Local students work at play as video-game developers

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Henry J. Gomez

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

Inside a small, classroom-size auditorium on the Cleveland Institute of Art campus, imagination runs wild.

 

Monkeys and penguins as weapons. Koala and panda bears armed with boomerangs and bamboo sticks. Teenagers who overcome their enemies with their wits, not their fists. Gadgets that can change the weight of certain objects and help free a young boy who's been kidnapped.

 

Welcome to Video Games 101. Some think it could be a portal to Cleveland's future.

 

...

 

This is a very cool idea. I bet if they could attract the right talent, they'd attract the big game makers attention. Game design is an emerging major at schools, but unless you live in one of the VERY few markets, you have to move to make games.

i was sleepwalking through poli-sci and i played sonic the hedgehog, i apparently should have been a game designer

hmm man, some of those names of people being interviewed are people that i know, and i wouldnt say they're the best at cia as far as motivation and creativity.  not to be a wet blanket, because i think Knut (the prof teaching the class) is a breath of fresh air in cia's ivory tower.

^^ Yeah, I would guess that the first few generations would be a trial until they could attract kids are specifically interested in something like this.

well its more like cia needs to do something about it's t.i.m.e. major, its getting to a point where there needs to be a split between Game Design and Film/Performance.  If there was an actual Game Design major it would become a much stronger program.

Here's another (older) press release about it, in case anyone is interested.

 

http://www.case.edu/news/2005/8-05/virtual.htm

 

I haven't seen it myself yet, but I've heard it's a really impressive lab they've put together. Prof Buchner was my adviser while I was at Case and it doesn't surprise me at all he's spearheading something new and cool like this.. He was very much a mad scientist, only with Legos Mindstorm Robots back then.

 

Now if only they could figure out a way to turn down the burn-out rate of video game developers. I've heard first-hand horror stories of how grueling it can be since they live and die by deliver deadlines (just look at Sony -- the oft delayed PlayStation 3 might literally sink the entire company).