If the best way to learn is by ‘doing’, students on the University of Northampton’s new game courses should be well-served by an ambitious three-year MMOG project.
From September new starters will set to work creating a 3D massively multiplayer game that will be released by the UK institution in 2016. The aim is to accelerate student learning by giving them experience of the development process from the concept stage to release and beyond.
“We’re trying to give students a feel for working in the industry,” says senior lecturer Martyn Simmons. “The coding and the graphics are majorly important, but we want them to learn the ins and outs of releasing a game.”
Simmons is one of a rare breed of academics whose job straddles two disciplines and therefore two faculties. As course leader for the BA (Hons) Game Art and BSc (Hons) Computer Games Development undergraduate degree programmes his brief is to ensure learning is firmly interdisciplinary. And that goal is critical as part of a wider drive towards getting students a job in the game industry, he says.
“The MMO will be a sales pitch for us and our students,” explains Simmons. “We’ve looked at the market and it’s mainly geared towards online gaming and 3D environments. We want them to get the skills for that.”
The game will begin to flicker into life when concept art is created in September. Simmons says the project will be akin to Second Life, ruling out the possibility of a violent or fantasy setting. He also anticipates a strong social strand. The MMOG will be designed to edge into some of the space in students’ life currently occupied by social media platforms such as Facebook.
“We will approach the task just as you would in industry. There will be group discussions and we will work with clients,” says Simmons. He also confirmed that, while the game will be initially hosted and set in the University, it could be released to “the wider world”.
Future students might be engaged in expanding and maintaining the as-yet-unnamed game. But Simmons says it is also possible development on a new project could begin with every intake.
Officially, September will be the first year of the new courses which had previously been known as BA (Hons) and BSc (Hons) Creative Games Development. Now the titles reflect traditional student expectation of the split between art and coding.
The post University of Northampton to create MMOG with students appeared first on Edge Online.
via Edge Online http://www.edge-online.com/get-into-games/university-of-northampton-to-create-mmog-with-students/