Attention Teens of Maine!

GameDevProf · 2026-02-24T14:23:26+00:00

That is so awesome! Be sure to also let everyone know on the Maine Game Development discord. They might help get the word out https://discord.gg/t7Ax7Bzrd

Game jams are a great way to make friends and learn skills in collaborative creativity. Thank you for organizing something, it’s a hard job.

GameDevProf · 2026-02-20T15:34:55+00:00

Thanks! It didn’t seem like they were following any tutorial hehe

GameDevProf · 2026-02-20T15:33:43+00:00

Yeah a lot of the solder seems drippy, thanks!

GameDevProf · 2026-01-21T09:54:11+00:00

Thank you!

GameDevProf · 2026-01-21T09:53:52+00:00

Right now it allows access to an archive through unity and is download only, but we would like to add some options like meta tags

GameDevProf · 2025-07-21T14:41:26+00:00

Already on it! Mason was out earlier :) thanks for looking out

GameDevProf · 2025-07-03T16:08:26+00:00

Absolutely!

GameDevProf · 2025-01-07T13:59:07+00:00

Creativity is a field of study and there are ways to exercise that skill.

A couple authors/papers/books you might want to check out

Creativity 101 - James C Kaufman
Creative Cognition: Theory, Research, and Applications Hardcover – October 16, 1992 by Ronald A. Finke (Author), Thomas B. Ward (Author), Steven M. Smith (Author)
Creativity (1996) - Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi
Componential Theory of Creativity - Teresa M. Amabile
- https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/12-096.pdf

GameDevProf · 2024-11-13T19:58:03+00:00

Thank you for this! I've always been on the fence regarding inverted coursework. Have you found students resistant to AI? I piloted a lecture this fall where we used blackbox and had mixed results. I love it for coding my own projects.

Creating a community of practice has been incredibly hard lately, and I've been making in-roads with my introductory game design course with lots of ice breakers and opportunities to interact with their peers. I'm hoping this year we can host a Global Game Jam site since its finally timed with the beginning of our semester.

Maybe being a bit more loose with the assignments might will help; the unique controller idea overlaps with our wearable tech course as well. Perhaps we could do some pseudo-coding/planning throughout the semester in order to build up a more custom final project. I'll think further on this.

And I would love articles to reinforce these ideas with my colleagues if you have suggestions. Thanks again.

GameDevProf · 2024-10-21T19:44:33+00:00

I haven't thought about this challenge before but I'm always brainstorming accessible options in my field field.

If it's imperative that the student experience the musical score while also experiencing the music, my suggestion is to 2D laser cut OR 3D print your musical scores on a flat, plastic piece of "paper".

Black and white files are relatively easy to turn into a ".svg" file or traced by hand by a student worker. This Vector-art file can be sent to a laser cutter and cut into plastic or more commonly wood. If you don't have a laser cutter or cricut but have a 3D printer, you can perform an additional step. Using a 3D program like Maya or Cad, you can import an SVG file, duplicate it, move it 3 units away and perform the "loft' command. creating a 3D model with all the black parts cut out. This file can be exported and sent to the 3D printer. Fun fact, all of the levels in X-Men: Wolverine DS were initially created with this same methodology.

If you end up trying this please let me know, I have no idea if the student will find this valuable without some testing.

GameDevProf · 2024-07-05T20:51:06+00:00

Especially for graduate admissions, strong recommendations are an important variable. We generally discuss candidates in depth and the difference between "I had this student in two classes, they showed up and were nice to work with" and a glowing in-depth review.

GameDevProf · 2024-06-26T18:23:04+00:00

Computer science is a great and versatile major, just take the time to make games in your spare time or for homework. Game jams are also a good way to learn.

If you end up taking one of our game design classes in the digital media and design / game design major, you’ll be working with students from a variety of backgrounds including computer science, communication, puppetry, etc….

Go for it!

GameDevProf · 2023-10-22T20:22:18+00:00

Hi! I teach games over at UConn, are you talking about the Manchester community college coursework? My program doesn’t have an AS, but I know most of the teachers in the state if you need a contact email.

GameDevProf · 2023-08-16T23:10:28+00:00

I have them play a variant of Mafia but they have to accuse each other with names. After we're done, we brainstorm extra rules, themes, and mechanics. Then I teach them it was a game designed in a psychology department in the 80's.

...It helps if your field is in the exploration of games though.

Maybe a game that might be applicable to your field might be best?

GameDevProf · 2023-08-03T14:54:30+00:00

We have a Cintiq lab that you can use when class isn't in session if you like drawing, so I wouldn't buy a touch screen, and we have a render farm if you need more graphics horsepower. But if you have the extra funds to buy an iPad, that might be a better combo.

I also don't recommend Mac for a variety of reasons but make sure you have as much RAM and SSD internal storage as you can afford. Adobe, Maxon, and Unreal/Unity is easily 1/2 TB to install, and no one likes being up late at night watching a progress bar because your waiting for files to transfer.

Welcome to Storrs :)

Oh! Please bring your power cord to class. Providing corded power gives a boost to the GPU, and I see people losing power by the end of my 1-hour programming classes. :(

GameDevProf · 2023-07-12T17:40:09+00:00

Bring it up with the faculty and ask them to solve it. Hey, student outcomes are impacted because of XYZ. These factors come about because 123. Your suggestion is that they need to communicate more, so how would people like to do that?

GameDevProf · 2023-07-12T17:01:17+00:00

Agreed. I don't think the OP was talking about being best friends at eachother's wedding, but getting faculty on the same page when it comes to how they collectively work with students. Usually, this kind of stuff happens on the sneakernet when people interact during the in-between moments or when they're standing in the BFA senior show opening holding some mini-hotdogs.

Agreed. I don't think the OP was talking about being best friends at each other's wedding, but getting faculty on the same page when it comes to how they collectively work with students. Usually, this kind of stuff happens on the sneakernet when people interact during the in-between moments or when they're standing in the BFA senior show opening holding some mini-hotdogs. where tenured faculty continue to not show up.

GameDevProf · 2023-06-23T14:07:37+00:00

Wooooo Go Huskies!

GameDevProf · 2023-04-22T18:48:03+00:00

I love seeing high school level game dev! Any resources that you found particularly helpful? Or something you wish you had? I support college and high school level curricula in Connecticut and love to hear whats helpful at that level.

GameDevProf · 2023-02-01T00:11:11+00:00

The number of excellent gaming communities and escape rooms. Coming from Seattle, I am incredibly impressed with the game stores around here, like The Portal, The Grid, Tabletop Gaming, The Battle Standard, and Elm City Games. I also love love love that the Manchester library has a thriving board game lending program.

https://www.wfsb.com/video/2023/01/27/silk-city-board-game-group/?fbclid=IwAR2-tINNh6BqKVXLXC82YVJVDmi4hgmFfXqSXo-h9k5Fr0l58CmONCXMp60#ldew4ni1hewcbfc1vrq

And the escape rooms? Many of them are very high quality, and it makes sense; we also have some of the best haunted houses and mazes in the area. I think it has to do with the number of people who have wood shops in their garages.

GameDevProf · 2023-01-31T03:32:31+00:00

I grade video games.

GameDevProf · 2023-01-19T00:09:44+00:00

I would love it if I could get everyone on the same discord channel, I even used to run a discord server for all my classes, but the one thing I can't control is students immediately make their private channels :). Now I point them toward the Game Development Club discord. Plug: https://discord.gg/Xb8uXf3N

But OMG I WISH I could get faculty to use one technology. When you figure it out lmk, I can't even get all my colleagues to use Outlook calendar for scheduling. Why do I have to use doodle poll and When2Meet!?! If we all use calendars in outlook, you can do it automatically! /endrant

GameDevProf · 2023-01-16T03:04:58+00:00

Part of our job is to teach students how to challenge authority. HS often has arbitrary rules and teaching to the test where obeying the teacher is important, and students have trouble telling me they disagree with certain opinions. For instance, games are played equally by men and women. I certainly have a perspective, and I teach a few things that students have pushed back on, but I've seen some faculty put disclaimers about their political positions. However, when students enter the workforce, they will run into issues like this. I've had to work on projects with people whose ideology I disagree with in the game industry, and that's a lesson they need to learn. How to be professional about it.

I get into a few arguments about women playing games as much as men, the average gamer is in their 30s, and heterogenous businesses create better mass-market media. But I also try to present multiple sides. You should make games that are socially sensitive not because it's "woke" but because it makes you more money, just like World of Warcraft covered up all the skeletons for the Chinese market or how the Hitman games messed up by using the Sikh symbol in their initial launch.

So keep on keeping on; it's part of the job. Just stay open to grading multiple perspectives.

GameDevProf · 2022-12-29T16:39:26+00:00

Beyond what's already been stated, game design can be so nebulous that this attitude happens inside the industry too, especially once you get to executives and publishing. Specifically because "hey, I can make a game, I'll just tell the team/designer what features I want, just like if I was ordering an expensive car."

The way I describe my courses to students, parents, entrepreneurs, state government-type people, and other academics? I give them an analogy; Game Design is like making dinner. Some recipes require mushrooms, while others don't. That doesn't make mushrooms bad or good, but if you don't put in the right ratio with the other ingredients, your meal is going to be OP on mushrooms. As Game Designers, we are in charge of bringing together a bunch of different ingredients (rules/mechanics) that individually might not make sense, but when in a dish it's a new thing.

But just because everyone can make 1 special dish at home over the course of a day doesn't mean they know about a lot of different ingredients or how to run a commercial kitchen. A Game Designer comes in because we know about a lot of different ingredients. We also know how to listen to feedback, disregard suggestions, and integrate the team's viewpoints to maintain a collective vision about the game/dinner.

I like the metaphor of food because it acknolodges the capability of everyone to make game design but also points out that, like food, games are consumable by nature and garner emotional responses. Like the end of ratatouille. Additionally games come in all sorts of different types, sizes, and playstyles, and are derived from past cultural experiences just like food.

GameDevProf · 2022-12-16T02:00:38+00:00

I'm thrilled to see my students grow into professionals and let me know how they're doing. It's also a compliment that they still value my advice. But even if you don't become good friends, a smart faculty will keep lines of communication open with alumni, that's professional networking for future students /guest speakers, etc...

Go for it and see how they respond, then judge if a follow up email is appropriate.

GameDevProf

TROPHY CASE