There’s C++, C#, Java, Python and a handful of other difficult programming languages out there that may dissuade would-be video game programmers from enjoying a potential hobby or starting down a new career path.
“What happens with students is they start programming, and then they get stuck. And when they get stuck is when they need someone with a little bit more experience to help them through that little rut,” said Nik Brown, a UCLA professor in computer science. “Otherwise, they start yelling at the computers and hit their heads against the wall.”
The UCLA Game Lab now provides that bit of extra experience and assistance in the form of its newly created Unity Club, a two- to three-hour long, biweekly instructional meeting for students interested in game programming and design outside of the traditional classroom.
The club takes its name from the Unity game engine, a video game design tool that’s used across the gaming industry for its ability to function on multiple platforms such as iOS, Android, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
The tool’s versatility, ease of access and popularity were leading factors in the club’s formation as a space for novice game makers, most of whom do not study game programming and design, said UCLA computer science alumnus and head Unity Club instructor Alex Rickett.
“As you look at games, both commercial and independent, more and more people are using Unity. … So there’s been a sense that the Game Lab sort of has a duty and obligation to empower other people, not just Design | Media Arts people, but other people who we feel should be making games,” Rickett said. “(We want to) help them acquire the tools to make games and Unity is a particularly important one.”
The game engine also has more of a visual style than other game development tools, allowing users to physically see how their code influences the game’s design. Amanda Ho, a third-year aerospace engineering student and one of the dozen or so members at the Unity Club’s first meeting on July 2, said it was this visual approach to programming that helped reignite her interest in computer programming.
“I took a computer science class last year because it’s a requirement for engineering, and I didn’t like (programming) at all,” Ho said. “But when I started doing programming for video game development, where there was an actual product that I could utilize, I started enjoying it.”
But even with this advantage, Unity lacks comprehensive instructions for novice game programmers, Rickett said. The engine’s cursory tutorials tend to place users in the middle of advanced programming scenarios that skip over important skills such as how to draw an object or how to deal with two colliding objects in a digital space.
“The pack-in tutorial is more concerned with showing you all the bells and whistles and showing you that you can make a really slick commercial game than necessarily showing you how to go from zero to one,” Rickett said. “You have to make ‘Pac-Man’ before you can make something that looks like ‘Call of Duty.’”
To avoid this problem, Rickett said he will initially stick to his own curriculum, guiding members through detailed step-by-step processes starting with the basics of programming and relying on Unity’s technology more than its teaching methods.
Since the club’s first meeting, Rickett has had attendees make a “Pac-Man” style dot-eating game as well as a simple shoot-’em-up, where players exchange gunfire with a high number of enemies. Additionally, Rickett showed members how to add characters, gravity, sound effects and controls to their individual game worlds.
He also said providing a casual environment free of mandatory assignments, where members of the club could experience the whole programming process as a collective group, would better cultivate an understanding of the material than what students would receive from a traditional classroom setting.
Design | Media Arts graduate student and volunteer instructor for the Unity Club Tyler Stefanich echoed a similar sentiment, and said he enjoys the communal aspect of the club.
“For me, it’s always really interesting to see what people want to work on, and what they want to make,” said Stefanich, who is also the Game Lab manager. “(I like) providing a platform for learning, discourse and exchange where people can sort of bounce ideas off of each other and work together and help each other out.”
With only two meetings down since the club’s inception, Rickett said it’s too early to predict how the club will develop in the future, but he did have some ideas about hosting group development sessions called game jams, as well as holding speaking events featuring professional Unity users and past Game Lab members.
Whatever happens, Rickett said he has plans of continuing the club into the fall quarter, and that anyone with any level of interest in game programming and design would be welcome.
“We’re working pretty hard to make sure people feel good about what they make, and that they don’t feel like they shouldn’t be here,” Rickett said. “I really believe anyone can make a game.”
Totoro!