Creating a games class

Duvall, Shannon

doi:10.1145/1536513.1536562

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Such concerns are further exacerbated by some common reasons given for the inception of games courses amongst established university programs. A growing mass of descriptive research has recently been published outlining the development of games-related courses which sit within the existing curricula of traditional computer science (CS) and engineering disciplines-see, for instance, Jones [2000], Burns [2008], Volk [2008], Zyda et al [2008], Coller and Scott [2009], and Duvall [2009]. However, the motive for the inclusion of games material in traditional study pathways is often reported to be that of stimulating interest in more traditional subject areas, particularly CS, which have experienced continued reductions in student numbers in recent years [Carter 2006;Defoe et al 2011;Estey et al 2009;Morrison and Preston 2009;Rocco and Yoder 2007]-a point which invariably fuels the concern among those in the games industry who reject the true validity of such courses.…”

Section: Introduction To Computer and Video Games Coursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fitting the Needs of an Industry

Ip¹

2012

ACM Trans. Comput. Educ.

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There have been growing criticisms in recent years among the computer and video games community on the apparent lack of graduates capable of meeting the industry's employment needs. Following the sharp rise in the number of computer and video games courses across higher education (HE) institutions in the UK and across the globe, this article examines the composition of existing British games design, development, and art programs in relation to prescribed study areas voiced by industry bodies. From a sample of 242 courses, and a further 11 industry-derived and accredited programs, the results explore content currently residing within a variety of games programs and qualification types and evaluate the extent to which such content adheres to the industry's demand for the focus on specific skills and study areas. The findings point toward certain shortfalls in some key areas deemed to be important by industry professionals and the consideration of the degree to which course providers should cater to the specific demands of industry.

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Section: Introduction To Computer and Video Games Coursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fitting the Needs of an Industry

Ip¹

2012

ACM Trans. Comput. Educ.

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“…Certain education methodologies such as team-working [1,2,3,4] or studio-based learning [5] have been applied to these courses. Other methodologies such as interdisciplinary collaboration have also been applied [7,8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying a Grammatical Structure to Practice Game Design on Non-Computer Games

Pong

Tsai

Hsu

2012

2012 IEEE Fourth International Conference on Digital Game and Intelligent Toy Enhanced Learning

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In this paper, we propose a pedagogical approach based on the sentence grammar to teach an introductory game design course. Different from the conventional game design courses concentrated on developing computer games, we advocate exercising non-computer games. In our approach, we elucidate the importance of understanding the core idea of a game by executing the game analysis to extract an identical sentence of the game on the first stage. This notion is then progressively brought to other stages of the course. In the second stage, an exercise on activity games is introduced to exploit the students' ability in conceiving the game interaction in a face-to-face multiplayer environment. This interactive experience obtained is then transferred to the third stage to develop board games. The grammatical approach is introduced to interpret the idea of core sentence to help developing their board game projects. We illustrate specific examples of each stage and the progress made by students. A final evaluation on their projects is reported.

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