Greater Brisbane Chapter

thank you all for coming - as bret said, it is lovely to see passionate people prepared to come and spend a sunday afternoon talking about work stuff!! you are all the most marvellous group and i trust that this turns out to be the first of many meetings ..... notes below

industry people:

matt ford - production
jake hempson - animation
kat ford - resources
john passfield - design
david howell - game engineering

education institution folk:

erik champion [UQ}, ross brown [QUT] bryn giles [QANTM], andi spark [Griffith], sandra donohue and jan jervis [Bond]

with bret mannison from PFTC as special guest - bret has just finished the update report on Film, Television and Digital Content Skills Formation Strategy in Queensland

invitation

The Brisbane chapter of the International Game Developers Association > invites you to a friendly, small-group meeting which serves a purpose vital to the Brisbane game world. With just a couple hours of chatting and sharing ideas, we can align the academic and industry worlds so that graduating students have the best possible chance of landing a game-industry job in the Greater Brisbane area. Brisbane is one of the very best places in the world to teach about and make games-- so let's pull together to make sure Brisbane has a long, bright future!

We'll do this by getting less than a dozen people around a table to chat, learn more about what everyone else is doing, and share plans. The group is composed of two equal halves: reps for academic institutes and reps for the major areas of the games industry. This invitation goes out to several key representatives of major academic institutions which prepare students for games careers. Also, key representatives from each major area of game development are joining the discussion, including major local game companies' leaders in the areas of programming, graphic art, game design, audio, production, and recruiting.

The agenda is for our industry reps to learn more about what students are being taught and to share what skills they most seek in job applicants; and for our academic reps to illuminate what students are learning and what guidance they need as they start a new games career.

You don't need to prepare anything formal. Our first and most important step is to build this important bridge by going around the table a few times, giving everyone an update, asking and answering questions, and identifying what we all should do next. The IGDA's philosophy is that none of us in the Brisbane area should waste energy competing with one another, neither as game companies or as schools. We are far better off working together collectively to grow the whole base from which we all draw. We need to work together to keep Brisbane competitive in the global arena!

notes taken during the meeting - i will set up a comments page somewhere as these were scribbled hastily and others might have better memories - the following is divided into area sections with discussions at the end ...

audio

matt opened the session by passing on some notes from our own mick gordon, game audio ... mick's main points were:

game audio is a growing field - like rich graphics, the expectations and the technologies of consoles mean richer, more emotional, deeper audio
the main thing someone needs to be aware of in order to enter the area as a game audio specialist is the PIPELINE, ie how a game engine USES the audio material
following this, understanding the constraints of creating audio in a rich interactive and dynamic environment is critical
and being aware of adaptive audio ... audio in a game environment is an aspect of the interactivity, it has to be responsive [unlike audio for film which generally constructs response]

animation [jake hempson]

i loved this point jake made: DO tell students if they cannot draw! there are many other skills that they could be building on instead such as lighting, shaders, effects, movement etc
if strengths are technical, show models in environments with lighting etc
he emphasised the need to teach 2D animation - basic animation techniques - and then transfer to 3D. his suggestion was to provide solid rigs so that the focus is on animation techniques rather than software
again, artists and animators must understand the pipeline - the process by which a concept drawing becomes an animation or level and is implemented into a game engine
artist folios are easier to make persuasive perhaps but they should show process and most importantly that the student can finish something. art folios should include life drawings, demonstrate ability to work across different styles and genres.
try and show work in context, be a member of a modding team
show more than just character animation - demonstrate ability to make assets
focus on props, focus on an area
above all they should show best work and breadth of work

design [john passfield]

game designer is another one of those developing area descriptions as the industry has grown from folk thinking up ideas and making them in the garage, be aware of different methodologies and have a background in design as a process
need a breadth of knowledge about how to approach design and work in teams
an example of a paper based low fi design that has been play tested - evaluated and re-iterated is more powerful than an untried idea
john emphasised COMMUNICATION as an essential skill so an idea must be placed in context and clearly explained with an overview [page] and sample specs - game play etc [30 pages]
would be designers should be aware that company policy on visual design varies and that they might not have control over visualisation of the idea
must show knowledge of the game production process and programming - you can't design a game without knowing what is actually possible
remember there are different design fields: level design, mission design, script design etc

programming - game engineering [david howell]

david's first point is that graduates often lack basic knowledge of HOW A COMPUTER WORKS!!
C++ as a core skill taken for granted, should know basic C as well and should understand how the layers of programming/engineering sit within the hardware itslef in order to understand how to actually make things happen
he observed that most graduates never actually finsih a project due to course constraints and that demonstrating ability to actually bring a project to completion is critical
the most important thing to be able to do is DEFINE THE PROBLEM SPACE and UNDERSTAND WHAT QUESTIONS TO ASK
asking questions is the hardest part - so when david gives a graduate a problem, he is most interested in the questions they ask about it - not the solution per se
understanding the procedural sideis critical, understanding that game engineering is multi-threaded
another big emphasis on knowing the process, pipeline - the project life cycle and understanding it to release point

production [matt ford]

echoes of other comments here - can the graduates show that they can get trhu' the hardest part of the project - the end section to release!
and not finishing but ensuring sufficient evaluation process etc and preparing for audience reaction
again, undertanding the production cycle is critical
matt suggested setting up small capsule projects for students which take them right thru' the production cycle, enable them to show they can finish something and give them the 'freedom to fail'
demonstrate ability to document a project properly

resourcing [kat ford - nb kat's perceptive comments were interspersed thru the actual afternoon - collected here]

on folios: companies are looking for GOOD graduates, they must show that they have not only played games but that they have enjoyed making them
grades matter!! kat also pointed out that the way a prospective graduate answers questions is the most important thing - they need to show WHO they are
folios - have a URL, show BEST work, show depth and broad exploration, show you can do little things right
show process as well as product - demonstrate your place in the team and what you did
remember that the number of openings for juniorsis actually very small - what is the graduate doing while they are looking for a job ...
again: COMMUNICATION skils vital and demonstrable understanding of the project life cycle and process
kat looks for long term potential not just immediate vacancy

and general comments

graduates need to know and be cognisant with the broad established body of industry knowledge as well as knowing their own area in depth
they must demonstrate that they can finish a project
graduates should know HOW TO THINK, how to question and how to explore and how to see a project thru' to finish
they must understand and be able to work within a production life cycle to release
they must understand PROCESS and evaluation
writing communication for programers - maths for artists!

Some interesting questions and points raised by our lovely education particpants:

the dynamic between specialisation and broad knowledge is an interesting problem for education - while some courses are explicitly specialised [eg VET] others cater to a more general range of post tertiary interests [andi pointed out that while aproportion of her students might be interestedin game animation, others look to film industry etc] - this raised the whole issue of how to give those students who are interested specifically in game industry some kind of internship ... experience
bryn voiced a concern about too many generic units and the need for more specialisation - bret talked about the update report and will be sending a copy out to interested folk [also available here]
sandra raised the issue of differnce between university and TAFE courses where uni tends to the communication and theory
ross noted that industry seemed to NEED researchers with the ability to show a demonstrable solution in a highly specialised area

and some things we can keep chatting about

while internships are problematic due to time constraints [semester time and unit constraints against a project timeline as well as need for time investment on part of companies] there was some talk of the teachers becoming more involved [shadowing even] in order to give a more current image of work place to students AND better connections with company individuals coming into give presentations
bret mentioned the idea of inward skilling - providing some kind of support in order to move people from mi level to senior _within_ the company
the place of post graduate work was touched upon ... we all know of students hwo have done the generic theory stuff during undergraduate and then the specialist stuff as a post grad .....
the idea of R&D and transfer seems very important

we also mentioned things like setting up awards and prizes in order to gain better communication, making sure we are all invited to each other's parties ....

a personal note: i thought this afternoon was so useful - i hope you all did too ... as a teacher it seems to me that the most important thing is that i know the advice i give students about their work, presentation and process etc is grounded in this kind of exchange ... i look forward to the next one [chez bryn's place and the QANTM after party isn't it?]

last updated by truna nov 6 2006