CATONSVILLE, Md. (AP) — “Using SLERP on quarternians is the best way to avoid gimble lock,” the lecturer recently told a class at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County.
He was referring to algorithms and equations, which brought knowing nods from the computer nerds — and baffled stares from the artists in the room.
The school is offering a formal academic track in video-game development. The concept is to bridge the gap between right brain and left by bringing together computer-science and visual-art majors to teach them techniques used to create virtual worlds.
“This is a very competitive industry,” Eric Jordan told the students. “There are lots of smart, energetic people looking for jobs.”
Mr. Jordan is a game developer at BreakAway Inc., in Hunt Valley, Md., and a guest lecturer in Anatomy of a Video Game.
Nearly 400 U.S. colleges — including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon — offer formal training in game development, from elective courses to degree programs, according to Game Career Guide, a Web site for aspiring developers.
As computers, Xboxes, PlayStations and Nintendo game consoles become more popular and grow more complex, game development calls for teams of dozens of producers, programmers and artists.
The average developer’s salary was $73,000 last year, according to a survey released this month by Game Developer magazine. Computer and video games sales in the United States reached $9.5 billion last year, triple what they were in 1996, according to the Entertainment Software Association.
“Twenty years ago, a game was made by one guy, or two or three people,” said Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association.
“There were no books, there were no Web sites, there were no degree programs. But the mentor model doesn’t produce enough new talent. The games you see now take up to 200 people to make. You need a more institutionalized pipeline of training developers.”
Creating a video game in many ways resembles making a movie. Development teams can include designers, producers, artists, programmers and sound engineers.
The game designer is similar to a scriptwriter, coming up with the idea behind the game and developing its story line.
Producers manage the day-to-day creation of games.
Artists and programmers do much of the work. A typical ratio is two artists for each programmer. Think of artists as set and wardrobe designers, shaping shading and texturing the characters and their environment.
The programmers are choreographers, setting forth algorithmic code that put life and movement into the artist’s creations.
Marc Olano is a computer science professor at the school, just west of Baltimore. He said the gaming classes are designed to augment training in visual arts and computer science. “Even if they don’t end up working in the game industry,” he said, “they get a solid education.”
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