The Education(s) of a Game Designer IGDA Roundtable at the GDC 2005 Moderated by Katie Salen Summary Roundtable 1: There were 85 people present for this session. Roughly 40% were from the game industry, 40% from academia, 10% were students, and 10% came from the publishing industry. The group began by brainstorming a list of primary questions worth exploring: 1. What is “game design?” How do we define it within the field; how is it being defined within game curricula? 2. What are different teaching methods being used by those teaching in game design programs? What is the balance of work between digital and paper-based games? 3. What is the most effective way for students to present their skill-set to employers? 4. Who should teach in the newly emerging game design and game development programs? Academics? People from industry? Where will all of the teachers come from with such a huge growth in new programs? 5. What are qualities that students need to be successful within the industry? What kinds of skills and characteristics are employers looking for? 6. How might the value of design be further evangelized, both within academia and within the industry? 7. How can game design be legitimized as a degree, and as a field of academic study? What strategies have people used to argue for the creation of new programs within their institutions? The primary focus of the conversation was on what forms and bodies of knowledge students studying games and game design need. Specialized vs. generalized degrees were discussed, with the bulk of participants pointing to the need for an intensely cross-disciplinary education where students learn communication skills, technical writing, how to work in and manage teams, and how to operate within a game production pipeline. No specific conclusions were drawn, other than there is obviously a huge need to people to share resources and compare approaches. The group then identified a list of existing and needed resources, that the IGDA might help support: Existing Resources: IGDA Curriculum framework (http://www.igda.org/academia/curriculum_framework.php) Futureplay.org EA is making Renderware free for academic programs Popcap.com has free software available SecondLife available for free use within courses Mod community/open source community Needed Resources: A return of the Academic Summit at the GDC IDGA education-focused list (done!) Composite list of software and technologies available for use Archive of game design/game production documents Mentorship program Set of standards for programs: what is the baseline knowledge needed to grant a degree? Annotated bibliography of game design/game development resources Roundtable Day 2: There were 45 people present for this session. Roughly 30% were from the game industry, 50% from academia, and 20% were students. After a quick summary of the previous day's conversation, the group came up with four questions they were most interested in exploring: 1. What is the difference between “game design” and “game development?” 2. Are their differences in what a student should be learning if they plan to work in Europe vs. the US, for example. Are programs geographically specific? 3. What types of degrees exist and where are they located within the college or university structure? 4. Are there too many programs? Should standards be put in place to control or at least create consistency across programs? 5. What is the role of research? The group decided to start with the first question, by asking the same question from a slightly different angle: Whom are we educating? More specifically, who are we NOT educating within a curriculum focused in game design? 1. Not artists 2. Not programmers 3. Not developers: they are more focused on process, programming, and the business side of things Participants felt like we WERE educating: 1. People who design game play; connected to other types of designers: systems designers, UI designers, world designers, level designers 2. People who can define and carry through a vision working with a team 3. People who are strong interaction designers 4. People who understand the psychology of players, understanding motivations, styles of play, etc. 5. Designers: the degree should be a DESIGN degree The conversation then shifted focus. What does a game designer need to know? 1. Some level of programming, in order to a. prototype and b. have a shared language with the programmers on the team 2. Psychology 3. Some 3D (in order to be familiar with skills of others on the team) 4. Game mechanics 5. Common language, shared vocabulary 6. Philosophy/theory of game design 7. Strong process with ties to production pipeline (brainstorming, storyboarding, prototyping, etc.) 8. How to critically analyze games; know the history of games 9. Iterative process with strong prototyping skills 10. History and sociology of entertainment 11. Understanding of the industry 12. How to write design documents 13. How to work in teams 14. How to work with a range of game editors/technologies 15. Probability theory, game theory, systems theory 16. Game tuning Other needs: 1. Diverse skills set/strongly interdisciplinary 2. Chance to work on both short term and long term projects 3. Chance to work within a range of roles on small teams 4. How to do research and figure problems out on their own 5. How to communicate their ideas to others 6. Critical thinking/synthesis skills The most controversial topic that came up was whether or not it was valuable to even offer a degree in game design at the undergraduate level. Some participants felt like students should get a degree in Liberal Arts or Computer Science with a minor in Game Design, rather than pursuing a bachelor’s in game design. Other participants felt the opposite, that the degree should be in game design, with a minor in other areas, like CS or History.