Johnn Four
Web Monkey
Joined: 12 Jan 2004 |
 Posted: Wednesday, 30 November 2005 06:48PM |
|
Last week, we spoke with University of Alberta instructor Nathan Sturtevant about his course that takes computer science students through the process of developing a game using the Neverwinter Nights toolset. This week, we hear the students' side of things.
|
|
Lord_Rian
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
Joined: 16 Aug 2005
From: Haldaria |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 November 2005 09:16PM |
|
This is very interesting. I have been considering the art institute of vancouver as a place to study game design, but this course looks as if it might be a much better alternative.... |
|
|
Oilers99
Game Owner
 NWN
Joined: 01 Dec 2005 |
Posted: Friday, 02 December 2005 07:13AM |
|
Very interesting. If I do go to the University of Alberta next year, I wouldn't mind taking this course. Although the games I want to create aren't RPGs per se, I'd certainly like to give the development of one a try. |
|
|
Spiffiness
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
SW: KotOR PC
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 16 Dec 2002 |
Posted: Friday, 02 December 2005 07:19AM |
I'm one of the artists in Jade Dragon Studios, and yeah, I definitely agree that time was the biggest issue. It's hard to scale down ambitious storylines, especially when you've been waiting for a course like this since forever. That's why most of us wish it was a year long course. I guess we now know how Obsidian felt when they were pushed to get KotOR2 out in time lol.
The really great thing about the course is working with people from other disciplines and forming a bond with them. Even after the project is officially over, we're still going to stay together to really polish off Ashes of Sententia, and maybe work on other projects in the future as well. Hopefully, once we get AoS to a point where we're really satisfied with what we have, we'll release it onto Neverwinter Vault.
As for taking this course over going to Vancouver, keep in mind that this is only one course (though hopefully there will be a 399 class next year), and you'd probably be better served by being able to take more classes on games elsewhere. Maybe in the future, the UofA will have enough courses to actually allow you to specialize in it or something; they already do a lot of AI research for games. |
|
|
keiths001
Game Owner
 NWN
Jade Empire
Joined: 09 Oct 2002 |
Posted: Friday, 02 December 2005 08:56PM |
That's awesome. It's really great to see well-respected universities like the U of A add topics to the Computer Science curriculum that touch on game design areas.
I've been through a normal CompSci program, and I work at a game design school, and I like to see this melding of the two. Hopefully it gets taken further in the future as each discipline could greatly benefit from the other. |
|
|
Chris Priestly
Community Coordinator
Joined: 17 Oct 2001
From: Behind an Evil desk in Marketing |
Posted: Friday, 02 December 2005 10:59PM |
U of A? Well respected? You bet.
It is by me and my Professor Emeritus father Dr. T.M.S. Priestly. 
_________________
Ever notice that people who say "IMHO" aren't really all that "H"? |
|
|
JediDWH
Game Owner
 SW: KotOR PC
Joined: 12 Mar 2005
From: All over the Midwest |
Posted: Tuesday, 06 December 2005 06:13AM |
Can I just take a moment to seethe massive jealousy?
*waves hand* Hi. I'm a computer science student at a college nowhere near any game development companies, and I would kill for that kind of opportunity.
Actually, here's a question, since the Jobs page wasn't so helpful on this front- does Bioware do internships? Because if they do, I'm applying.
Whee, for being a finals-crazed college kid in desperate search of good internship opportunities...
_________________
"Your Jedi mind tricks have destroyed Scheme!"
-from the OCCS cookie file |
|
|
jaymancubed
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
SW: KotOR PC
Jade Empire
Mass Effect
Joined: 22 Sep 2005 |
Posted: Tuesday, 06 December 2005 10:11PM |
In the past, Bioware's internship activity has been basically zero. However, it seems they are starting to reverse that. They are taking some interns from UofA for next year.
Yeah, the course just ended today. It really was a blast. Yesterday I started playing games from other groups. Its the first time I've been able to put off studying for math and not feel guilty about playing a game instead:P
Also, if anyone here is interested in playing our game, keep checking the site. I think our Prof is going to put them up on the course site, so you can get an early version there. Unfortunatly, the game handed in is more of a "beta version". We hit a few hard roadbumps in the end that prevented us from completing to our liking. We are going to finish it, though, so when that happens it will be put on our site. I'm really pumped to continue work on it, so expect it sooner than later.
Also, check out the forums on our website.
J
_________________
Ashes of Sententia
www.jadedragonstudios.com
Coming Nov 30 2005 |
|
|
