The Dallas Morning News

By Victor Godinez

PLANO, Texas _ Doom 3 was one of the most anticipated computer games of all time when it came out a few months ago, illuminating a stunning vision of hell unleashed on a human colony on Mars.

While legendary game programmer John Carmack garnered most of the headlines for crafting Doom 3 as the head of Mesquite, Texas-based id Software, Southern Methodist University student Brian Harris had a hand in the game as well.

And even if his role as an id intern was modest, his route to that job underscored a seismic shift in computer gaming.

The industry that once relied on self-taught tinkerers is growing up, and SMU is among the universities rushing to prepare the next generation of gaming professionals.

Harris is a student in SMU's Guildhall, which offers an 18-month certificate program in the art and science of video game development.

He didn't stumble into the id job through an inside connection or a formal application.

His ongoing internship _ and his involvement with mega-title Doom 3 _ is part of his SMU training.

"It was pretty nerve-wracking the first week or so," recalled Harris, who will be among the program's first graduates in December.

"The interview was pretty intense."

Although the 2-year-old Guildhall wasn't the first video game school in the country, it is among the most selective. It also boasts a star-studded list of guest lecturers and instructors, thanks to the myriad high-profile game developers who call the Dallas area home.

Game makers have been mostly home-schooled up to now, fiddling with code on their personal computers or designing add-on levels for existing games.

But budgets for blockbuster titles are now $10 million to $20 million, and development teams of programmers, designers, artists, animators, musicians and artificial intelligence experts often number 100 or more.

"Because games are getting much more complex and teams are growing, it's becoming more of a structured discipline," said Tim Willits, co-owner of id Software and lead designer at the company.

Jason Della Rocca, program director of the International Game Developers Association, said developers and designers can no longer surf into the industry on enthusiasm alone.

"We can't just be a bunch of hackers and passionate game players," he said. "We have to have specialized knowledge. We are seeing, like the Guildhall at SMU, a rise in game-specific (training)."

The school was established in December 2002, and it admitted its first group of students _ what it calls a "cohort" _ in July 2003. It now has almost 100 students in three cohorts. The first cohort of 28 students graduated Dec. 11.

Among the highest profile of the new video game courses is the Electronic Arts Interactive Entertainment Program in the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television.

It's a three-year master of fine arts program created earlier this year when EA, the industry's largest publisher, invested $8 million to create a training ground for designers and developers.

"What we're trying to do is break out of the minutiae of building a game and really try to advance the medium by thinking creatively and unlock the creative power that will drive the industry forward," said EA spokeswoman Tammy Schachter.

Dr. Peter Raad, executive director of the Guildhall, said games can provide a "framework for human discovery, expression and growth."

"I believe to be liberally educated in the 21st century, it means we're going to have to be involved deeply in the fields of digital thought and expression," he said. "Where more so than in gaming?"

Raad wants to see the Guildhall become a full-fledged master's program.

"We're going through the processes of approval with the university, and it is our hope that we will be introducing the degree program next year," he said.

The Guildhall is part of the SMU-in-Legacy campus in Plano. It occupies a 48,000-square-foot building that inside is part office environment, part hacker's convention.

The open atrium and wood paneling quickly give way to dimly lit computer labs where flowcharts and development plans are scribbled on interior windows and pencil sketches of heroes and villains are tacked to the walls.

The Guildhall promotes itself as an "intense, focused, rigorous and specialized educational process to equip graduates in the shortest possible time with all the skills, experience and expertise to be productive professional gamers on their first day at work."

The school even has a motion capture studio where students can use the same technology that transformed actor Andy Serkis into the digital creature Gollum for the Lord of the Rings movies.

But the courses strive to reach beyond the nuts and bolts of turning pixels and polygons into monsters and spaceships. They also delve into the social and cultural history of gaming and such prosaic topics as how to manage a budget.

Those admitted to the program typically don't come right out of high school. Students are expected to know programming basics when they arrive. Seventy-five percent of the students have an undergraduate degree; 15 percent hold a graduate degree.

Tuition and supplies for the Guildhall's six terms is $37,000. Living expenses on average run an additional $23,000.

Jimmy Lomax, 25, who graduated with the first cohort in December, said many students were apprehensive about making such a large investment in the untested Guildhall.

"It felt like a gamble, but what did it for me was seeing all the industry people who are involved," he said.

Indeed, one of the program's biggest draws is the opportunity to intern with one of the numerous local game development shops.

Lomax interned at Dallas-based Gearbox Software, contributing to Brothers in Arms, the upcoming PC, Xbox and PS2 game.

Harris joined id Software in February during crunch time on Doom 3.

He went right to work on the game's save/load system, which lets gamers pick up where they had left off during game play.

Guildhall students have had internships at other Dallas-area developers, including Ritual Entertainment.

To some, a job creating games may sound like the next-best thing to winning the lottery. But the reality is harsh.

According to an International Game Developers Association survey of developers released last year, nearly one in five thought of quitting in their first year. Though most enjoyed their work, about a third said they plan to get out of the industry within five years and slightly more than half said they'll be gone within 10.

"For the industry as a whole, such a high turnover rate is nothing short of catastrophic, and it goes a long way toward explaining our difficulty in ensuring that our projects run smoothly," the report said.

Although industry groups talk about creating an environment free of 80-hour weeks and nonexistent social lives, the churn opens up opportunities for fresh recruits.

Guildhall students know what to expect. They only laugh when asked if there's time to play their favorite video games.

"I've never had delusions about what it's like to work in the game industry," said Ted Brown, 27, a tech industry veteran who came of age around the time Nintendo arrived.

But there's still a bit of the starry-eyed kid in most of them.

"When you sit by yourself, you think of that classic question: `If money were no object, what would you do?' and for me, that's making video games," Brown said.

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(c) 2004, The Dallas Morning News.

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PHOTO (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): CPT-CMP-GAMESCHOOLS