Getting Schooled on Game Design

The lab will bring in students from other disciplines, including electrical engineering, computer science, art, music and English, in order to design a "complete, fully-functioning computer game." I'm thinking "Grand Theft Auto: Shaker Heights."

Finally, Deborah Solomon brought me the local angle for D.C.-area readers: "Right here in Maryland, Montgomery College offers certificate and brand-new degree programs in videogame design and development." And MoCo College isn't the only one. Check out the program at the University of Baltimore .

And, in order to avoid another dive in the drink: I'm sure that there are even more schools out there doing great work in the game design area. Thanks in advance to all of you I'm sure to hear from.

Gaming for Life ...

The United Nations usually makes technology headlines for its attempts to put the management of the Internet in the hands of multiple countries, but today I'm bringing it up to show off the "Food Force" game.

Food Force puts you in the position of organizing a World Food Program relief effort when disaster strikes the fictional Indian Ocean island of Sheylan. The game debuted in, of all places, Bologna, Italy, and is perfect for children with visions of conflict resolution models and global paradigm shifts in their heads.

As Blogcritics.org wrote back in May : "A number of the projects call for decision-making by the player. While the game maximizes this ability, the overall game play is linear and deterministic. This, of course, is inherent in the bureaucratic makeup of the WFP in particular, and the U.N. in general. The future farming mission embodies this, as the course of the next 10 years for a village in Sheylan is determined by you in an autocratic fashion."

That's a funny, if cheap, shot. At least somebody in the U.N. is trying something different to get tomorrow's adults thinking about these things. More amusing is the Blogcritics speculation on what could be the U.N.'s next games: "the U.N. Oil-for-Food program simulation or the much-touted first-person shooter, 'Peacekeeper.'"

... And Gaming for God

Wired.com ran a piece today on the Christian Game Developers Conference in Portland, Ore., where developers "showed off new titles focusing on morality and stories from the Old and New Testaments aimed at pre-kindergarten to young adults."

Among them is "Timothy and Titus," developed by Australian firm White Knight Games, in which players spread the Gospel throughout the Mediterranean during the age of Rome.

"Instead of the health and weapons points used in other role-playing games, players collect love, hope and faith points to power their missions. When they meet foes, instead of fragging them as in Halo 2, the disciples earn their halos by praying for them or using the 'finger of God' to convert them," Wired.com reported.

It's an interesting premise, but I'll probably stick to "The Simpsons" for religious instruction, same as I've always done.

Accentuate the Positive ... or Else

The Wall Street Journal reported today that online customer reviews might not always feature the bad with the good: