Gaming technology explained for students: Genres | Scope | Future
Beyond video games, many students may not be familiar with the broader gaming industry. Could you provide a brief overview to help us, and the students, understand its scope and significance?
Video games are computer programmes with a UI (user interface) and graphics that people find fun to play. The game might be simple pattern matching like Match 3 games or simulate something from reality like car racing or can be an online adventure epic like an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game). Simple 2D games and mobile games are made by small game studios.
The bigger ones like Assassin’s Creed or GTA (Grand Theft Auto) are made by huge game studios where lots of people of many different disciplines collaborate to bring it alive. The complexity of making a big successful game is greater than movie making, but the rewards are also greater.
Games are typically categorised into genres based on what the player does in the game.
A few famous game genres are action adventure (Uncharted Series), sports (FIFA), simulation (Microsoft Flight Simulator), platformer (Mario), RPG (Dragon Age), first-person shooter (Call of Duty), real-time strategy (Age of Empires), racing (Forza Series), puzzle (Portal), casual (Stardew Valley), massively multiplayer online role-play playing (World of Warcraft) and stealth (Splinter Cell).
The games are usually created to be played on a specific hardware/platform. Some famous platforms are mobile, PC (personal computer), PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and VR headsets.
Gaming is one of the most exciting and dynamic fields in modern education. Can you discuss its expanding scope and future potential, highlighting why students should consider pursuing it academically?
As every Indian has a smartphone, the revenue potential for Indian-based mobile games is huge. The boom in the Information Technology (IT) sector and the increase in college-going teens have increased the number of people who own a laptop/desktop.
This, along with online game distribution platforms like Steam has made high-quality games easily available.
As more game design courses and game studios start, it will trigger the next wave similar to the Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning (AI/ML) wave and early adopters will reap the benefits.
Big companies like Jio already see the potential and have started investing in online gaming platforms. Even abroad gaming companies are slowly having branches in India because of the lower cost of development compared to the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK).
Can you give us an outline of a gaming course and what aspects will students learn if they take it up?
A typical game-based course will have modules in drawing, sculpting, texturing, animation, VFX (visual effects), sound design, math and coding. It will be a blend of technical and creative aspects. The creative side will teach them the process of game asset, character and world design.
The technical side will teach them to implement the game logic and generate massive procedural landscapes.