Get in the Game
ASU’s Computer Science Department will soon be passing on to students the secret codes for admission into the virtual reality world of computer game development.
Since their introduction in the early 1970’s, computer games have grown from being a novelty distraction into a multi-billion dollar international business and today’s games are light years away from your parents’ “Pong.”
According to “Game Developer” magazine, the computer gaming industry has enjoyed a roughly 20 percent growth in worldwide sales per year over the last five-to-six years, with annual revenues now estimated at over $50 billion. That growth is spawning a wide array of new job opportunities.
“As recently as 10 years ago, there hadn’t been a big demand for game developers or anyone working in entertainment software, which is not only games, but also the movie industry, which heavily uses computer graphics,” said Dr. Tim Roden, head of the ASU Computer Science Department. “Now, especially the last five years, there is a demand for programmers who have experience in computer graphics and related subjects, like user interfaces, audio programming and all the other things you see in the entertainment industry.”
To help prepare interested students to meet that demand, Roden’s department is adding new classes and equipment that will provide a new curriculum that has largely been unavailable at ASU.
“In the past, students who graduated from this university learned programming with an emphasis on business applications and development,” Roden said. “If they wanted to do something in scientific or entertainment related professions, they pretty much had to learn that on the job. The problem was, it’s hard to get a job as a game programmer when your classes have all been in developing business applications. You are really not set up for that.”
Four new classes in game development and a state-of-the-art Entertainment Computing Lab (ECL) will be available to ASU students in time for the 2008 summer terms. The ECL will contain about a dozen high-tech personal computers and the latest development software. The classes will include the freshman-level CS 1371 “Introduction to Computer Game Development” that will be accessible to all students, regardless of major.
“We’ll be talking about lots of topics,” Roden said. “Things like game interface design, artificial intelligence, project management, simulation development and game-play mechanics. There is quite a bit of work and effort that goes into it from when someone comes up with the idea for a game until you see it on the shelf at the store.”
Roden hopes the introductory course will attract from across campus students who are interested in how the gaming industry works, particularly art students who are into graphics. The upper-level classes for the more serious computer science students will get into the design and implementation of games using programming language with a focus on real-time graphics, audio, and more advanced concepts of 3-D graphics, physics and networking.
“It’s really a two-fold strategic move here,” Roden said. “We want to build up our department, attract more students and increase retention. We also want to provide instruction here that will give students a start on really rewarding and lucrative careers in the computer game industry.”
The fall 2007 “Game Career Guide” issue of “Game Developer” magazine states that budgets for developing new games range between $20-100 million per game and the expected revenue for individual games is anywhere from $250 million to $1 billion. That same issue says that 58 percent of current game developers have less than seven years experience and starting pay for a programmer with a bachelor’s degree in computer science is about $58,000 a year.
“What that doesn’t tell you is that, to get that job, a person more than likely will need some experience in school working on some projects and the like,” Roden said.
Opportunities for both instruction and hands-on experience in game development will now be available at ASU and Roden is excited about the prospects of the new program.
“The challenge for us is going to be to stay abreast of new technology and always offer it to our students,” Roden said. “As long as we are offering them the latest and greatest tools, software, computing and instruction in that kind of technology, they will be able to go out and get jobs in the computer game industry or even the movie industry. I have full confidence we will be able to do that. We’ll just have to keep on our toes.”
Just arrived at ASU in fall 2007, Roden has taught computer game development classes at the University of North Texas and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. He also worked six years for a company that built flight simulators for major airlines using the comparable technology that is used in creating games. He also holds a Ph.D. in computer science from UNT and is a member of the International Game Developers Association.
This summer, the Computer Science Department will host the first annual ASU Game Development Academy for interested high school juniors and seniors. For more information, call 942-2101 or go online to www.angelo.edu/dept/computer_science/game_academy_2008.html.
