The purpose of Austin Community College's Video Game Development instruction program is to further the industry's presence in Austin, so said program coordinator Bob McGoldrick at the program's open house last night at ACC's Highland Business Center.
The purpose of me, with no immediate means to either enter the industry or take any of ACC's courses, held two counties from where I live and at hours incompatible with my work schedule, going to the open house, were entirely selfish.
I heard they had free food.
When McGoldrick got started on the program two years ago, as ACC's High Technology Institute Director Jerry Haba told a packed room at the Highland Center, his only concern was, "would there be any interest?" The fact that the crew had to move in two extra rows of chairs and still need standing room near the snack tables for all who showed up, was "proof positive" that interest existed, Haba said.
Therefore, Austin has a base of eager young talents who could potentially take on roles in the industry. He cited that NCSoft just reported that City of Heroes had just reached 180,000 subscribers (he might have been aware that it's just being published, QA'd and community-supported by NCSoft Austin, not developed there, but he didn't say so) as evidence that the game industry is growing.
"Folks want to stay here, in Austin," Haba said. "It's a nice place to live, and a nice place to work. And people know that."
OK, so it wasn't just for the free food. If I can take time off to catch Gordon Walton at one of his lecture series nights (he's going to talk about Leadership the third Friday of every month from September through December,) it won't be because I just can't get enough of his irascible wit, either. (He was in a mood, having come off a red-eye flight from the west coast the morning before.)
I got to shake hands with Bill Louden again, and listen to Billy Cain talk shop. Also overheard Harvey Smith start a spiel about how all games, "even rock-paper-scissors," have relevant design elements that must be learned, but I didn't stop to listen.
Billy and Gordon both took time on the mic introducing themselves as advisors to ACC's program. "There is no job security in this industry," sayeth Billy, and being a game developer is an opportunity for "expressing yourself through your work," sayeth Gordon. For those who already have jobs they love but don't work 16 hours a day, he warned, it might not be a good idea to jump into it.
But, as Paul Trowe, the whiz kid who got a job at Sierra when he was 12 and now runs Pulse Interactive, put it, ACC's program is the "easiest way to break in ... you can make contacts, and network the hell out of them." And as Louden said, "you can make your own job security," just by being good at the work, and becoming in demand.
I also got to talk to Ariel Comstock of the Austin Game Developers group, which makes it a goal to meet every month. Game developers are busy people, though, so I imagine that goal isn't typically met. Like the open house, most of the people who would most likely be available to show up would be people who aren't in the trenches already.
The main thing is I got to talk, and listen, and be in the moment. Mostly free, just for the price of gas. And that's probably going to be enough for me. It'll have to be. I doubt I'll ever be in demand.
See you guys at AGC.
Posted by j at August 5, 2004 01:40 AM