UCSC adds video game major to its curriculum
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Jul 11th 2006 at 12:25PM }
The class of 2010 will have a new major to consider when they hit the UCSC campus for the first time this fall: video game design. The University of California, Santa Cruz will be the first school in the UC system to offer this prestigious degree.The major, which leads to a bachelor's degree in computer science, will focus on the technical, artistic and narrative elements of games, highlighted by a yearlong game-design project. UCSC will be adding a state-of-the-art computer lab to its campus to compliment the new major and has recruited gaming
Barry Spencer, a Santa Cruz resident and technology entrepreneur, has suggested that the major sounds more like a marketing ploy to lure students (to learn) than a program that will give graduates a 1-up in the job market.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John Swisshelm @ Jul 11th 2006 1:09PM
I was in a class taught by professor Mateas last spring at Georgia Tech. He knows what he is talking about, is great at explaining things from different angles, and actually cares about his undergrad students. If the rest of the UCSC staff is that professional, then it definitely has the potential to be a great program!
ZildjianKX @ Jul 11th 2006 1:10PM
Lame, I think that just makes UCSC look worse as an academic institution.
LunarDuality @ Jul 11th 2006 1:30PM
Most people in the industry that are working game designers have said that getting a "games" degree is not the way to go if you want to design games. (The ones that I've heard talk about it anyway.) Getting a good liberal arts education with emphasis on History and Writing is a better way to go. Because the former will teach you only how games work and the latter will actually give you the foundation from which to create and articulate the *ideas* that will make a great game.
Of course, if you wanna be an uber-code-monkey, then this is clearly where you want to be going to school. And I don't mean to make that sound like a bad thing -- believe me, the games industry needs those people too.
digitalFrequency @ Jul 11th 2006 2:11PM
interesting... i've actually tried out Façade myself over here at georgia tech where he used to be using equipment to create the augmented reality. i never encountered him during my years but i heard his work referenced during my video game design course.
much luck to Mateas...
32_Footsteps @ Jul 11th 2006 2:42PM
Go Banana Slugs!
It might be just me, but I think overall this is just an incremental step for video gaming. At first, I imagine that movies and television classes were taught as an adjunct to science classes as well. When video game majors get added to communications schools, I think that's when we'll really start seeing video gaming get some respect, as well as an interesting step forward in terms of actual game design.
Corey Brennan @ Jul 11th 2006 3:18PM
Well, hopefully, as a student going into UCSC's SoE, I will be able to declare it as soon as this fall. Video games are my passion, so this major appears to be perfect for me. The people at the GDC seem like my kind of people, so I know I want in to the booming games industry. However, I admit, I don't know whether getting this degree would adequately prepare me for the job track I want; I would most like to be a producer, and not a programmer.
As for LunarDuality's comment, I have not been impressed by the literature department; people who get literature degrees spend more time writing plot summary than analyzing the texts. This is where the engineering approach comes in. I have read and played plenty (and even attempted forming a Philosophy Club in high school), and most engineers from UCSC love video games and know what makes for a good one. UCSC teaches software methodology, meaning that they know how and what to plan when designing a project. Just because someone is an engineer doesn't mean they're a boring brick wall. Most of the interesting people I know are engineers; they know their shit.
Too Late @ Jul 11th 2006 6:07PM
GAAAAAAAAARRRGH! I JUST GRADUATED FROM THERE.
hikaru @ Jul 11th 2006 8:10PM
The Santa Cruz Sentinel needs a better editor (and staff writer):
Random SC local: "...if I was looking to hire someone and their major was COMPUTER GAMING ... the name of the major doesn't tell me what they learned."
Second line of the article: "The major, which will culminate with a bachelor's degree in COMPUTER SCIENCE..."
Dense. RLY.
From what I gather, this is a degree to learn coding, scripting, and the basics of the development cycle. This does not sound like a degree to learn how to be a lead artist (study multimedia, design) or a producer (get a biz degree, get a PMP/MBA).
The game biz is bigger than Hollywood. Why is an MFA in Film socially acceptable, but a BS in Game Design not? Game degrees have been around for awhile. The University of California is one of the most respected college systems in the world, and this gives game education a measurable bump up in legitimacy.
What makes the UC Santa Cruz campus ideal is its proximity to the SF Bay Area and its numberable gaming industry giants: Sony, EA, Konami, Capcom, etc. You can bet on Santa Cruz taking a sizeable chunk of interships and job placement from the current smaller, non-local game schools.