the (red) set*

With the recent explosion of game design and interactive media courses on offer at institutions around the world, offered by both private colleges and public universities, one could argue there is a sea of sameness – from Miami, Melbourne to Middlesex – the descriptions on the websites all read the same .…

“insert course name here’ has been developed to satisfy the increasing demand for graduates who have the experience and skills to focus on the specialist needs of the interactive entertainment industry…..”

However there are a few in the industry who are on record saying; ‘game-centric university courses are too vocational’ like EA’s Matthew Jeffery talking at a Develop Conference held in June this year (as reported on gamespot.com)  in a presentation titled ‘The Pitfalls of Game Development’ where he argued the case that “the current crop of game-related degrees were like fashion accessories”

To be fair games development does require expertise – which explains the steep rise in games courses over the past six or so years that are focussed on the technical aspects of computer games development – and the teaching of technical skills at undergraduate and postgraduate level is completely logical, however what exactly do such courses prepare their graduates for?

The current game landscape is littered with computer games that are hackneyed concepts coasting along well-established genres with the few exceptions (which interestingly often prove to be the most popular and critically acclaimed) such as the Katamari Damacy series and the wildly successful Sims series.

As Ernest W Adams, a 19-year veteran of the game industry and a game design consultant who lectures at industry events and educational institutions around the world, pointed out in his Education Summit keynote address at the 2008 Game Developers Conference, held in San Francisco earlier this year, the Katamari Damacy Series and Sims series both came into being through the efforts of designers who were not ‘game design course graduates rather

“they were drawn from a variety different disciplines, and therefore have a new attitude to what gaming is and what it can be.”

Adams’ point highlights the fact that technical skills can only take a creative project so far. Games and virtual worlds can be about a lot more than just the environment or the tricks – they are also very much about stories and character in addition to gameplay.

The current crop of game-design degrees and courses are not imparting the skills and techniques that will inspire new and exciting directions of entertainment – and this is where AFTRS – better known as Australia’s most successful film and radio school comes into the picture.

Rather than compartmentalising Game Design and Virtual Worlds under the banner of IT and straight technical outcomes AFTRS wants to lead the way by bringing game design into the world of ‘making and creativity’.

AFTRS new game design and virtual world graduate diplomas will push students to go beyond the generation of clichéd actions and stereotypical characters, students of these new courses will be encouraged to step up and learn how to create meaningful interactive experiences for a variety of platforms informed by the expertise offered in all of the other creative disciplines taught at AFTRS such as directing, screen composition, screenwriting, sound design, production design and more.

The field of game design and interactive experiences is equally as collaborative as the world of filmmaking, drawing together diverse specialists who together create the whole – writers, screen composers, programmers, animators, art directors – at AFTRS all of these disciplines are already housed under one roof – with a track record of cross disciplinary interaction and a staggering sucessful graduates.

The film school model is in fact a perfect environment for game designers to learn how to communicate and work as team member. It’s a place that fosters connections with fellow creatives who share their passion but ‘speak a slightly different aesthetic language’.

Game designers and interactive artists can come to a place like AFTRS and expect to learn new skills that can’t be taught via narrow education programs.  The idea of a film school offering game design is about complementary talents intersecting and informing each other and acquiring essential communication skills that will pave the way for projects getting developed funded and made out there in the real world of the market place.