I don’t know about the bedroom dealy damocles. It is true that most great ideas come from people outside of the industry but developing that idea is a whole other issue. It takes so long these days to develop anything and most regular folk like us here who have jobs and school and family barely find time to do our mapping. For big projects you need lots of skilled people working heavily on it to be able to ever get something out of it (look at splash). I have lots of great ideas for games but there’s no way I’ll ever be able to carry them out unless I have plenty of money to live on, and about 20 other people that are good and who also have plenty of money to live on. Games like battlefield 1942 would never ever be developed by a guy and his buddies in his basement. Solitaire and minesweeper maybe.
To those of you who don’t like 3d max. All game editors are coming closer and closer to being like 3d max (or maya). 3d max is great but you need to learn it a bit to appreciate it. If you just start it up without reading anything you’re gonna get overwhelmed and hate it.
To Hummer: I say make your course specific. I’m sick and tired of all these theory bullshit that you learn and learn for years and years and then someone asks you to do a simple calculator and you realize you have no idea how to make a graphical interface. Let the kids learn by doing and see real results (present and future) from what they’re learning. If you start preaching to them about principles of graphical design and algorithm efficiency they’re gonna get bored and start disliking your class and you. Make it fun not a chore.
P.S.
I hate these long posts and yet here I am.
EDIT: fixed
