Florida is a player in the video game industry.
Nineteen video game developers make their home in the state, including Electronic Arts, the largest game developer in the world. Thirteen Florida schools offer some type of game design degree; two of them have been rated in the top 10 North American schools for game design by 3D World magazine. One organization, Games-Florida, actively promotes Florida as the state for game studios looking to relocate, and several other groups offer advice and resources to budding developers.
But the decision by a small Sarasota arts college to create a major focused on game design promises to raise Florida's gaming profile that much higher, and help the state tap into an $11 billion industry whose revenues have begun to eclipse that of feature films.
Ringling College of Art and Design debuts its Game Art and Design major in August. The program, part of Ringling's renowned Computer Animation department, will immerse students in all aspects of game design from narrative techniques and character development to the technical skills needed to create the 3D, lifelike images that dominate today's video games. According to Ringling's Computer Animation department head Jim McCampbell, the program will eventually generate some of the top game artists in the country.
"Because of the overlap in the skill sets needed to produce computer animation for films and computer animation for games, the game studios were coming to recruit here and hiring about 50 percent of each graduating class," explains McCampbell about the decision to institute the major. "A few years back, we realized that we were accomplishing that task without really trying. So, we started to wonder what would happen if we actually tried to target the game industry with a specific curriculum? Then how well might we do?"
Already, the program has created a buzz: More than 320 students applied to the Computer Animation department this year, 90 of them specifically for Game Art and Design. Ringling will accept 15 of those candidates for the new major. Within a few years, the number of slots will increase to 45. McCampbell says he is already excited about those applying. For one, not all applicants fit the standard video game demographic; a large number of applicants were female.
"I don't think any of us were expecting that," he says.
Ringling isn't skimping on the facilities or equipment, either. Gaming students will enjoy a brand-new 5-story building full of new PC workstations outfitted with the latest design software. In addition, one half-floor will be devoted to gaming stations equipped with the latest consoles like Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Add to that a rigorous curriculum and McCampbell predicts game developers will flock to scoop up the Ringling graduates.
According to Ringling spokeswoman Christine Meeker Lange, game developers hire over 60 percent of Ringling computer animation graduates; EA has committed to hiring at least 10 graduates per year.
But McCampbell has visions beyond just finding students jobs in the fast-growing industry. He hopes the program can breed a new kind of game developer interested in more than just creating entertainment.
"Most people have a very narrow concept of what games are and what they can be," he says. "Most people thought film was a novelty when it debuted as well. However, game technology has the ability and potential to become the most important medium of this century. It will eventually eclipse film in its visual sophistication and ability to influence society."
Does that mean no Grand Theft Auto clones for a student's senior thesis?
"We have a responsibility to our students and to the world to teach our artists to be ethical practitioners," McCampbell says, while cautioning against censorship. "Our approach has been to educate students about the power and the influence that their work holds, and the responsibility they have to use it properly. … My hope is that in the four years that they are here, we can change their aesthetic to the point that they would not want to produce a game like that."
This article appears in May 16-22, 2007.
