Foreword

The postmortem that follows is a reflective look at the development process, obstacles and successes for a game project undertaken by a group of students at Bloomfield College. Located in Bloomfield, New Jersey, the college has run a very successful game development program for the past 4 years, and coordinates both programming and design tracks in a collaborative, experiential learning environment. It is built on long-standing programs in graphic arts, animation, digital video, multimedia, audio engineering, and computer information systems, and collaborates with other disciplines such as English, humanities, and the social sciences.

Students from both tracks come together during their final year to work on a substantial game project. The goal of the project is not necessarily to complete and entire game, but to create at least 15 minutes of highly polished and fun gameplay. Very often this results in a functional demo piece for larger game concepts, but can produce a complete game for smaller, more casual games. When they are done, the students should have a top-notch portfolio piece that they can hand to a potential employer that can be played for 5-10 minutes and that will showcase the specific skills of the student. They can say “I did X, Y, and Z on the game. What do you think?”

While the idea of creating a demo piece doesn’t sound like a serious project to some people, these are in the very least slices of a complete game, and require a significant amount of time and effort to complete. Just think of what it would take to create just one complete level of a game you’ve played recently. The typical project is a group of five people working for eleven months through 3-5 development cycles. And they have to deal with many of the same development obstacles experienced by professional developers. All while finishing up their final year of coursework, which often includes an intensive Internship as well. This culminating experience is a true test of the students’ abilities, and the projects have all been extremely impressive. This postmortem is from one the best groups to graduate from the program.

Tom Toynton
Assistant Professor of Game Development
Creative Arts & Technology Division
Bloomfield College
Bloomfield NJ, 07003
http://www.bloomfield.edu/about/
http://www.bloomfield.edu/cat/gamedev.asp

What Went Right