The disconnect I'm reading in some of these posts most likely stems from the fact that some people, not having seen how this discipline works in a high school setting, think of all the complexities of their professional situation and assume that transfers to the classroom.

I can't and won't speak for anyone else, but I can tell you why I've made the statements I have in this thread.


I started making games in elementary school on what would probably be most easily recognized as a programmable calculator of sorts. They were simple, fundamentals-oriented games because I was entirely self-taught and had no educational resources to rely on.

The games I worked on got more sophisticated over the years until they now rank among the most technologically complex consumer goods on the planet (MMORPGs).

I have seen game development from many sides, ranging from the hobby hacker in his bedroom to the largest-scale industrial production systems that exist in the business.

I am also a hiring manager. My company is located a few minutes' drive from one of the biggest and most well-known game development colleges on Earth. I see a lot of students and spend a lot of time talking to students.


The picture I want to paint here is that I am not wildly gesticulating about how hard Real Life is and freaking out about how you can't teach a professional skill set in six months. No shit. It's high school, nobody expects industry-grade professionals to walk out of there. That's not what it's for.

My point in this thread is that you have bitten off a lot, and you're not instilling me with an overabundance of confidence that you can chew what you're biting off.



I saw a lot of teachers with attitudes like yours in my own educational path, and frankly they are - to a soul - the ones I resented the most as a student. Take that for what you will, I don't expect one jaded drop-out to convert you or anything, but for the sake of the poor kids you're about to chew up and spit out, please listen to those saying that you need to scope this back and focus.

I respect your experience and I am sure you know what you are talking about with regards to the technology. However, I would question your understanding of education and pedagogy. I don't understand where your negative attitude about my approach is coming from. I would think you would be impressed by the very fact that I am ambitious and open enough to take on such a project. Your comment about my attitude towards students is offensive. It seems you are projecting your own bad experiences on me, clearly without having any idea what my abilities as an educator are or what my students are capable of.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

For the record, I posted a vote of no-confidence. Ha-ha.

The disconnect I'm reading in some of these posts most likely stems from the fact that some people, not having seen how this discipline works in a high school setting, think of all the complexities of their professional situation and assume that transfers to the classroom.

:huh:

You've been given some good advice/examples on where to start.

What do you all think (again) of the things on this list?

It doesn't matter, try them all.

Let the learning be fun. M'kay?

Write a book about the experience and then do a few TV interviews to promote the book. After that, start thinking about which celebrity you want to portray as you for the movie... no, actually, I'm going to keep that idea for myself.

[BR begins writing treatment for the script.]

So, not sure if this has been asked in this thread, what part of the 'design' are you teaching?

Are you teaching "Level Design"?

Or "Character Design"?

Or the design of the game mechanics?

Everything falls under Design, but the field is vastly different. The discussion of which game engine to use seems to focus more on building games than designing games, as Tom Sloper had pointed out.

I don't teach and haven't taught game design, nor would I call myself a professional game designer, but I feel like teaching game designs can be conceived using table-top mechanics, e.g pen/paper, rules of games, cards, turns, etc. In other words, teaching students how to design a game such that every player has equal chance of winning even though someone has to make the first turn. How to design a game such that player would feel like it can beat the game even though draw of cards/dice is random.

As I have alluded to, I plan to teach the concepts first, through whatever form makes the most sense (board games, card games, whatever). Then I will work on students learning the software, probably teach a couple of programs over the course of the year and culminate with students being able to design and present their own games.

Oh man... now my earlier funny post is buried.

I plan to teach the concepts first, through whatever form makes the most sense (board games, card games, whatever). Then I will work on students learning the software, probably teach a couple of programs over the course of the year and culminate with students being able to design and present their own games.

Totally do-able.

Sidenote: I recently did a very interesting interview that you might find interesting, available on this forum http://www.gamedev.net/topic/676967-looking-for-very-quick-qa-with-developer-for-my-sons-school-project/

I'm also gonna go on a limb here and 'allude' that GameTeacher is possibly a ChatBot. Ah, but joking aside, are you trying to get a Govt. Grant or something?

The disconnect I'm reading in some of these posts most likely stems from the fact that some people, not having seen how this discipline works in a high school setting, think of all the complexities of their professional situation and assume that transfers to the classroom.

I don't understand where your negative attitude about my approach is coming from.

I would think you would be impressed by the very fact that I am ambitious and open enough to take on such a project.

I'm also gonna go on a limb here and 'allude' that GameTeacher is possibly a ChatBot. Ah, but joking aside, are you trying to get a Govt. Grant or something?

Beyond a few trivial games like pong or breakout, video game development is complex. Building a game that is both original and looks great can take months and requires some (=months to years) of experience in the relevant fields. . The setting in which it is done is not particularly relevant - what matters is the complexity of the individual projects.

We may be able to give more useful answers (particularly regarding feasibility of the whole thing) if you can clearly articulate what you want the outcome of your class to be. What do you want students to be able to do once they've finished with it? How complex of a game do you want students to be able to build?

I think he actually explained that very well, and given that you seem insulted by that explanation, you do appear to understand where it's coming from. ;)

The issue here is with your idea that you will pick up game development skills as quickly as you're claiming you will. Therefore, I think the important question along this line of thinking is: will you be able to do your own assignments given the resources the students have? I guarantee that if you won't, then your students will easily spot that and respect you less for it. Then they may simply "go through the motions" and learn nothing, or even drop the class. I speak as one who has done exactly that as a student.

I would say that ambition by itself is not impressive, or even particularly unusual. We get a lot of ambitious people posting here. Execution is impressive.

I will pick up the basics, teach them and they will move it forward. That is how it works with incorporating all new technology. Again, educators understand this.

And that's fine. The point being made was that, unlike other subjects, "picking up the basics" isn't that simple with video game development - it basically means investing months to years of study and practice, with the amount required heavily depending on what the desired level of proficiency is. Hence why I asked. :)

You are understanding incorrectly. The ambition to take on something that is new and exciting and relatively untapped is rare. I have to toot my own horn here. Sorry.

I'm simply explaining why our response to your level of ambition has not been particularly positive, seeing as you were a bit confused. Among game developers, ambition is not rare at all, and among newer developers it is overly abundant.

edit: FORUM SOFTWARE. Stop breaking my quotes!

pedagogical

I admit, I had to look that word up.

The question is, I guess, can I get by with macbook laptops running with only 4gb?

Reminds me of Alex Peake.

(Might as well ask.) Are you Alex Peake?

Like JohnnyCode said, sign up with Autodesk for free education software.

http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/featured

1. Free (~Yes)

2. Doesn't take up too much memory (~Yeah [Worried look on face.])

3. Easy to learn (Um... ~Yes [Fingers crossed behind back.])

4. Cool graphics (like 3d) (Yes)

5. Allows for artistic creativity (Yes)

6. Connects to the field (i.e. recognized as a valuable skill by game schools and companies). (Very Yes)