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游戏设计专业的学生还需掌握编码技能

发布时间:2011-08-18 17:28:41 Tags:,

作者:Brenda Brathwaite(Loot Drop公司首席运营官兼游戏设计师)

2009年对我来说,是意义非凡的一年。我抛下游戏设计和游戏艺术课程的教师职位,回归我自1981年就进入的游戏行业。这是一个有趣的、有启发的转变。

当下的游戏课程突然遍地开花。上次我查了数据,全世界存在400多个能提供各类游戏设计等级资格证书的课程。事实上,我曾经是这类授课人员之一。

打那以后,目睹一堆不胜任者的简历在我的桌上来来去去,我渐渐有所感悟:游戏设计课程必须牢固地扎根于编码基础。我所谓的“编码基础”不是一门包含几节让学生尝鲜的编码课(游戏邦注:如入门C++或初级Flash 、Java 101等)的课程,而是指在学习游戏设计课程以前或作为毕业条件之一,必须让学生精通编码,并且能够制作自己的游戏。

Game Design Students(from victorypointgames.com)

Game Design Students(from victorypointgames.com)

个人看法:

1、游戏艺术课程必须促进学生掌握行业开发工具(如3DS Max、Photoshop、Maya或ZBrush等)

2、关卡设计课程必须促进学生熟练运用Unreal

3、动画专业学生必须精通Flash、 After Effects或Maya

既然这样,我们为什么还要让两手空空的游戏设计学生走出校门?我们的行业工具、实现想法的工具,就是编码。我们不应该让游戏美术生拿着画笔就毕业,也不能让关卡设计学生夹着打关卡草稿的方格纸就离开学校。但结果我们发现,让游戏设计学生带着桌面游戏和设计文件毕业的现象非常普遍。这种不合格的教学方式该下课了,我们欠学生太多了。

我相信,真正优秀的课程定能让游戏设计专业学生的编码能力,达到与计算机专业学生相当的水平,或者提前了解这方面的知识。我知道这是个苛刻的要求,但这才是理想的课程,我有兴趣雇用从这种课程中毕业出来的学生。

不幸的是,许多数游戏设计课程误导了学生,让他们相信自己毕业了就能谋到游戏设计的职位——但这并不是真相!初涉游戏领域的学生,虽然同样拥有理论基础和设计文件作支撑,但大抵都可分为两类——会编码的和不会编码的。唯一可以考虑的是有实习经验的学生,他们就不存在这种分类。

或许有不少人认为,设计游戏不需要会编码。事实上,这种想法也是正确的。

你确实不需要靠编码设计游戏。

游戏设计的工作有很多,从系统设计到剧情设计再到谜题设计等等等,这些都不需要编码。其实,我自己也还正在学编码。但是时代变啦,我不能再抱侥幸心理了。我是刚毕业的吗?如果是现在我肯定很难找到工作。没有编码技能、没有游戏作品的学生们理直气壮地说:“我确实还没有游戏作品,但我请你相信我,我能行。”但如果对比10个知道编码、能用例子诠释自己的热情的学生,我怎么能相信这些求职者的能力?要知道,这些更胜一筹的学生简历就在我的眼皮底下。

有些学生认为设计文件或非数字游戏足以证明自己的超凡技术。但现在可不行了,一份设计文件只能说明一件事——你会写设计文件。游戏出错的方式可以五花八门,重要的不是你构思创意的能力,而是你执行和实现游戏的能力。编码才是数字游戏的实现方式。没有编码,无论你说得多么天花乱坠,你的想法只不过是一个游戏和100个出错的可能。游戏设计艺术的要点不在于想法,而是实现、能力、奉献、不到南山不回头的坚持。我看到了,也忽略了无数份夹带着笨重的设计文件的简历,那些文件不过是为真正能让游戏运行的人创造了便利而已。。

那么,桌面游戏怎么样?这些游戏展示了完整的设计和他人设计影子。然而,桌面游戏知识只能表现设计桌面游戏的能力,别无其他。凭着硬核RPG的经验,我也不敢说我能在FPS领域闯出一片天地;我见过多好传统游戏设计师在社交游戏的新世界里艰难挣扎。一种媒体或一个平台的游戏设计都需要专业化的技能。我当然可以认同制作非数字的游戏和原型的创意很好,但对于渴望进入电子游戏行业的人来说,这些是不能代替编码的,你也不能只会这些。

那么与编码员共事的学生怎么样?他们真是幸运,完成游戏项目之后,无论他们会不会编码,都算是比多数人更为超前。然而,如果我有幸面试他们,我会指着游戏设计工作申请的文件夹,让他们看看这一行的竞争激烈。我有一大堆来自技术过硬的设计师和编码员的简历,在其他条件相当的情况下,我不会雇用只会设计的设计师,因为游戏行业的竞争实在是太激烈了,到处都是人才。从纯粹实用性的角度来说,想入行的学生确实需要额外的竞争筹码。会编码的学生更容易上手编写脚本、UI、XML表格和其他我需要他们完成的小任务。

开发更好的课程

游戏设计好比一棵硕果累累的树,沉甸甸的果实压弯了技条,成千上万的学生垂涎于果实的甘甜。这一领域目前不要求学生掌握特定软件操作方法,而且相关学校也不要求其授课人员拥有专业知识,但我认为我们可以在培训学生方面做得更好。以下是我全力支持的培训课程:

大量扎实的编码基础,贯穿学生的职业生涯

经常性的设计、迭代和执行训练

鉴赏游戏设计史

编码是我们的行业工具,我们却没有把它教授给学生,这样的课程是失败的。

游戏邦注:原文发表于2011年3月1日,所述事件以当时为背景。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Built on a Foundation of Code – Game Edu Rant

by Brenda Brathwaite

[This talk speaks to the educators of entry-level game designers looking for a gig in the industry, not to experienced designers who already have their foot in the door.]

2009 was an interesting year for me. I left my job as the chair of a game design and game art program and returned to the game industry that I’d worked in since 1981.  It was an interesting and eye-opening transition for me.

During this time, game design programs popped up all over the place. Last time I bothered to look for the number, there were over 400 such programs across the world offering some type of degree or certificate in game design. I was, in fact, chairing one of them.

Since that time, and having watched a flotilla of resumes fall off my desk unqualified, I’ve come to an understanding I wish I’d had then. That understanding is this: Game design programs must be firmly rooted in a foundation of code. And when I say “foundation of code,” I do not mean a program which includes a few coding courses to give students merely a taste, like Intro to C++ or Beginning Flash or Java 101. What I mean is that students – prior to their entry into the program or as a condition of their graduation from it – are proficient coders who can make and have made their own games.

Consider:

Game art programs facilitate proficiency in the tools of the trade – 3DS Max, Photoshop, Maya or ZBrush

Level design programs facilitate proficiency in Unreal

Animation students work in Flash, After Effects or Maya

So, why then do we consider it acceptable to send game design students out into the wild without the tools of their trade? The tool of our trade, the tool that makes things realized, is code. We would not send art students out with pencils or level design students out with graph paper renderings of unrealized levels, but somehow, we find it acceptable – even common – to send game design students out with board games and design docs. This has to stop. We owe the students more.

The absolute best programs, I believe, put students through the same level of coding as a comp science degree or expect that they have that knowledge beforehand. This is, I know, a tall order, but such a program is a dream, and I would actually be interested in hiring its students.

Unfortunately, many programs – if not the great majority of game design programs – mislead their students into believing they will get game design jobs when they graduate, and that is simply not true. Handed a skillset of theory and bolstered with a pile of design docs and non-digital games, these students head out into the world and, with rare exception, are cast out into two separate entry-level piles – those who can code and those who cannot. The only saving grace are those with internships. There is a separate pile for them.

At this point, many of you are thinking that you do not need code to design games. That is, in fact, true.

You do not need code to design games.

There are many jobs in game design – from system design to narrative design to puzzle design – which don’t actually require coding. In fact, I am just learning how to code. But, wow, how times have changed. With 30 games behind me, I can get away with this. Were I fresh out of school? I’d have a shockingly hard time getting hired. Without code, without games, students are effectively saying,  “I’ve not actually made a game digitally, but I am asking you to trust that I can.” Why would I when there are 10 students here who know how to code and can illustrate their passion with proof? Look, their resumes are right here!

Naturally, some students point to design docs or non-digital games to prove their prowess. This will no longer do – a design doc shows one thing only – that you can write a design document. There are countless ways for a game design to go wrong, and what matters is not your ability to think of an idea, but your ability to execute on that idea and bring it to life. Code is how a digital game is realized. Without it – and no matter how you represent it – you have only an idea for a game and 100 possible ways it can go wrong. The true art of game design is not in the idea, but in its implementation and the ability, dedication and determination to carry it through to the end while finding that nugget of fun. I have seen – and ignored – countless resumes with bulky design documents in favor of those who have actual running games.

What about board games, then? These games show a completed design, and as some of you may know, I have designed a good number of them. However, board game knowledge doesn’t show ability to design anything but board games. I wouldn’t presume my work on hard core RPGs makes me a fit for the FPS space, and I have watched a good many traditional game designers struggle with their new digs in the social space. Game design for a medium or a platform is a specialization like any other. While I certainly think making games and prototypes non-digitally is an excellent idea, for those hoping to enter the video game industry, it cannot be a substitute for code. It cannot be all you do.

There is an obvious hole here, perhaps several. What of the student who works with a coder? He or she is a lucky student indeed, and having finished a game, she is ahead of most, with or without code. However, if I could get her to my desk, I’d point at the folders I have set up for game design applicants and show her the competition. I have a pile of resumes from students who are solid designers and coders, and other things being equal, a solid designer who is just a solid designer is going to lose, because the field is that competitive and because there are that many talented students out there. From a purely practical standpoint, students need something extra to be competitive. The students who can code will more easily adapt to scripting, to UI work, to XML tables and other small tasks I need them to do.

Toward a Better Curriculum

Game design is the low-hanging fruit on an otherwise tech-heavy tree and thousands of students want in. It requires no specific software be installed and no academic body requires its professor have specialized training. I think we can do better by our students, and this is the kind of program I whole-heartedly support:

A solid and substantial foundation of code upon which the students build throughout their career.

Regular practice of design, iteration and execution

An appreciation of game design history

Code is the tool of our trade, and we owe it to students to teach them. The programs that do not do this are lost.(source:/bbrathwaite.wordpress


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