Even more notes from Game Focus Germany, 2008
"Collaboration FTW; What Game Studios and Game Studies can Learn from Each Other" - Robin Hunicke (EA)
Mayor - AI planning system that played Sim City.
Art of Computer Game Design (Chris Crawford)
EduCom -> Game Studies Curriculum.
Education saw big developers as “bad” and small developers were “good”, and no one was solving the problems could solve. Companies saw professors as “bad” (greedy/slow/politics) and students as “good” (fresh/new/moldable).
But both education and business do both care about money, ideas, time. Scheduling conflicts are a big problem.
Shared audience. Collage students go to university, and play lots of games.
Edu strengths: long view, experimentation, diversity, failure is “free” (encourages trying new things).
Biz strengths: good at shipping/finishing things, reach markets and create fans, supports customers, sustain relationships. Lessons learned:
Taking in students is a responsibility.
Successes: Portal & Flow are both student projects. Indie games are blossoming.
Respect the power that freedom students have is powerful. But that freedom needs to be managed by education, business can’t afford to let students make massive changes.
Trust is difficult, and integration is complex.
Some ideas:
group dynamics / leadership selection
Books: Peopleware / Rapid Development, Dynamics of Software Development, or Software for your Head.
“And indifferent team cannot create a joyful or meaningful product of experience”
Collaboration research. Flexible partnerships.
Study of design tools, how design drives tools. Design studies, developing vocabulary, metrics, patterns in design, etc.
Students are used being graded (praised). Lack of that crushes graduates spirits. Saying good job keeps them productive. Conversely, professors should avoid creating ego monsters by over rewarding talented students.
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