Mouse in hand, sophomore computer science major Jack
Anderson jetted a short, pudgy Italian
guy in space suit (think Mario) across the computer screen
in an attempt to suck up trash — bottles,
banana peels and even a couch — with his vacuum gun.
He appeared to be faring well, but those pesky
spacebug pirates certainly weren't doing him any favors.
Anderson was playing a video game called Space Waste,
but don't bother to look for it at Best
Buy, yet. The game, currently in development, is a group
project for four students in the new
Introduction to Video Game Design course.
The Department of
Computer Science hosts the course, which covers the
technical and
sociological aspects of video games, and Digital Media
Center staff teach the co-requisite lab, which
covers the artistic aspects.
The course is just one component of a gaming
initiative at Homewood, an effort spearheaded by
the Digital Media Center, the Department of Computer
Science and the Center for
Educational Resources. In addition to the Video Game
Design course, the DMC this spring added a gaming lab, a
game lounge, a video game and console lending service, and
gaming events, such as Guitar Hero Night.
Peter Froehlich, a senior lecturer in Computer
Science, proposed Video Game Design in response
to a Center for Educational Resources call for
interdisciplinary courses.
"Gaming is a very interdisciplinary thing. I thought
we could get people from the arts, such as
those from
Peabody and the
Writing
Seminars, together with programmers and other engineers
and
have them build games," said Froehlich, an unabashed fan of
gaming.
For assistance, Froehlich sought out Joan Freedman,
director of the Digital Media Center, who
said that working with the Computer Science Department on a
video game course seemed like a natural
fit.
"One of the things that the DMC is known for is that
this is the interdisciplinary place to be.
We have students from every major coming here to work on
projects for academic purposes,
entrepreneurship or just for fun," Freedman said. "In the
past, we had a number of students who
wanted to work on games, whether it was for their iPhones
or a flash game. We felt the gaming course
was a nice opportunity to do what it is we do well, and to
partner with an academic department."
For the course, the Computer Science Department and
the Digital Media Center created a
Johns Hopkins Gaming Lab, a fully equipped development and
testing lab to support course-related and
independent game development and exploration by JHU
students. Located in the Mattin Center
adjacent to the Digital Media Center, the lab contains
high-end workstations, including Nvidia graphics
cards and an array of cutting-edge development software, as
well as a large-format Samsung screen
and 5.1 surround-sound system for testing and game play.
The students in Video Game Design come to the lab once
a week to design and test their games.
In the Computer Science portion of the course, they
learn such elements as the history of video
games, archetypal game styles, computer graphics and
programming, and in the DMC lab, they learn
interaction design, graphical design, character animation
and development, and integration of music
and plot.
Interdisciplinary teams of three or four students
design and implement an experimental video
game as part of a semester-long project. Each team has a
mentor, an industry professional who gives
the students feedback on a regular basis.
Team Space Waste includes computer science, biomedical
engineering, Writing Seminars and
psychology majors.
Charles Gibby, a junior in the Writing Seminars,
dreamed up the premise for Space Waste, set
50 years in the future when the Earth has ran out of room
for its garbage and shot it all into space. In
order to clear the path for interstellar exploration, a
bureau of space sanitation was created. Enter
the space janitor.
"It's a silly, lighthearted plot coupled with social
commentary on human waste disposal," said
Gibby, who, like his colleagues, had never designed a game
before.
Anderson said the janitor character is a mixture of
Mario the plumber and a rocket scientist.
"We were thinking he went to Johns Hopkins. He's a
really smart guy, but in the future somehow
he's a janitor/scientist who has to clean up trash in space
all day," Anderson said.
Gibby interjects: "But that is not really written into
the game yet."
Freedman said that the initiative was intended to
integrate gaming into the academic and co-
curricular lives of Homewood students. She said that the
popularity of video games, played on
everything from cell phones to gaming consoles, offered
both educational and social networking
opportunities.
For the social aspect, the DMC, in conjunction with
Homewood Student Affairs, transformed
the space between its offices and the Gaming Lab into a
student-friendly game lounge. The space
features comfortable furniture arranged around a series of
gaming stations, including a Wii area; a
flat-panel display with parabolic speakers for directed
sound that can accommodate a number of
different game consoles; and a classic arcade-style gaming
table. The space also has a beta-test kiosk
that can be used for console play or to display
student-developed games.
Those who want their games to go can borrow consoles
and nearly 100 popular game titles from
DMC Circulating Resources. The games and equipment were
acquired in conjunction with the Sheridan
Libraries. Circulating items can be checked out for free by
full-time Homewood students for up to
three days.
In addition, the DMC sponsors a number of game-related
events, such as game night, offered
every semester; for these, all the DMC's workstations are
converted to a cybercafe for networked
multiplayer gaming. Other events include guest speakers and
project mentors from major game
companies.
Resources for these initiatives were gathered from
existing stock at the Digital Media Center
and Department of Computer Science, together with personal
donations from staff, software
purchased by the Milton S. Eisenhower Library and a grant
from the Smart Family Foundation
managed by the Center for Educational Resources. The
initiative also received in-kind donations from
Nvidia Corp. and a partnership with Valve Inc.
For more information about the course and a calendar
of gaming events, go to the DMC Web
site at
digitalmedia.jhu.edu.
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