[gameprogrammer] Re: Grumble gripe... my class was canceled.
- From: Bob Pendleton <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2006 15:48:05 -0500
On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 10:25 -0500, Matthew Weigel wrote:
> Bob Pendleton wrote:
>
> > I checked at ACC and I see that all the art, design, and production
> > classes are full, or nearly full, and that the programming classes are
> > all empty, or nearly empty.
Hey Mathew, good feed back.
>
> As someone taking the classes, I have to say it's frustrating
> registering, and paying, but not knowing whether I'll actually get to
> take the class. Of course, it's even more frustrating that I know
> enough programmers "interested in game programming" to fill a class, but
> none of them will take it.
Yeah, I understand. They did just hire a part time marketing guy for the
program. Hopefully that will help. Most of the marketing they do is
oriented around social activities such as the open house they had a few
weeks ago. (Huge turn out!) But, programmers tend to be introverts and
to be awake at odd hours. They have the problem that web sites like
slashdot and gamasutra don't necessarily do geographically targeted
advertising and their isn't much point in advertising these courses out
side of central Texas.
If you have ideas about how to market it, let me know.
>
> Aside from that, though, I'm left wondering whether the programmer track
> at ACC is doing the job as well as it could. I suspect that of the
> people interested in game programming, fewer will be entry-level
> students, and more will be current professional programmers (certainly,
> that's basically all I've seen in the two classes so far).
That is a serious problem that I have raised with Bob McGoldrick. Game
development could be taught as part of an undergraduate curriculum in
Computer Science or it could be taught as a bachelor degree level
curriculum all by itself. But, it is best taught at the MS level to
people who already have a degree in Computer Science with heavy
programming experience.
*BUT* ACC is only allowed to teach material leading to an associates
degree. To do that right the game programming track should be about 4
semesters long. It used to be 2 classes, but we never got enough
students to teach the second half. Now we have reworked the intro C++
class to be oriented around game programming rather than just C++ and
think that will work out.
In other words, you are right. The students in the game programming
classes are almost all degreed experienced programmers with significant
programming experience and the material is geared more for them than for
recent high school graduates.
>
> Does that effect the classes that should be offered, or how they are
> run? I'm not sure, to be honest, but I think it means that the current
> curriculum will see very few programmers complete the certificate,
> whether they take a lot of classes or not.
My experience is that the average programmer taking my class needs only
a couple of other classes to begin writing and designing professional
level independent games. I am not really bothered by the fact that they
don't complete the certificate.
As and aside: I was looking at taking some courses at ACC to become a
certified personal trainer. (I work out a lot and I enjoy teaching Kung
Fu to little kids and older people and I might just retire and start
doing that full time some day. :-) I went to talk to the person who
teaches the classes I wanted to take and found that she was worried
about her program being canceled because almost nobody ever finished the
certificate. OTOH, there was one class that you could take which
prepares you for one of the certification exams. That class is always
full. People take that one class, take the test, and go get jobs as
personal trainers. They don't need any of the other classes to get what
they want.
I think the same is true of programmers in the game development program
at ACC.
>
> > canceled. Anyone in the Austin area interested in a game development
> > study group?
>
> I'd be very interested if my class gets canceled as well, and reasonably
> interested if it doesn't. I'm still trying to fix a graphics bug in my
> 3D Pong game, and begin using OpenGL lighting; all stuff I'd like to
> discuss with others if I have the time.
You ought to just post that on the list here. I bet we can work it out
in a short period of time.
Bob Pendleton
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