The summer between my freshman and sophomore year was an important time. It was during this time that I learned about The Sims 2, which was to be released that fall, on September 14th. My desire for the game was so great that I bought a new computer just so I would be able to play it. It turns out that my “state of the art” Hewlett Packard desktop wasn’t so state of the art. As I watched ads and trailers for The Sims 2 I remember being in awe at the 3D graphics and the idea that my sims would now be able to pass on their genes. September 1st came and I began my second year. I spent the first two weeks in a daze, counting down the days until I could go to the local Best Buy and purchase the game that would cause me to lose sleep, toss aside work, and forget about friendships. September 14th came, I went to my classes, and then early afternoon I headed over to Best Buy. When I look back at it I realize how lucky I was that they had copies in stock on the release date. Nowadays, with how big gaming has become, pre-ordering highly anticipated games is absolutely necessary.
Installation of the game went as it was supposed to, and the rest of my semester passed with little difficulty. When it came time to register for spring semester classes, I had an open spot in my schedule. Boston University has an exorbitant amount or graduation requirements, and despite the fact I had come in with a semester’s worth of credit, I still had to take at least one math or computer science course. It had been a little over a year since I had done any kind of upper level math, so I decided to take a computer science class. This was the first time I realized I had an interest in making video games. I didn’t think I was ready to take a programming class, such as Introduction to C++ (what was C++ anyways?), so I enrolled in Introduction to Web Technologies. In the course description it said we would be working with Dreamweaver, a little bit of Javascript and Flash. There were a number of Flash games I enjoyed playing on the internet, so I was greatly looking forward to discover how these games were created and worked. The spring semester came, and went. I wish I had never taken that class. At the end of the semester I remember thinking I would never be able to design computer games because I hated computer science. During that semester, that class that I was taking for fun was the bane of my existence. In retrospect, a math class would have been easier. I didn’t understand javascript, I could barely use Dreamweaver and Flash made me want to rip my hair out. My “dream” of being a video game designer was dashed. You need a computer science degree to even think about making video games. I hated computer science. For the rest of my life I would only be a gamer. This thought stayed with me until halfway through my first semester of senior year.
During the fall of 2006 (first semester of senior year) I attended a presentation, at MIT, given by Peter Raad from The Guildhall at SMU. From what I remember, he talked about the desire and need for more specialized game design programs in universities. What really caught my attention was a statement he made, in regards to the Guildhall program, that “you do not need to have a degree in computer science to design video games”. What? Was he serious? Yes he was! All these years I was under the impression that video game designer and programmer were one and the same. Boy was I wrong! The person that thinks up the avatars that walk around the game isn’t the same as the person who illustrates the avatar (I can not draw to save my life, well…maybe stick figures), who isn’t the same as the person who makes the walking actually happen! Ah-hah! Maybe there was a place for me in the world of video game creation!
| "All these years I was under the impression that video game designer and programmer were one and the same. Boy was I wrong!" | ||
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