Video Game Design Schools Need Power

by Alex Russel
alex.russel@computeranimationschoolreview.com
Computer Animation School Review Columnist

Video game design is becoming such an integral part of home entertainment that the creation and production of a game is branching off into different specialties. As video games become more elaborate and time-intensive, certain important parts of video game designs are being outsourced.

Video Game Design with Power

On extremely intricate games, a different designer or programming company is sometimes hired to handle a certain part of the game's design, a business practice you'd expect in automobile production or in making computer hardware, but not necessarily video game design.

The reason for this is that video game designs are becoming so intensely realistic that several sources of design technology are needed for one game.

Tom Clancy Video Game Design

The best example of this trend is the PC version of Tom Clancy's 'Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter'. The game aims to be so precise in its renditions of human behavior that the game in fact requires an extra memory card in order to operate. A memory chip called PhysX, especially designed to provide extremely precise computer graphics, must be added to a computer's mainframe in order for the game to function optimally.

Obviously, this trend affects video game design schools. As games become more elaborate, video game design schools must become more elaborate as well. Classes must not only include design training, but increasingly intricate programming instruction too.

3D Video Game Design School

What changed everything for video game design is 3D. There was a time when video game design was all 2D, enhanced to look three-dimensional. But customers no longer are satisfied with that. 3D graphic chips have become standard on computers and game consoles. Now the ante is going up. Not only do hardcore video game design users want 3D, but they want the game to be as lifelike as possible. Computer chips like PhysX fulfill the demand for realism and, if history is an indication, will one day become standard equipment. A lot of tomorrow's gaming technology will likely be developed in video game design school first. A good design course can prepare you for the next brave new world.

Source
Associated Press

About the Author
Alex Russel is a freelance media writer living in Brooklyn.

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