tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post2050879970622587492..comments2012-09-25T13:17:17.878-07:00Comments on Independent Video Game Design & Development Program: Shawn Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17939774413226023069noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-23867138168095735012012-09-25T13:17:17.878-07:002012-09-25T13:17:17.878-07:00Hi,
We're pushing to get the program up and r...Hi,<br /><br />We're pushing to get the program up and running for next Sept. An official announcement should be made in Nov /Dec. <br /><br />Thanks,<br />ShawnShawn Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17939774413226023069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-53538856833638051942012-09-25T13:03:49.007-07:002012-09-25T13:03:49.007-07:00Hi. We're approaching the end of September. An...Hi. We're approaching the end of September. Any update as per when the announcement will be made? Thanks in advance for any information that you are able to share.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-91911614472375135082012-08-03T08:19:55.741-07:002012-08-03T08:19:55.741-07:00Hi Rosalind,
Sorry for the late reply. You mentio...Hi Rosalind,<br /><br />Sorry for the late reply. You mention you have an AEC relate to game development. I would be interested to know the name of that AEC.<br /><br />The independent game design AEC at Dawson should be announced by the end of Sept., and begin Jan 2013, pending approvals. I will also post to this blog soon regarding the direction of the program.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />ShawnShawn Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17939774413226023069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-22868226599046778782012-07-18T06:31:45.658-07:002012-07-18T06:31:45.658-07:00Hi,
I have a great interest in this program and w...Hi,<br /><br />I have a great interest in this program and would like to know what's the progress in making this program coming to life.<br /><br />I have a DEC in computer science and did 2 years of university before becoming a full time game tester. <br /><br />I am looking to take some evening courses and eventually have a AEC related to game development.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />RosalindSeraferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07683165648598591869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-49303357795140898192012-07-05T11:39:24.375-07:002012-07-05T11:39:24.375-07:00I have been working as a Game Designer for an inde...I have been working as a Game Designer for an independent studio for about a year. I graduated from the AEC program as a Level Designer, but I acquired the Game Designer position through my portfolio of personal projects done over the years on my spare time.<br /><br />Game design is heavily intuitive, just like any other skill, and training is an invaluable asset that serves to offer tools for game designers to help hone their abilities. For this reason I would be more interested in seeing this program go incubator-style in order to ensure that everyone participating has some sort of prior personal experience with creating games.<br /><br />If this program were more incubator-style, as far as I understand, it would focus on getting people with prior experience together in order to expand their current knowledge of game development and produce working titles (or at least prototypes).<br /><br />The program should focus on smaller teams, as the main goal of a Game Designer is to ‘design games’ (especially if they are in this incubator with the goal of starting their own company). Having 10 Game Designers fighting for creative direction sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen.<br /><br />History of game design is a must, but I don’t think that it’s main focus should be in knowing that Pac-Man was originally Puck Man or that Pinball machines were originally without flippers and considered gambling. Instead it should focus more on reviewing elements of past game design, the great and, even more importantly, the greatly flawed. This would include general game analysis of level design, narrative direction, game balance... AND PACING.<br /><br />On the technical side of things, Unity 3D serves as an amazing game development tool, but if the goal of the program is to allow a single person to start up their own independent company I would definitely dive into Flash development using ‘Flash Develop’ and focus more on teaching the basics of Object Oriented Programming. Having this knowledge opens the door for an indie developer to easily access social media portals such as Kongregate and Facebook. Also learning OOP will help if ever they wish to move on to developing mobile titles and almost everything else.<br /><br />Another reason I stress the importance of learning OOP instead of scripting is because it is “harder”. It is easy to learn javascript and/or C# scripting in Unity after learning OOP in Flash, but it’s not so easy the other way around. <br /><br />Lastly, the program should not downplay the importance of the business-side of independent game development. Most Game Designers have very little knowledge of what it takes to simply register a company name, let alone get their game out onto the market. What does owning an independent business really mean anyway? What are your responsibilities? How/where do you get noticed? Should you try to get government funding? If you’re a solo-guy trying to make games, you can’t rely on anybody but yourself to answer all of these questions and more. It is undeniably vital that this be dissected to its furthest extent before designers exit the program.<br /><br />There is a lot of great advice in general for the possible direction of this program and I’m excited to hear where it goes from here. I hope this turns out well and I would definitely be interested in being a part of it!Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11063082317992550464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-75781428369566904862012-07-05T11:27:38.978-07:002012-07-05T11:27:38.978-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11063082317992550464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-63225618700708550922012-05-18T17:19:46.019-07:002012-05-18T17:19:46.019-07:00Thanks for the clarification. That’s what I though...Thanks for the clarification. That’s what I thought, but the other criteria seemed so restrictive — I just wanted to make sure.<br /><br />This is definitely something that would interest me, particularly given that the Unity engine is used in the program.C. Fordhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17754293049986905945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-44256741983232004802012-05-18T06:38:30.648-07:002012-05-18T06:38:30.648-07:00Hi Fordham,
It means someone who is unemployed bu...Hi Fordham,<br /><br />It means someone who is unemployed but not receiving EQ or any other from of social assistance. A person in this situation is often supported by their family, spouse, or partner.Shawn Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17939774413226023069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-48336636157294017102012-05-17T19:57:54.684-07:002012-05-17T19:57:54.684-07:00Sorry to be dense here, but as per the acceptance ...Sorry to be dense here, but as per the acceptance criteria, what does "You are not receiving any public financial support" mean?C. Fordhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17754293049986905945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-65805568437327962832012-05-09T06:49:58.843-07:002012-05-09T06:49:58.843-07:00Thanks Bubba, I'll check these out.Thanks Bubba, I'll check these out.Shawn Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17939774413226023069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-59001927044696009242012-05-08T15:28:43.874-07:002012-05-08T15:28:43.874-07:00Id love to this actually come into life, i'm a...Id love to this actually come into life, i'm a Costa Rican student with a great interest in game design... But id love to be a part of this program. I unfortunately agree with almost all critiques, since they all make great points, but i think 60% 20% 20% in production, theory and business would be the greatest option for this program... Id love to continue hearing about this :)emongevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15668181026818998287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-732483541920334022012-05-08T14:22:14.409-07:002012-05-08T14:22:14.409-07:00hey Shane ...
The competition I read about is : G...hey Shane ...<br /><br />The competition I read about is : Games4Girls sponsored by U of Illionois @ urbana-champaign<br />here's the link: http://ivgdd.blogspot.ca/2012/05/if-you-are-independent-or-garage-based.html#comment-form<br /><br />a team of students from U of Waterloo won last year with their game, Alessa in Wonderland. Here's their story : <br />http://uwaterloo.ca/profiles/research_profiles/profile-archive.php?id=193<br /><br />Hope you find these inspiring /thought provoking...Edward Fullerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07035426499605316484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-4744595676875354342012-05-08T06:48:26.380-07:002012-05-08T06:48:26.380-07:00Hi Bubba,
-- A DEC is not needed to take an AEC. ...Hi Bubba,<br /><br />-- A DEC is not needed to take an AEC. Program Requirements are:<br />● Quebec Secondary School Diploma (DES) or equivalent<br />● Quebec Diploma of Professional Studies (DEP) or equivalent<br />● A combination of experience and/or training deemed appropriate for the program.<br />● English language skills equivalent to placement at Preparation for College English or<br />higher. Applicants may be required to take an English placement exam.<br /><br />Currently, the only other video game program being offered at Dawson is Level Design and it is being offered through Emploi-Quebec. This means to get in you have to meet one of the following conditions:<br />• You are receiving Employment Insurance benefits<br />• You have received Employment Insurance benefits within the last three years or within the last five years in the case of maternity or parental leave benefits<br />• You are receiving Social Assistance benefits<br />• You are not receiving any public financial support<br />As you can imagine, the majority of people who want to study Level Design can't get in. <br /><br />Level Designers are primarily responsible for the game-play and almost always the layout of the space in which the game-plays happens. Each Level Designer is usually responsible for one level of a game, which are outlined by the game designer(s). In the mainstream industry, these roles are clearly separated, in the independent industry, these lines can, and often must be be crossed. <br /><br />- How would graduates function as entrepreneurs internationally will be worked out at the level of the course competencies. It's an important question, but we're not there yet.<br /><br />- As far as I am aware, this would be the first independent game design program in Quebec. The Level Design program started out at Ubisoft Campus in collaboration with Ubisoft, CEGEP du Vieux Montreal, CEGEP du Matane, and the universities of Montreal and Sherbrooke. The AECs (Level Design, 3D Animation and 3D Modeling) were designed so that the three groups collaborated on a video game production during the final term. This was an innovative program, and did a very good job preparing students for the mainstream industry. Ubisoft Campus was closed a few years ago, unfortunately. However, GEPEP du Vieux Montreal and Matane are still offering these programs: http://www.cvm.qc.ca/formationcontinue/programmesjour/Pages/index.aspx<br /><br />I agree with Cindy as well, since part of the idea of independent game development is to explore new forms of game experience, we hope to attract a diversity of designers / developers.Shawn Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17939774413226023069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-2835143729946600852012-05-07T16:04:06.373-07:002012-05-07T16:04:06.373-07:00I know next to nothing about Video games but a few...I know next to nothing about Video games but a few thing came to mind as I read the comments ;<br /><br />-As an AEC program, presumably students would have a DEC already - ideally in what, if there was an ideal applicant ...Dawson offers 2 other AEC programs in the same field ( Video games) . How do they overlap one another in regards to skills and subject matter? perhaps define why would one take this program rather than one of the others offered... How they compare /complement each other?<br /><br />- In regards to business oriented courses maybe something in regard to international business laws and practices and intellectual property might be important to address. How would graduates function as entrepreneurs internationally?<br /><br />- and on a different tact , addressing what kind/type of games are produced in different regions might be interesting... and is this program also being offered in French at another local CEGEP? Is so , perhaps some exchange , or a competition of sorts might be an interesting project.<br /><br />- As Cindy mentioned , diversity should be promoted - I've read of programs/contests(?) ( I can't remember where /what ) in which young women competed / teamed up to produce games specifically for the girls market ( for instance) ...Edward Fullerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07035426499605316484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-56129781021711938772012-05-06T21:57:41.619-07:002012-05-06T21:57:41.619-07:00One thing to consider, re Jason DR's model, is...One thing to consider, re Jason DR's model, is that it really privileges a certain type of designer. I get that the obsessive hacker/jammer/churner model is currently idolized in indie games, but also want to point out that a) these guys do pretty well without being in a program, and b) we're almost always talking 20yr old dudes here. It'd be great if we could get some diversity in the indie scene, is all I'm saying.<br /><br />Re: using Unity as the core development environment: as you of course know, Unity can be used to make Flash games, Android games, iOS games, PC/Mac games, console games, etc. etc. Having used it to create 2D games exclusively, I can say while it certainly isn't optimized for this, the benefits of learning the ins and outs of the tool without having to also worry about 3D assets are pretty high. It is fairly easy to ramp up enough Javascript knowledge to do some pretty sophisticated things in Unity, and the support and available resources for it are exceptional. To be honest (and having used Flash extensively), Flash is in no way "easier" than Unity (Flash I think I can scientifically call a monstrous frankentool and curse on all multimedia, and I'm pretty sure all Flash devs would agree ;-) <br /><br />I would also like to suggest it is in fact very useful to develop experience in all aspects of game production, rather than strictly specializing. Obviously, people will find their "roles," but knowing exactly what is involved in all aspects of production (and possibly being able to fill in in a pinch) is probably more valuable in an indie environment than with a larger company. Plus, we shouldn't necessarily conflate 'commercially viable' with 'graphically and technically sophisticated' (take an incredibly successful game like Canabalt for example).<br /><br />Perhaps something else to consider (and something I tell my students) is that the first game anyone completes is probably going to be pretty terrible. What is important is that it is complete, and that you get that first terrible game out of the way so that you can make a second game that is actually decent. In this regard, it's pretty useful to have students complete at least one game in the first year.<br /><br />Cindy PorembaCindy Porembahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00428471836531025931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-83935056624262093862012-05-04T09:31:33.406-07:002012-05-04T09:31:33.406-07:00Thanks for the input Francois-Sebastien. If we mov...Thanks for the input Francois-Sebastien. If we move toward an incubator-syle program, as Jason suggests above, would a 50/50 split between production and marketing work for you? Would it be make sense for your team to work on your games at Dawson (in a dedicated lab)?Shawn Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17939774413226023069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5744575045223755638.post-39368843221498260262012-05-03T11:20:17.530-07:002012-05-03T11:20:17.530-07:00Hi,
I am the owner of a small video game developm...Hi,<br /><br />I am the owner of a small video game development studios located on the south-shore that specialize in mobile game development. We currently have 2 game launched on iOS and Android Store.<br /><br />I really think that the most important part for me besides creating the game is the marketing: this is the part I was lacking and I still miss some notion that would help me reach a bigger market.<br /><br />I would suggest adding a video-editing course.<br /><br />We are building our 2D games with Corona SDK: the development time is fast with Lua and the support from the community is really great.<br /><br />This is really a great idea,<br /><br />Francois-Sebastien Trudel-Benoit<br />Owner of Totemic Studios Inc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com