The game industry moves fast. It presents a special challenge when it comes to teaching game design: post-secondary education is notoriously laggy. How do you keep students at the forefront?
You can start by tapping into a pool of men and women who are actively – right now – in the business of games. They’re the ones pushing the industry forward. That’s why the Game Design program at Vancouver Film School is built upon creating relationships between students and a faculty of working professionals. Students can develop the skills relevant today, while making those first crucial industry contacts.
Dave Warfield, Head of Game Design at VFS, weighs the question seriously when adding to the full- and part-time faculty rosters:
“I’m looking for people who have extensive expertise in a particular area and industry experience that they can share,” he says. “When it comes to part-time staff, I’m looking for people who are working and keeping us current with what’s going on in the industry as of this exact moment. So when they’re coming in and teaching their class at night, they’re able to refer to the game development-type decisions that were made earlier in the day.”
Typically, instructors will have at least two or three shipped titles to their name, or a significant history of real-world accomplishments that will be called upon to update the program’s intensive, ever-evolving curriculum. Some current Game Design instructors work at EA, BigPark, Next Level, United Front, and Propaganda. The bar is set high. According to Senior Instructor Andrew Laing, that’s a luxury they can afford because of VFS’s deep industry roots.
“Dave Warfield is so well-connected,” Andrew says. Dave played a pivotal role at Electronic Arts for many years, rising to Senior Producer on EA’s venerable NHL franchise – a successful series that helped build the BC industry into the force it is now.
“I don’t think there’s a studio in town that doesn’t have an executive that used to work for Dave. That’s what it boils down to. He was in the industry a long time.”
The Game Design program has also benefited from the maturing of the local game industry. According to Andrew, there is a growing pool of well-established professionals in the Vancouver area who now have 10 to 15 years of experience. That means they know this industry through and through and can speak with real authority to the opportunities that are out there and the current direction companies are going.
One of the big attractions for faculty as well (and also a massive benefit to students) is the adaptability of the program to advances in the industry. Instructors have the program’s full support to introduce new technology and processes.
As for Andrew, before joining Game Design he worked for a number of companies on the frontlines for nearly a decade, including Backbone Entertainment and EA. During that time, he came to believe that the young designers entering the workforce simply did not have the skills necessary to keep up.
He decided to do something about it. As a teacher, Andrew came to know and trust the skills of many of the students in his classes, so much so that his recently unveiled and soon to be released Drumskulls project, which re-deploys the Rock Band drum kit as an instrument of zombie destruction, called upon the work of many alumni.
“I had the concept of using this as a jump pad,” Andrew says, “because there are a lot of students who I think are ready to work in the industry, but they’ve got to keep busy. I didn’t want them to get stagnant.”
Grads were invited to work on the game as long as they agreed to one condition: when they got a job offer, they had to accept it. But the project’s growing popularity might mean the undoing of that rule: “Now that we’ve shown at PAX [Penny Arcade Expo] and we’re in the later stages of the game, nobody wants to leave.”
As Dave explains, it’s common for instructors and students to form close the professional bonds you see on the Drumskulls team. “It obviously varies from instructor to instructor, as everybody has different techniques,” he says. “But I think everybody going into these classes ends up developing a very strong relationship with their instructors. It’s part of a network, and the game industry definitely works under a network-type system.”
One of the recent grads to benefit from this approach to teaching is Lisa Trac, who served as a 3D Modeler and AI Programmer on Ginkgo, a game that’s attracting a lot of industry attention – not to mention a nomination for Best Student Game at the Canadian Videogame Awards.
“[The Game Design faculty] treated our issues as if they were their own and would sit down and work with us to get the result we were looking for,” Lisa explains. “Throughout the production cycle, we had industry mentors come in and guide us with constructive criticism from what experiences they brought with them. With all the great feedback, we were able to bring Ginkgo to a polished finish.”
Ginkgo puts players in the role of an adorable furry main character, using its bouncing powers to restore a decayed game world to its former natural glory. The player uses the strategic bouncing mechanic to rescue “revival flowers” and release their pollen, revitalizing the world.
“It’s probably the best game we’ve ever had in the program,” says Andrew . “I had people from BioWare saying to the students, ‘Wow. Can you tell us how you did that?’ I mean, you know the students are doing awesome when industry people are asking how they did stuff.”
Just before each class’s graduation day, the Game Design department puts out the call to professional peers who are on the lookout for new talent. Student teams present their finished games in hopes they’ll provoke discussion and interest from this audience of pros. When they send out invitations to the industry, Dave and Andrew stress that they’re mostly after companies that are actively recruiting, ensuring that students benefit greatly from the night.
“The audience consists of designers, producers, HR people, and people who are interested in what our students are creating,” says Dave. “They’re wanting to hear the same kind of creativity, problem solving, and attention to detail that they’ve put into their own games.”
The event is the culmination of months of development, right down to playtesting and a number of classes on presentation skills and industry preparation. It also signifies an important shift in the relationship between student and instructor; now they’re peers, part of the same network of professionals. It’s an experience that couldn’t take place in a 3- or 4-year program, Dave explains.
“What we do here with our faculty and our students is much more hands-on,” he says. “You’re going to get your hands dirty and you’re going to get right in there to see what it’s really like to make a game.”
Check out the newest issue of In Focus for more stories about VFS grads!
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