industry wants programmers comfortable in cross-disciplinary teams.

Effect on the uSC CS Department

How has the game-degree program affected USC’s Computer Science Department, nudging it along toward the conceptual age? First, I must say we have not dismantled the traditional bachelor’s program in computer science, and students continue to enroll in it. Computer science and games students share almost the same core computer science curriculum.

Enrollment concerns were part of our original motivation with respect to the games program, though they have eased, as they have for many departments, according to the Computing Research Association’ annual Taulbee Survey ( http://www.cra.org/ statistics/). For the Fall 2009 semester, 29% of the students in the USC bachelor’s in computer science program are in the games program, representing an important influence on the department.

While we have not measured it, probably the greatest effect we see is an apparent “joy of computing” feeling by our students who come to class highly motivated, pour their best ideas into their projects, and produce spectacularly creative results, some of which the game industry wants to commercialize. The graduating students who move into positions in the game industry return to subsequent Demo Days, bring their bosses, and hire more of our graduates. The addi-

tion of a creative-design component and making it student-driven and stu-dent-dependent is key to this success. Students take ownership of their educational program and aspire to make everything they do shine.

Another component worth mentioning is the commitment of the program’s faculty and instructors. The students are in small classes where they have much say in direction and result. The faculty is available to provide technical guidance, mentorship, motivation, and support. It is physically draining if done properly, but if the students recognize their passion for games, they cannot help but be passionate game developers as well. Faculty working directly with our program are the executive producers of some 12 to 14 games per semester. The results of these efforts are visible on the USC GamePipe Web site (http:// gamepipe.usc.edu).

We have also been able to create a line of research funding based on and around games. 11 It is more than difficult to build an R&D program on games without a pipeline of students learning to build them. Today, we have both. The games program has additionally strengthened the reputation of USC’s Computer Science Department in terms of increased R&D funding, improved hiring rates for graduates, attention to the games program in the press, invitations to games fac-

ulty to speak at conferences and publish in traditional venues, and other universities desiring to copy USC’s success. In Fall 2008, the director of the USC GamePipe Laboratory was appointed an ACM Distinguished Speaker ( http://www.dsp.acm.org/) in recognition of the program’s achievement. Hiring managers and developers in the games industry now regard us as one of the “best games programs,” though we are only in our fourth year of operation. Moreover, traditional USC computer science faculty not currently involved in the games program have begun to ask how they can participate, some have changed their course projects to be game-related, and many ask how we can draft proposals together. The computer science faculty realizes that something important is happening, with some beginning to also guide their own programs toward the conceptual age.

 

References

1. Barnes, T., Powell, e., Chaffin, A., and Lipford, H. Game2Learn: improving the motivation of CS1 students. ACM Game Development in Computer Science education (Miami, FL, Feb. 26–Mar. 3, 2008). 1–5.

2. Brooks, Jr., F.P. The computer scientist as toolsmith ii. Commun. ACM 39, 3 (Mar. 1996), 61–68.

3. Horswill, i. and Novak, M. evolving the artist-technologist. IEEE Computer 39, 6 (June 2006), 62–69.

4. McGill, M.M. Defining the expectation gap: A comparison of industry needs and existing game development curricula. ACM Foundations of Digital Games (Orlando, FL, 2009), 129–136.

5. Parberry, i., Roden, T., and Kazemzadeh, M. B. experience with an industry-driven capstone course on game programming. ACM SiG on Computer Science education (Houston, Tx, 2005), 91–95.

6. Phelps, A., egert, C., and Bierre, K. Games first pedagogy: Using games and virtual worlds to enhance programming education. Journal of Game Development 1, 4 (May 2006), 45–64.

7. Pink, D.H. A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. Riverhead Books, New York, 2005.

8. Thibodeau, P. Computer science graduating class of 2007 smallest this decade. Computerworld Online (Mar. 5, 2008); http://www.computer world.com/ action/ article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&article id=9066659.

9. Whitehead, J. introduction to game design in the large classroom. ACM Game Development in Computer Science education (Miami, FL, 2008), 61–65.

10. Wolz, U. and Pulimood, S. M. An integrated approach to project management through classic CS iii and video game development. ACM SiG on Computer Science education (Covington, K Y, 2007), 322–326.

11. Zyda, M., Spraragen, M., and Ranganathan, B. Testing behavioral models with an online game. IEEE Computer 42, 4 (Apr. 2009), 103–105.

12. Zyda, M., Lacour, V., and Swain, C. Operating a computer science game degree program. ACM Game Development in Computer Science education (Miami, FL, 2008), 71–75.

 

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PHO TOGRAPH B Y MiCHAeL Z YDA/USC GAMePiPe LABORATORY

Michael Zyda ( [e-mail]) is the director of the USC GamePipe Laboratory and a professor of engineering practice in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.