I am passionate about the approach creative technical schools have taken towards educating their students and preparing them for their chosen career paths.
Creative technical schools -- to be fair -- are not the only known portal into the games industry... just the only formal one. An increasing number of self-taught people are gaining entry into the games industry through a growing collection of free open source development tools.
Outside of that group, there remain just as many talented people who seek a formal opportunity -- in the form of a structured technical school -- to refine their talents into their dream careers. The few of those promising talents who actually receive the opportunity -- through government subsidized financial aid or extremely generous parents -- should make the most of that opportunity... especially in the current economy and in honor of those less fortunate.
I was invited to make a presentation to the new game art development program of a West Coast art school back in August of 2009. The school administration indicated it was committed to a full-bodied approach to the development of game art assets. They were understandably hopeful -- like any other institution branching into a new direction -- that I would deliver a celebratory speech that could be webcast over and over, encouraging brilliantly creative students-in-waiting to stampede their admissions office with fistfuls of tuition money.
My audience included a curious collection of operations officers, department chairs, faculty members, teaching assistants, and students from other established departments.
My presentation -- displayed below -- included a realistic perspective that drew attention to the shared responsibilities involved in an in-depth higher education that can make or break a young or transitioning career.
Millions of People Around the Globe Pirate, Purchase, And Play Video Games
The earliest video games can be traced back to the original pinball game -- the Montague Redgrave bagatelle -- but the video games that most of us know and love came into play in 1972 with the official release of Ralph Baer's Magnavox Odyssey home video game console. Decades later -- even in a slumping economy -- people cannot seem to get enough of video games. The game development industry, in fact, officially began surpassing the film industry in annual profits just a couple years ago. That is quite an accomplishment for an industry born of hobbyists' indulgences and toy maker determination.
Hundreds of Thousands of People Dream Of Making Video Games for a Living
Kids -- for the longest time -- used to dream of becoming firemen, police officers, astronauts, sports stars, or even the President of the United States. Parents -- dedicated to putting food on the table for those kids -- used to dream of finding a job they could enjoy. Many kids -- to be fair -- still dream of traditional occupations, and many parents still dream of jobs they can actually enjoy, but they would collectively drop almost everything for a shot at making the video games that are celebrated by so many people and making the associated income enjoyed by so few who succeed.
There Are Approximately 100,000+ Video Game Developers Worldwide
How on Earth did that happen? When did the game development community become players on the international scene? How could there be so many video games in development?
While North America continues to be the biggest hub of video game development, Japan and the UK have been at it for quite a while as well. French, German, Spanish, and Swiss developers, among others, have also joined the fray over the past 10-15 years.
The past 10 years have resulted in a virtual invasion of Indian development efforts in a spectrum of technologies that reaches well beyond games. China -- to no one's surprise -- has been bursting with an import / export combination of game development opportunities.
While components of video game projects are being outsourced anywhere and everywhere, there are certainly not 100,000+ mass market, instantly commercially-viable, fully-funded video games being developed worldwide.
"Video game developers" to some people represent entire companies, while for others -- like me -- the term refers to the talented individuals who comprise a greater whole. A labor pool of 100,000 is, in fact, small for most industries, but game development has -- until recently -- always been a more exclusive and specialized trade than most.
Such specialization, however, has generated an attraction like few other industries enjoy. Game development represents an incredible and accessible vehicle of opportunity -- to deliver a cross-section of creativity, technology, communication, and new business -- for anyone on the worldwide stage with the hunger to learn and the drive to succeed.
While games industry outsourcing was late blooming, it has converted the steady natural competition of a boutique industry into an aggressive survival of the fittest -- with lower overseas production costs and the worldwide economy starving for new business.
The culture of outsourcing, of course, began eons ago when individuals and companies required a task to be completed for less money, at a faster pace, and for similar quality to what they could deliver themselves. As more game development tasks are outsourced to still-developing countries -- that are aggressively seeking to adopt and drive modern-day technologies -- even more fledgling game developers will join what has become a global game development crusade.
