitted that the professors were pleasantly surprised that one of their student teams could successfully undertake this challenge.
The judges were also wowed by this game and how cohesive the world seemed to be, despite having a 20-person team. But it was even more amazing to later learn that the Lens crew had brought on 11 additional artists to help them create it. It was proof of their strong project management and passion that even with their large team and external artists the game still had one clear cohesive vision.
The best thing about this game design class is that it lets students learn and exercise entrepreneurial skills for an entire year while being freed of commercial restraint. This allows them to pour their energies into a project that they are passionate about without fear of starving or worrying about budget crunches. Yet, they still must build a real product, finish it, and present it to industry professionals and 700 audience members by the end of the year. This experience reveals to them what is possible based on their abilities rather than what they can do within a limited budget.
And judging by the emotional intensity of the students at the Sammy’s, they poured their full efforts into their work.
All the games this year were something to be proud of and many including Pixture, Tearable World, We’re Screwed, Militarium, and Siegebreakers will be available on Apple, Play, Amazon, Ouya, or even XBLA later this summer. Be sure to check them out here!
I am very happy to see my alma mater doing such great things!
