Archive for February, 2008

Explore Your Creativity With A Degree In Video Game Design

Monday, February 25th, 2008

Video games have exploded in popularity, thanks to our high paced and pressurized world crunching down on individuals. People need a break from reality and video games provide that venue of escapism, and businesses have definitely gotten the message loud and clear. Developing new games is a fierce industry and companies need people who can always bring on better games that stimulate all the senses at once. But how can you get into this rising segment and turn your interests in computers into something that’s a lucrative, fun career full of opportunity?

A degree in video game design is the training you need to break into a market where you can create fantastical worlds or develop settings that are so realistic, you can almost touch them. Individuals are demanding more and more from software companies, and only the top quality games will succeed in today’s competitive world. Investing your talents in a solid education that will give you the skills and know how to create high tech video games is a wise choice. The job opportunities will never peter out or become saturated, thanks to new technology that’s always being put into the market, and you can get into the gaming craze by getting the best training possible to send you into an amazing career.

You’ll have the chance to use your own imagination to create great characters that become popular household names. Remember Mario and Luigi? Well, those two characters were created by people with video game design skills and they earned their makers millions of dollars. What about Yoshi? The little dinosaur is another character created by someone with video game design skills that has made someone rich and famous. Why can’t that person who develops the next popular, fun character be you? Online gaming is another venue that has become a multi-million dollar industry and all you have to do is look up World of Warcraft to see how many people are hooked on video games, making the market a rich one for job opportunities.

So what’s involved in video game design? Educational facilities will provide you with artistic training to help you create visual images that snag people’s interest and keep them gaming, as well as the know how to apply that to animation and 3D modelling. Story development is a must, and you’ll be able to think up new ways of challenging people with tricks and traps or enemies to battle to become heroes and earn glorious rewards and treasures. Not only that, those who offer degrees in video game design will help you to put together a profile that will make you an attractive asset to software companies looking for talented 3D artists and gaming developers.

One thing is for sure: Without a degree in video game design, the competition to break into the industry is so stiff that you’ll never be able to get ahead. Great ideas and a creative imagination isn’t all it takes to open fantastic opportunities and set you into an amazing career. Top quality skills and training that keep you on top of the game and get you that perfect job are the only way to go about finding your place in the lucrative industry of video games. You’ll learn the practical side of design and animation to be able to develop games that bring in sales for businesses and earn the skills you need to be head hunted by companies. More than that, obtaining your degree in video game design won’t just be an important investment and career choice, it’ll also be a blast of fun as you expand your horizons and creativity, learning to think outside the box and come up with new, exciting worlds and characters.

Creating your own video game – Part 1

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

“A Report on Jason Rohrer’s The Game Design of Art’”

Ever heard of the video game designer Jason Rohrer? Probably not, unless you’re well versed in the goings-on of the digital medium and its heavy-and not so heavy-hitters. Unique for his disinterest in fame and fortune coupled with an aptitude for thought-provoking design, Rohrer’s short, independent games like “Passage” take interest in artistic expression more than entertainment. Anyone interested in pursuing game design-not to mention any member of the art world as a whole-will find themselves faced with questions of purpose and value, possibly rethinking the role of video games.

Back in February I had the opportunity to attend a presentation of his at Clarkson University in his hometown of Potsdam, New York. He titled this presentation “The Game Design of Art” and spoke for less than two hours. I came to the meeting thinking of video game art in terms of graphic design, recalling whatever games I’ve ever been aware of that might qualifyor that have been praisedas being particularly artistic. I know of one somewhat recent Playstation game (OKAMI, Capcom, Clover Studios) that was credited with “Game of the Month” by the Official U.S. Playstation Magazine (September 2006) in which the reviewer wrote, “In the continuing argument about whether or not games are art, OKAMI should be entered in the Pros column as Exhibit A.[Its] unique look goes a step beyond [reality-based graphics], bringing legendlike tales to life through art and story in such a seamless fashion that I feel it’s truly one of the most beautiful and complete games that I’ve ever played.” (Dana Jongewaard, Issue 108 pg 72.) I mention this because it’s one of the only (if not THE only) games I’ve ever encountered in which its relationship to “art” and “artwork” becomes a major point of departure (also, I hear it’s coming to the Wii to take advantage of the controller for the brushstroke feature). However, I think even this example falls shy of what Rohrer was talking about, because his game design seems to fit better within the artistic medium of “exhibition” than it does within the traditional realm of video games. Some might even call into question whether his work can be called “game design.” I personally have no problem with the notion; I like the idea of an independent short game being akin to independent short films, both of which hearken to the classic short story.

“Passage,” for example, might compare with creative nonfiction,