Committee Meetings and Minutes

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Game Development Institute

Meeting Minutes

Current Status of Minutes: Final
Date	October 27, 2010
Time	6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Location	TBA

Members Present
Richard Baldwin, Gail Bayeta, Tony Bratton, Sara Farr, Garry Gaber, Tom Heimann, Jason Hughes, Mary Kohls, Brandon Lackey, Cyrus Lum, Nicholas Macron, Dana Marshall, Rudy Martinez, Robert McGoldrick, Mark Nau, Linda Smarzik, Rich Vogel, Deanna Whaley
Guests Present
No guest attendance has been recorded.

Item # 1:	Old Business: Welcome and Introductions
Presenter	Rich Vogel
Discussion	I. Welcome and Introductions: Rich Vogel informed members that Chair Gordon Walton had a previous engagement and he was there to chair the committee on Mr. Walton's behalf. He called the meeting to order at 6:56pm. Cyrus Lum nominated Rachel Hardwick as Vice Chair. Motion passed by acclamation.

Item # 2:	Old Business: State of education and Game Development Inst. Updates
Presenter	Linda Smarzik
Discussion	II. Linda Smarzik showed a PowerPoint presentation on the state of education, which reflected a growing number of high school students (56%) who were not attending college. She also showed the history of the game development institute for those members who were new to the committee.

Item # 3:	New Business: Industry Support
Presenter	Garry Gaber
Discussion	I. Industry Support - Garry Gaber informed the members the need of industry support for the GDI. He asked the members for names or volunteers to assist in the monthly meetups held by the GDI. He also asked for assistance in seeking local internships for the GDI students. Members responded that they would give him contact information of human resource personnel he could contact.

Item # 4:	New Business: Curriculum
Presenter	Mary Kohls, Garry Gaber
Discussion	a. Game Programming - Mary Kohls gave a brief update regarding the students following this degree track and explained that it is hard for students in this area to take all the necessary math courses due to this being a 2-year degree. That being said she also informed the members that 2 students graduated this past year and have been successful being employed in their field of study. She asked the members to review the degree handouts for the Game & Visualization Programming area. She explained that their intention was to replace the current restricted elective with a Programming for Mobile Devices course. Rich Vogel asked if there were any Flash courses included and Mrs. Kohls pointed out the actionscript courses were electives in the degree. Mr. Vogel explained to the ACC faculty that Bioware always goes to Guildhall when finding students to work on projects because they have a comprehensive program where students work in teams to develop games. Their capstone is two semesters, which gives the students more time to produce well-developed games. After a brief discussion regarding students working on game projects as teams with programmers, designers and artists, Rich Vogel made the motion to accept the degree revisions as proposed. Rachel Hardwick seconded the nomination and the motion passed by acclamation. b. Game Design - Garry Gaber explained the Game Design degree courses and the types of assignments the students complete during their coursework. Jason Hughes member asked how many of the courses involved game scripting? Mr. Gaber explained a large portion of Design & Creation II involves game scripting and that every course in the degree track touched on game scripting on some level. Cyrus Lum asked if the students go thru a process of trying to figure out what market trends are so they can figure out if their design will be profitable. Mr. Lum explained that it would be good to teach students basic economic theory or have a production track that designers could also take courses from. Mr. Hughes explained that it would be beneficial to students if some form of the production process were included in each class so production would be reinforced throughout the program. He also stated that designers in studios are programmers that have design skills and it would be very hard for students graduating with a design degree to become designers in a game studio. Rachel Hardwick stated that it used to be the QA testers could become entry level designers however in today's industry only about 10% could move up. Dick Baldwin informed members about a new degree started this semester for software testing. Members agreed that software testing would be a good degree track for students. Rich Vogel stated that designers are the hardest jobs to obtain and that there are very few good designers. He explained that Jesse Schell has a new design book that is excellent for future designers and that Carnegie Melon has one of the best design schools in the nation. Sara Farr explained that since ACC is a 2-year program, we strive to get students into the industry and asked what percentage of their studios are doing which type of jobs? Mr. Vogel answered that Bioware has different tracks: * Programmers: AI, Gameplay, Pathfinding, Collision, C#, C++, Actionscript Enterprise, Platform * Design: Technical Designers, System Designers, Scripters, Writers * Art: Technical Artists, environ, character, concept, 60% outsourced * QA: Programmers who write test suites, Metrics, Embedded QA to write test plans. He further explained that designers they hire enjoy designing, economist, psychology, and architecture. Started out paper playing. They submit a module to see how they can learn the basic dynamics of what Bioware does. Writers have to go through a 3-month training program. Smaller games have more technical teams and are cross-disciplined. The bigger the game the more specialized in each area. Mrs. Hardwick explained that programming is much harder to outsource and students with a programming or art degree will have an easier time getting a job then a designer would. Cyrus Lum stated that the best programmers and designers that he has worked with had some sort of production background. Mary Kohls asked members if the art or design track should require an internship course? Members explained that internships are very hard to come by these days because it takes to much time to oversee them. Advisory committee members agreed that the Game Design degree was fine as it currently stands and just content revisions need to be made. c. Game Art – Garry Gaber explained the current and proposed Game Art degree plan. Explained that more video game, zbrush, photoshop and more advanced 3D modeling classes were added. Game artist are much more technical these days and need to know how to make art for a game engine. Mr. Vogel suggested the Game Testing course be removed and teach a class with shader work, scripting and more technical issues for artists as a pipeline (not process) course. Pipeline - the process of taking a piece of art into the game. Cyrus Lum stated that smaller teams of artists are much more technical. He also stated that art management is an important skill for students to have. Members suggested that the 3D Modeling & Rendering track be incorporated into the Game Art track as most of the local 3D modeling positions are within a game company. They felt that having both a Game Art and 3D Modeling path was redundant. Cyrus Lum made the motion to table the vote to change the Game Art degree until suggested revisions have been made and emailed to the members for review. Rachel Hardwick seconded the nomination and it passed by acclamation. d. 3D Animation – Garry Gaber explained that the 3D Animation degree uses Maya. He gave a brief overview of each course. Mr. Vogel suggested having a mocap course, which teaches how to direct the session and clean up. Mr. Hughes, and Mr. Lum stated that their producers handle the sessions and the animators just clean up the data. Tom Heimann informed members that his studio does not use mocap. Mr. Vogel argued that if time permitted it would be good for animators learn how to shoot a session. Cyrus Lum stated it would great for animators to understand state machines. Members agreed that state machines should be part of the curriculum content. State machines are more important than learning mocap. It needs to be taught earlier in the degree (not part of a capstone class). Possibly woven through each 3D Animation I – III classes. Mr. Heimann asked if students learn about cinematics. Cyrus Lum suggested that a cinematic design class be included which would also teach editing as well as design. Brandon Lackey explained that cinematic design is included in ARTV 1402 Intro to Technical Animation & Rendering. Rudy Martinez asked if state machine should be included in the programming track? The members answered that it should state machines should be part of the programming track also. Members suggested removing Digital Video and replacing it with Cinematic Design. Members suggested that After Effects could be rolled into the Portfolio Development class so students can produce a demo reel. Members agree that the 3D Animation degree will be tabled also until revisions can be emailed to members for further review.

Item # 5:	New Business: Open Discussions - Industry trends
Presenter	Advisory Members
Discussion	Highlights of advisory committee members suggested content changes: * Merge Game Art & 3D Modeling degree plans * Have real world constraints in projects * Include pipeline in curriculum * Set Milestones and deadlines for projects * Market analysis – Style. Is it unique? * More production process – understand flow * Game Testing as a career not a stepping stone * Capstone – Game building with teams, not the Port. Dev class. Include Programming, Design & Art in capstone. * More scripting within the classes * Teach processes in design – thought process, team process * Create Cinematic Design course * State machines in animation * Mocap clean up

Item # 6:	New Business: Set Date for Next Meeting and Adjournment
Presenter	Rich Vogel
Discussion	Mr. Vogel adjourned the meeting at 8:47pm.

Item # 7:	Addendum:
Presenter
Discussion	On December 8, 2010 a draft of these minutes and updated proposed degree plans were emailed to advisory committee members (12 industry members in total, 7 attended the meeting) to reply with their approval or comments. Six members responded with approvals and six did not respond at all. Revisions have passed with majority votes of those who attended.

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