If you know of any Uni's offering game related courses (in any State), please post it in this thread.. I'm going to collect all the info to put on the links page http://www.sumea.com.au/slinkstation.htm
quote: I know a guy named Graham Meikle who is a professor in the Media Department at Macquarie University in NSW (it's about to get a name change to reflect their changing emphasis) who is extremely keen to include game design in their curriculum, and possibly even apply for funding for the development of a complete game. Desiging a game specifically as an intellectual endeavour and free from any commercial constraints would be fascinating.
That's great news! Macquarie University is about ten minutes drive from my house. Thanks a bunch, Tripitaka. [:D]
I wasn't sure what Swinburne is doing - someone just mentioned to me that they had some sort of game-related course either planned or running. After a tappity tap I saw on their site a Bachelor of Design (Multimedia Design) which incorporates a few elements of both design and graphics, so that's what they must have been talking about. I'd say you're probably better off at the AIE, anyway.
I'm keeping my ear to the ground because so many universities seem to be starting things up and I'd love to do something post-grad. Sertan - definitely give Graham Meikle a buzz if you're interested, his email address is on the MQU page.
Tripitaka, I sent the email. Here are some of the main responses found in his reply:
quote:I agree gaming is a hugely important media industry and
there should be more tertiary courses available. But I also think your
friend has perhaps confused me with someone else -- I've never said anything
... about including game design in my curricula, because the areas in
which I teach are quite different (I don't teach design of any sort).
Hmm... thanks Tripitaka. [B)][;)]
quote:... my colleague who convenes
our Multimedia degree program; I've forwarded your message to that person.
Well, at least there's someone interested.
OK - I should have made that clear, that Graham's looking into games from more of a scholarly viewpoint as opposed to teaching people how to design games, per se. I come at the issue from both angles so I tend to conflate them. Sorry about that.[:I]
By coincidence, there's an article today at News.com.au ([url]http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6154833%255E421,00.html…] about exactly what we've been talking about!:
Games fans do it by degrees
By Michelle Pountney
March 20, 2003
COMPUTER games enthusiasts have new heights to aspire to with Australia's first degree in computer games technology.
But the degree is far from three years of playing computer games.
Programming skills, physics, vector calculus, algorithm design and analysis, artificial intelligence, mobile computing and modelling behaviour are all in the textbooks for students enrolled in the La Trobe University course.
Course head Dr John Rankin said the demand for highly skilled computer games programmers was growing fast in Melbourne.
Eight students completed the three-year course last year, but only seven graduated as one was poached before his final exams with an offer he could not refuse.
(check the site for the rest).
For all those interested in Games Design and Games Programming, QANTM (a Brisbane-based Games, E-Learning and Multimedia organisation) plans to offer an accredited Bachelor of Interactive Entertainment (with majors in Animation and Games Programming).
Addition details can be obtained from me directly.
Rod.
Yes the QANTM Bachelor courses look pretty good.
I hope that any university courses in game development are not as superfluous as current IT course streams... it would be a shame to see the industry flooded with hacks holding certs 5 years in the making who think they know what they're doing, but have no idea what a debugger is. Such is the case with corporate IT these days, as evidenced by studies showing that without canned solutions, IT professionals are generally incompetent.
Luckily places like QANTM and AIE seem to be on the right track with close ties to the industry and a more relevant curriculum (as opposed to the university mentality of making people jump through hoops with units such as Comm Schol and AAP).
Scott.
I know a guy named Graham Meikle who is a professor in the Media Department at Macquarie University in NSW (it's about to get a name change to reflect their changing emphasis) who is extremely keen to include game design in their curriculum, and possibly even apply for funding for the development of a complete game. Desiging a game specifically as an intellectual endeavour and free from any commercial constraints would be fascinating. Swinburne (in Melbourne (?)) is also running a course. The new Computer Design course in the Architecture Faculty at Sydney University claims to have relevance to game design but isn't set up specifically for that topic.
Although this is off-topic, I know of a number of people doing PhDs on game design, and from a surprisingly large diversity of disciplines.