Brenda Romero January 19, 2015
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Report Prepared by Brenda Romero January 19, 2015 !1 Table of Contents Overview _____________________________________________________________________ 5 Game Education _______________________________________________________________ 8 Summary of Findings _______________________________________________________ 8 Analysis of Findings _________________________________________________________ 9 Strong Industry equals Strong Education Sector ____________________________ 9 Quality vs. Retention _____________________________________________________ 9 Incentivizing Institutions with Challenging Curriculums ______________________ 10 Lack of Software Programming Courses in Second Level _____________________ 11 Increase Focus on Foundational Programming Practices _____________________ 11 The Rise of the Tool-Specific Specialist _____________________________________ 12 Facilitate Conversation ___________________________________________________ 13 Establish Industry Advisory Boards & Greenlight Panels ______________________ 13 Evaluate Goal-Related Modules ___________________________________________ 14 Fund Educator Training in Game Development _____________________________ 15 Fund Educator Travel to GDC in San Francisco ______________________________ 15 Place Priority on Portfolio _________________________________________________ 16 Offer Code/Art/Design Tests Early _________________________________________ 17 Create Game Labs _______________________________________________________ 17 Create Special or Current Topics Courses __________________________________ 18 Participate in or Host Community Events ___________________________________ 18 Opportunities in Game Education _________________________________________ 19 Increase Industry Experienced Educators __________________________________ 20 Set Appropriate Expectations _____________________________________________ 21 Educating on Roles vs. Fields _____________________________________________ 21 In Code, Design _________________________________________________________ 22 Competing on a World Stage _____________________________________________ 23 !2 Game Industry _________________________________________________________________ 25 Summary of Findings _______________________________________________________ 25 Analysis of Findings _________________________________________________________ 25 An Active, Engaged and Passionate Community ____________________________ 25 A Time of Massive Disruption _____________________________________________ 26 The Ecosystem of a Game Dev Scene ______________________________________ 27 Understanding the Treadmill ______________________________________________ 28 Invest in Success and New IP _____________________________________________ 28 Educating & Protecting Investors __________________________________________ 29 Funding Expectation and Challenge _______________________________________ 29 Presence at International Conferences _____________________________________ 30 Brain Drain _____________________________________________________________ 36 Incubation Space ________________________________________________________ 37 Mentorship _____________________________________________________________ 38 More Representation for Indies ___________________________________________ 39 Increase Conversation with Academia _____________________________________ 39 Lack of Funding for GDC or E3 ____________________________________________ 40 Government ___________________________________________________________________ 41 Summary of Findings _______________________________________________________ 41 Analysis of Findings _________________________________________________________ 41 An Engaged Government with a Positive Mission ___________________________ 42 Realizing the Vision of the Forfas Report ___________________________________ 43 Providing a “One Stop Shopping” Method _________________________________ 44 Games: Art or Tech? _____________________________________________________ 45 From Education to Startup ________________________________________________ 45 Create a Technology Pyramid _____________________________________________ 46 Direct Target the Game Industry ___________________________________________ 47 !3 Associations ___________________________________________________________________ 49 Summary of Findings _______________________________________________________ 49 Analysis of Findings _________________________________________________________ 49 Ireland’s Primary Growth Organizations ____________________________________ 49 Enterprise Ireland ____________________________________________________ 49 IDA Ireland __________________________________________________________ 49 Improving International Visibility __________________________________________ 50 Concluding Notes _____________________________________________________________ 52 !4 Overview In Fall 2014, the Fulbright Commission in conjunction with the Higher Education Authority, the Irish Government, a number of Irish Higher Education institutions and the United States government arranged for a Fulbright specialist to work with participating educational institu- tions, representatives of the game industry, relevant government bodies and industry associa- tions to seek ways to improve the game education sector in Ireland and, in doing so, strengthen its industry. The initiative was conceived of and driven by Bob Jackson, a lecturer with the Department of Creative Media, Information Technology and Computing from the In- stitute of Technology in Tralee. Specifically, the Fulbright specialist was tasked to: • Present lectures at graduate and undergraduate levels • Participate in or lead seminars or workshops • Conduct needs assessments, surveys, institutional or programmatic research • Take part in specialized academic programs and conferences • Consult with administrators and instructors of post-secondary, degree granting academ- ic institutions on faculty development • Develop and/or assess academic curricula or educational materials • Meet with the games industry and identify skills that the Irish games industry requires to develop the industry. • Conduct teacher-training programs at the degree-granting level The desire for a specialist rose out of needs identified in 2013 by the Games Clustering De- velopment Team (CDT) which was set up by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innova- tion and influenced by the 2009 Forfas . Both the Irish industry and its academy recognize that strategies to develop a strong game industry require a successful collaboration between industry and education. It requires, too, a determination to support this growing industry from government bodies and affiliated organizations. Brenda Romero, a 33-year veteran of the video game industry and Program Director of the internationally ranked UC Santa Cruz’s Mas- ters in Games & Playable Media department (currently #7 in the world in the Princeton Review Graduate Program rankings) was selected for the task. During the course of the Fulbright Fellowship, Romero visited the following institutions: • Dublin Institute of Technology • University of Limerick • Limerick Institute of Technology • Letterkenny Institute of Technology • Carlow Institute of Technology • Ballyfermot College of Further Educa- • Tralee Institute of Technology tion !5 In addition to the institutions above, Romero lectured to or presented a workshop at the fol- lowing institutions, educational or game development groups: • Dundalk Institute of Technology • Dubludo • CoderDojo • Galway game developers Romero also met with the following elected officials, government organizations and industry associations. • Jan O’Sullivan, Minister for Education • Damien English TD, Minister of State at the Departments of Education and Skills and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation with Special Responsibilty for Skills, Re- search and Innovation • Tom Boland, CEO, Higher Education Authority • Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation • Games Ireland • Irish Software Association • ICT Ireland • Enterprise Ireland • Industrial Development Authority (IDA Ireland) • American Chamber of Commerce Ireland • National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) • Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) • Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) Lastly, prior to meeting with staff, faculty and students in the games education sector, Romero met extensively with individuals from the game industry throughout Ireland. The companies listed below: • Microsoft Ireland • Digit Games • Bethesda / Zenimax • BatCat Games • Riot Games • Demonware • Zynga • Bitsmith • Tribal City • Studio PowWow • SixMinute Games • DoomCube • Breakout Interactive • SnozBot • StoryToys • PixelSoup !6 This report, then, is broken down into the four key subject areas of Game Education, Game Industry, Government and Game Associations. Within each subject, there is a Summary of Findings and Analysis of Findings. !7 Game Education Summary of Findings 1. There are not enough junior positions in industry to accommodate graduating stu- dents, resulting in the loss of Irish talent to overseas markets 2. Education has shifted towards software programming languages that are easy to learn as opposed to languages needed by the industry. 3. Institutions offering challenging material should not be penalized for lower retention rates and thus incentivized to water down their curriculum and student quality. This adversely affects hiring rates. 4. Computer/Software Programming education needs to begin much earlier in the edu- cational system