Less work, more play on new games degree course

A new BSc degree course at Carlow IT is the first of its kind to be backed by Microsoft, writes Karlin Lillington.

For a lot of Leaving Cert students, this must be the dream college degree course: one in which you could get reprimanded for not playing computer games during class.

But enrol in the new Bachelor of Science degree in computer games development at the Institute of Technology, Carlow - the only degree of its kind in the country, and the only one in the world developed with and backed by Microsoft - and that happy fate could be yours.

"This year, one student actually got reprimanded for not playing games in class," says Mr Joseph Kehoe, head of the department of computer science at IT Carlow.

"They were playing games to produce reports on why this game works well, and why that one doesn't. One of the students was writing programs instead."

If that sounds like the college course from heaven, consider too that students will soon be able to take out games and game consoles from the library (only the degree course students will have this privilege). And part of the degree requirement is a work placement with a games company, in Ireland or abroad.

But if it all sounds like a bit of fun, think again. "It is very specialised, and very tough," says Mr Kehoe.

The basis of the course is computer programming - all the maths and engineering that go into a solid computing degree.

The first and second year include classes in applied mathematics and physics, operating systems, programming, data structures and algorithms, human computer interaction and computer graphics - standard for computing degrees anywhere.

Once that grounding is there, students move into more games-specifics classes on modelling, artificial intelligence for games, 3D graphics and audio and animation, with a work placement in the third year, and projects in year three and four.

The rigour of the course arises from the way in which it was developed, as a direct response to a report on computing in Ireland by Forfás, the national policy board for enterprise, trade and science.

The report called for the Irish education system to make sure graduates could supply the technology industries located or developing in Ireland.

Gaming was highlighted as a sector of promise. Then Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Mr Dermot Ahern, predicted that 3,500 jobs could come from this sector. "The Government and IDA Ireland continue to position Ireland at the high-skills end of the market, and games software writing is a natural progression," he said.

Certainly, the global figures are impressive for an industry which has largely avoided being touched by recession. In 2002 the global market for games and edutainment/reference software, excluding hardware sales, was estimated at over $18 billion (€14 billion) in a report commissioned by European Leisure and Software Publishers Association.

Worldwide, the video and PC games industry is forecast to grow between 37 to 45 per cent by 2007, according to game analyst DFC Intelligence.

The number of wireless gamers is estimated to grow from seven million in 2002 to 71.2 million in 2007, and at that stage is expected to be worth about 10 per cent of the global video games market, say analysts IDC.

"No one else in Ireland was doing a course," says Mr Kehoe.

Thus began a two-year process of consultation, with advisory panels and direct input from gaming companies, including Team 17, Kapooki Games, Nephin Games, Havok and Microsoft.

Universities can invent and implement a new course immediately, but the Institutes of Technology are required to go through a lengthy multi-year process of proposal, review and industry consultation to add a new course.

It is a source of much frustration for an educational sector that is being asked to remould itself to suit commercial and national strategy demands.

ITs are not allowed to submit a course for this consultative process if the industry is not already based here - which makes it nearly impossible for them to act ahead of the curve, or to help provide the graduates needed for developing sectors.

Fortunately, says Mr Kehoe, there is a small domestic gaming sector now, adding to the presence of Microsoft, which produces both a games console, the Xbox, and games.

Microsoft took an immediate interest in the course proposal and put IT Carlow in direct contact with its Xbox Advanced Technology Group (ATG) at Microsoft's Seattle headquarters.

However, the course is not designed by or for Microsoft, says Mr Kehoe. The company was just a member of one panel, and the course design had to be approved by a pan-industry gaming panel as well as other advisers.

"Microsoft have been very good, and they haven't really said you should be doing anything [just for Microsoft]," he says. "The panels would not let them, even if they wanted to."

But with Microsoft backing the degree, Mr Kehoe says, "it was like having quality assurance for the course." The company has also provided guest lecturers from its Xbox division here, and will take on students for their work placements.

Building such a course from the ground up - essential for making sure it was on the cutting edge of offerings anywhere in the world - was a real challenge, said Mr Kehoe. They began by gathering syllabi from games courses internationally for comparison, then drew up a rough idea of what a course should include.

This proposal was sent back and forth to industry contacts, who advised them and helped them to refine the course.

While many suggestions were rejected - Carlow felt that students should not be learning specific graphics packages, for example, but the programming underlying them - the institute did decide to make the course a four-year rather than a three-year degree, to make it as comprehensive as possible.

Carlow has 3,000 students of which 580 are studying computer science. It took in its first 15 gaming degree students this year. There will ultimately be 30 annual places on the course.

Mr Kehoe is blunt about the industry: while a gaming job is at the sexier end of computing, jobs are hard to find and competition is intense, similar to the computer animation sector.

That's exactly why the degree is built upon a solid programming foundation.

"A graduate from this course can get any programming job," says Mr Kehoe. "And the games jobs they'll get ahead of everybody else."