Electronic Game Content Production Skill Standards Manual
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Teaching Gamecraft Curriculum Skill Standards Manual
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Project Summary

Lake Washington Technical College, in partnership with Mesmer Animation Labs/Seattle, a WTB-certified Private Career school, won a grant convening a SKILLS panel and SKILLS implementation targeting the growing $9 billion a year Game Software Development industry. King County’s industry share is second only to California. This panel led the partnership in establishing a new skills standard for entry-level technical workers hired into the industry. Finally the partnership
designed and produced a new modular curriculum to achieve the panel’s new SKILLS standards. The skills standards and this curricular roadmap are now published and distributed to SBCTC members and other educational institutions, public and private, within Washington for use in s.

Targeted Industry cluster

The software games development industry in the U.S. has been growing at a steady pace over the last two decades and recently surpassed the US Film industry in total annual revenue at about $9 billion in 2001. The Games industry in the U.S. is geographically clustered mainly in two places: the San Francisco Bay area and the Seattle/Eastside area in King county. Washington State was fortunate to be one of the few places in the world where this growing industry germinated and grew.

The games business is broken down into two main categories: Console games and PC games. PC games are those designed to be played on a general purpose personal computer like a Windows-based PC or a Macintosh. Console games are those developed for a specific consumer device specialized for playing games, such as the new Microsoft Xbox, the Sony Playstation2, or the Nintendo GameCube.

Target Cluster Demand for Workers

Because Game Development is a new industry, with very demanding and specific job skill requirements, companies involved in creating game software and related products struggle to hire sufficient numbers of skilled workers to meet production schedules. Companies are forced to recruit at national tradeshows and conventions, and hire foreign nationals. This competition for skilled workers drives the salaries of skilled Game workers up. Current salaries for people working in game development range from approximately $30,000 to $90,000 annually. Our preliminary goal is establishing the Industry Panel Skill Standards for a $24,000 annual entry-level technical artist position. This represents a genuine upward wage progression equation for those entering the industry and engaging in life-long education and training.

Key Occupations in the Game Development Industry

In addition to the many positions shared in common between Game Development firms and companies in other industries, Game Development firms employ large numbers of specialized workers. Generally, these workers can be divided into two skill categories: programmers and technical artists. The programming staff is responsible for creating the software engines that drive the game products, while the technical art staff is responsible for creating all of the content within the game. While software development teams have remained similar in size for an average game title, the technical art staff required has been steadily growing larger. The growth in the size of technical art staff is a direct result of both the increasing power of modern game display systems and the increasing complexity and depth of current game designs. As games get bigger, more technical artists are required to build them.

Competencies required for technical artists currently include:

• Illustration and Storyboarding
• Character Design
• 2D digital image creation and processing
• 3D model creation
• Texture mapping and editing
• Character Rigging and Technical Direction
• Technical Scripting

-Submitted June 19, 2003 by Anthony Rossano, Program Contact

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