I have been attending the GDC for about 8 years now. I think my first one was back in 2003. It is always a very impactful experience. That first year I was working at the Art Institute of California - Los Angeles located in Santa Monica. I had been there full time for 2 years and I was the Assistant Academic Director for the Animation program and the new Game program. I knew I would soon be taking over the Game program and decided to throw myself into the design and process of making games so as best to serve our students. Every year at GDC there are a series of Summits the first two days. This year was a Academic Summit. I remember spending the two days with about 100 or so other educators from all over the world who were there trying to figure out how to create an effective degree program in the study of games.
This was a brand new thing!! Colleges and universities had not up to this point thought of games as a serious area of academic study, but the demand from incoming students was emerging. I was astonished that our new program was light years ahead of where most academics were starting. Some educators were literally taking some mythology courses and some computer science courses and calling it a game program.
Our program was built on top of our Media Arts & Animation program. We took out some classes and added about 15 or so game specific courses i.e. Level Design, Scripting, Game Design & Gameplay (one of my favorite courses). The process of animation and games is extremely similar. The main difference being with games the design of interaction. I had extensive experience in education and animation production at this stage in my career, and I also had a deep love for all kinds of games. I was greatly prepared for a new opportunity that I could not have predicted.
What I Got This Year
I will likely write several posts on what I got at GDC this year because it was so much. For me it was the best GDC ever.
Last year at GDC I made a startling revelation. I came to the realization that I was not a player as I thought but only a resource to other players.
It was easy for me to be under the delusion that I was a player because of all the work creating the game programs at Ai, the Game Wizards and Executive Producing all the Game Wizards titles.
It seemed like up at GDC there were all these folks making multi million dollar deals (these guys are players) and I "should" be one of them. I was bummed out!
Well this year I have completed my 11 year term of employment with the Ai Santa Monica campus and my span of over 15 year working relationship with the Art Institutes when you count my time at the Philly campus. It's an amazing feeling to be free!
I can see now that it was a necessary step for me to get clear about what I was (a resource not a player).
This year I was ecstatic at being a resource and really getting what an invaluable resource I am. I can also see that I am becoming a real player now, but I first had to realize I wasn't yet.
If you do not know what piece you are on the game board and what your functions and abilities are, you greatly reduce your chances of ever winning the game.
I have no hard feelings about my position being eliminated. I have been planning to leave for years and said months ago that my plan was to complete in January 2011 which is exactly when it happend. I was actually thrilled when I got the news.
My relationship with the Art Institutes has provided me a wealth of resources to build from in many different ways and the timing could not be more perfect with all the amazing opportunities that are in front of me now. As someone said to me I have used my position as a launch pad to propel my career into the stratosphere. Many of the projects I am developing I can't speak on right now being under NDA, but just wait until you see what comes next!!
No comments:
Post a Comment