Reassuring Parents about Game Degrees

I almost missed it with the holidays and all, but game career site gamecareerguide.com had an interesting article at the end of last month entitled “Reassuring Parents about Game Degrees” by Andrew Tuson, who heads the Department of Computing at City University London. He makes a bunch of great points, all of which apply at least as much, if not more, for programs on this side of the pond. In particular:

• “Are there jobs…” - He mentions jobs in the UK, but the industry is clearly booming in the US, and a number of the major Baltimore area game companies have been growing.
• “How can a degree help…” - I agree with his points 100%. There are plenty of examples of people working in the industry who don’t have a game-focused degree, but we’ve talked to lots of game developers, and they all agree. They are desperate for skilled people. Anyone can learn to play a game without formal training, but only a select few can learn game development without formal training.
• “Will a game degree be recognized outside of the games industry” - We came to the same conclusion he does. A “game degree” may not mean much outside the games industry. A game-focused version of a regular degree (Computer Science or Art) can be your ticket into the games industry, but can also just be a fun way to get that regular degree that will be widely recognized.
• “Are game degrees a soft option” - Hardly! Ask any student taking an advanced graphics or AI or parallel programming class (Cell processing anyone?). Just be sure to ask them both if it’s easy, and if it’s fun!

GameCareerGuide is a great site, by the way, run by the same people who do gamasutra, game developer magazine, and the annual Game Developers Conference. Well worth a look.

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Microsoft launches effort to exploit multicore processors

In yesterday’s New York Times, John Markoff wrote (Faster Chips Are Leaving Programmers in Their Dust) about a major new effort Microsoft is making to develop their capability to exploit the new multicore processors being developed by Intel, AMD and IBM.

When he was chief executive of Intel in the 1990s, Andrew S. Grove would often talk about the “software spiral” — the interplay between ever-faster microprocessor chips and software that required ever more computing power.

The potential speed of chips is still climbing, but now the software they run is having trouble keeping up. Newer chips with multiple processors require dauntingly complex software that breaks up computing chores into chunks that can be processed at the same time.

The challenges have not dented the enthusiasm for the potential of the new parallel chips at Microsoft, where executives are betting that the arrival of manycore chips — processors with more than eight cores, possible as soon as 2010 — will transform the world of personal computing.

The company is mounting a major effort to improve the parallel computing capabilities in its software.

“Microsoft is doing the right thing in trying to develop parallel software,” said Andrew Singer, a veteran software designer who is the co-founder of Rapport Inc., a parallel computing company based in Redwood City, Calif. “They could be roadkill if somebody else figures out how to do this first.”

Games and interactive entertainment are among the first application areas to benefit from multicore processors, primarily through the Sony PS3 console.

The UMBC Games, Animation and Interactive Media programs includes the study of parallel and multicore computing as one of the key technologies in the Computer Science track and in partnership with UMBC’s new Multicore Computing Center. This coming Spring, for example, UMBC is offering a special topics course (CMSC 491s/691s) on the topic — Introduction to Cell Processors and Applications.

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UMBC GAIM mentioned in Business Gazette

The Business Gazette has an article on serious games today, focusing especially on Maryland companies Will Interactive, Breakaway, and Firaxis. I was interviewed for the article, and it closes with a mention of the new UMBC GAIM programs!

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Emergent releases new Gamebryo game development engine

Emergent Game Technologies has released the new version of their Gamebryo game development engine that includes support for multi-core processors. Gamebryo can produce games that run on a PC, Xbox 360, or Sony PS3. See the Emergent press release for more information. UMBC has a license for Gamebryo for use in courses and student projects.

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GAIM to get 20 Xbox 360s

The UMBC GAIM programs won an award from Microsoft to get 20 Xbox 360s and 20 XNA Creators Club licenses. These will form the foundation of a new GAIM lab in the Engineering building. We have plans to use these new systems in several upcoming classes in both Visual Arts and Computer Science.

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Multi-core and cell processors for games

The game industry has a strong need for software engineers that know how to take advantage of the new multi-core and cell processors. An article in CNET (Game developers adapt to multi-core world, explains it this way:

PC game developers appear to finally be getting the message: the free ride is over.

For years, developers were able to take advantage of faster and faster processors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. All they had to do was write their program once, and it would run faster and faster as Intel and AMD cranked up the clock speed.

But overheating forced chip companies to adopt designs with two or more processor cores running at slower speeds, which meant that some applications written to run on a single thread couldn’t take advantage of that extra horsepower. This has required an entirely new way of looking at software development, prompting Intel this week to release another batch of software development tools aimed at helping developers make that transition.uote>

The CSEE department will offer its course on Parallel and Distributed Processing next in the Spring of 2008. In the mean time, if you are interested in exploring how to use these new architectures, you might check out Intel’s Multi-Core webinar series.

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AI in games

The UK paper The Independent has a good article last week on the increasing need by industry for engineers who know AI concepts and techniques.

Artificial intelligence courses meet growing industry demands

Robots are being built to do our chores - and those who are creating them are already debating whether their rights should be recognized. Kate Hilpern reports
…
Most people don’t realize the extent to which AI is already used in our everyday lives, believes Browne. “For instance, AI is used in supermarkets to work out what products should be placed with other products, and whether certain products should be stacked vertically or horizontally. Companies invest a huge amount in AI in these kinds of ways to get people to spend a bit more money.” AI is also used to create robot technology to do things like construct our cars, clean our floors and even perform delicate microsurgery. Military and agricultural applications of AI are also on the rise and increasingly, AI is being used to assist disabled and elderly people. …

The game industry is another big application area for AI. The emphasis in the last decade has been on exploiting increased processor and GPU speeds to support more realistic graphics. Many think that using game AI to make game play and and the behavior of non-player characters more sophisticated and intelligent will become a significant discriminator in the next ten years.

The Independent article notes

“One of the fastest growing employers of AI graduates is the computer games industry. In fact, some universities run specific courses for people who want to work in this field. Gareth Bellaby, course leader for the BSc in computer games development at the University of Central Lancashire, says, ‘One of the most important aspects of all computer games is AI because, for instance, characters within the games need to be able to move around a map or landscape without bumping into walls - which is more difficult than it might sound - and make decisions against human opponents. Then there are challenges like ensuring that the camera can move around the landscape in a sensible fashion.’ Bellaby believes the computer games industry is the most fun end of AI. ‘It’s also one of those areas within AI where there are usually jobs available.’”

If you are interested in studying AI at UMBC there are many undergraduate courses to choose from, including principles of AI, machine learning, robotics, multiagent systems, natural language processing, neural networks, and various special topics courses.

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