Let the games begin…
On July 7th, SMU will be making history with the grand openingof its new Guildhall school of video gaming.
Jay Leno has joked about it on “The Tonight Show,”and it has faced its fair share of skepticism and criticism inacademic circles. But both Dallas and the international academiccommunity must now recognize the SMU Guildhall for what it truly is— a serious academic program.
Annually, billions of dollars move throug the video gameindustry, and more than 30,000 people are presently employed by theindustry in America alone. Since game sales increase duringrecession (more entertainment per dollar), the field seemsrecession-proof.
Analysts expect the video game business to grow further at arate between 15 and 25 percent per year. This growth rate means alarge (to the tune of 5,000 new jobs per year) and unsatisfied jobmarket — until now.
SMU has teamed up with industry leaders in creating a trainingprogram for video game developers which will transfer some of those5,000 jobs into the hands of SMU grads.
Peter Raad, director of SMU’s Hart e-Center and key figurein the development of the Guildhall, explains the motivation behindthe Guildhall’s institution.
“The Guildhall is an industry-generated idea,” hesaid. “The industry wanted skilled, talented, credentialedprofessionals and simply wasn’t finding them among theirapplicant pools.”
Raad explained that gamers who have broken into the industryhave traditionally been self-taught, which is both”incomplete and inefficient.”
Now, with an industry-designed curriculum, Guildhall grads willbe taught what the industry demands by its best developers.
Getting in
With industry’s demand, program director DavidNajjab’s idea, the e-center’s fertile ground andSMU’s support, the Guildhall was born and has receivedtremendous response.
Applications look promising and have been received from all overthe United States and from 23 different countries.
Students must send a statement of purpose and a portfoliocomprised of their past work and a Guildhall-issued assignmentalong with other standard admissions materials.
While no former gaming experience is required, the admissionprocess is a selective one, accepting only those students with thehighest aptitude and strongest desire, since it is a graduate-levelcertification program, students are expected to enter with acertain level of maturity and knowledge in their areas ofinterest.
Upon acceptance, students are issued a personal laptop withfully-loaded software included in the $37,000 total tuition.
Arriving on campus
The new facility being completed for the program at theSMU-in-Legacy campus is designed to support 100 studentscomfortably, but will only be occupied by about 32 for the first18-month Guildhall session.
“We’re after quality, not quantity,” Raadsaid. “In keeping with the SMU tradition of small classes andone-on-one contact, we wanted to begin with a small class for thefirst cohort so that the students are sure to receive fullattention.”
Professors will be among the industry’s finest from suchstudios as Ritual Entertainment, Ensemble Studios, UnitedDevelopers, Monkeystone and Terminal Reality.
Students will complete rigorous and intensive courseworkrequiring their class attention for seven to eight hours a day,five days a week, for the 18-month duration of the program.
Students will learn theory and then put it into practice throughvarious hands-on projects.
Hitting the books
Each student must complete a core curriculum plus theirspecialization curriculum (art creation, level design or softwaredevelopment) plus periodic team projects and individualprojects.
In the first term, students will create a 2-D game. In thesecond, they will modify a game. In the third and fourth, they willcomplete a conversion of an existing game. And in the fifth andsixth, they must create their own 3-D game.
Their work will then be presented to a board of industry expertswho will give students feedback.
This process gives students early exposure to industryprofessionals who may remember their work and hire teams fordevelopment projects.
After graduation
Job opportunities are not limited, however, to the gamedeveloping industry. The fundamentals of digital gaming are alsoapplicable to other fields.
Graduates could be hired in filmmaking, in building educationaland training programs, in creating military defense simulations, inweather forecasting, in pilot simulations, and more.
Though the Guildhall has faced some criticism, Raad believesthis is to be expected.
“There’s misunderstanding about the seriousness ofwhat goes into digital gaming because it’s associated withfun and games,” he said. “As with every discipline,there has been skepticism as to whether it’s needed andbelongs at a university.”
But Raad sees the digital gaming field where computer sciencewas 50 or 60 years ago.
While the program is new and is moving through unchartedterritory, it is expected to move from a certificate program to adegree program shortly.
Similar to computers only a few years ago, perhaps gaming willbe the wave of the future. Let the games begin!
Let the games begin…
