Good Morning, Professor Romero 144
The Man With The Green Hair writes: "According to this story over at The Dallas Morning News, John Romero and Tom Hall both formally of ION Storm, will be teaching a class next semester at The University of Texas at Dallas where they will be instructing computer science majors on the finer points of game programming and design."
GTR (Score:1, Funny)
I hope ... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I hope ... (Score:4, Funny)
The other popular course, I hear, is: How to be a Total Loser and Still Get a Playboy Model for a Girlfriend.
Re:I hope ... (Score:5, Insightful)
You have to consider that she actually looked GOOD before the Playboy shoot! Before the Playboy shoot she was a good looking American girl. Then came the make up, and then the boob job, and then the glamour, and post Playboy she looks like every other fake plastic slut in that magazine. Heff has not taste, he just likes fake plastic blonde bimbos. There's far more attractive women who walk by every day than what you see in playboy.
It's sad isn't it...
Re:I hope ... (Score:1)
Re:I hope ... (Score:1)
He may not have played Daikatana, but I have. I found it to be a complete waste of time and money. Maybe, if he had spent a few more years on it, he could have made a game that could actually compete.
Despite this, I would still like to take a class with John Romero. He played a big part in a lot of my favorite games. I still see him as an alright coder, though some of his designs could have been better. Not only that, but how many opportunities do you get to take classes on game programming by people who have done things more complex than simple Mario clones? It is a rare thing, indeed.
Romero?! (Score:5, Funny)
Those who can, do... Those who can't, teach.
Re:Romero?! (Score:1)
And those who can't teach... (Score:2)
Re:And those who can't teach... (Score:2)
Re:Romero?! (Score:1)
those who think this way must be students...
Re:Romero?! (Score:1)
An interesting story to support the statement "Those who can do, those who can't teach" is that a good friend of mine once took a finance course at a local university. The course material was how to manage and invest in such a way that you can make your money work for you, maximizing earnings and growth. What he discovered was that this teacher who seemed to have it all figured out, was driving a beat up old jalopy of a car. Always made him wonder how good this guy really was.
That was, at least, the first time I ever heard the statement.
You know the old adage... (Score:1, Redundant)
Talisman
Re:You know the old adage... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:You know the old adage... (Score:1)
Re:You know the old adage... (Score:2, Insightful)
You should come and wallow in -1 for a while, really get to know Slashdot.
Re:You know the old adage... (Score:1)
But the way I have things setup even ACs are at +1, funny, insightful, and interesting are at +5, troll is at -3, and my threshold (as stated) is at +1.
Rather nice actually, I miss out on
Colored Lighting! (Score:2)
A proverb (Score:1)
The way I see it, this is sort of like having Mao Tse-Tung teach a class about human rights.
Class Schedule (Score:3, Funny)
Credits:2
Hours:2
Class Begins: Real Soon Now
Re:Class Schedule (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Class Schedule (Score:1)
A comedian said that when you ever see an invitation and it says "9 to ?", it's usually over by 9:15.
I think Romero will run out of things to say sooner than that. Then he'll try to make jokes.
Re:Class Schedule (Score:1)
End of semester... (Score:2, Funny)
'Dai' means 'big'
and 'Katana' means 'Katana'.
OK let's break for soda."
DD
Great... (Score:1)
The Downside of an Ionized Education (Score:4, Funny)
Just don't turn up late for class, these guys are packing mini-nukes and chainsaw weaponry.
Re:The Downside of an Ionized Education (Score:1)
Re:The Downside of an Ionized Education (Score:1)
If it is, I hope they don't have to vote you out of the class.
Oh boy... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Oh boy... (Score:1)
I think he'll be greated to a rising chorus of "Your Game SUCKS!" when he walks in on the first day.
Re:Oh boy... (Score:1)
The class aptly listened to Prof. Romero. At the end of class, chuckles ensued as the student, who asked the most questions and seemed the most active, just smiled and crammed a pie in Romero's face.
The End.
Re:Oh boy... (Score:1, Funny)
So it's just like Catholic School (Re:Oh boy...) (Score:1)
sporadic
I wonder... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I wonder... (Score:1)
Now, if his -girlfriend- were teaching the class, (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Now, if his -girlfriend- were teaching the clas (Score:1)
Re:Now, if his -girlfriend- were teaching the clas (Score:1, Informative)
they look totaly retarded
[stevana.com]
http://www.stevana.com/new_fampix.htm
Hot for Teacher (Score:2)
Here you go:
Hot for Teacher [stevana.com]
Re:Now, if his -girlfriend- were teaching the clas (Score:1)
If it was so obvious, why are you asking us?
Re:Now, if his -girlfriend- were teaching the clas (Score:1)
Well say what you want (Score:1)
Regardless, im sure this will raise the popularity of the university. but remember: theres more to a teacher than raw skill, there are alot of other factors involved (marking fairly, communication abilities, attitude)
Re:Well say what you want (Score:2)
Well, it is my impression that the more skill one possesses in a particular field, the better teachers they are. It seems logical that when you have a really good grasp of something, it would be much easier to explain it.
Of course, I have to say that of all really good teachers I've had, most were well-experienced in both teaching and their respective profession, and usually at least in their late forties, or older. In the case of Linus, I don't think an arrogant 20-something would be as good of a teacher. So there's definitely a "coming of age" as far as communication and attitude are involved.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Well say what you want (Score:2)
Also, go take Intro to Physics with a world-class award winning particle physicist.
OK, so I should have said teachers of technical subjects, such as computer science or engineering. You're right, I've had pretentious literature teachers who were pretty damn worthless.
As far as physics is concerned, my father has the introductory physics textbooks written by Richard Feynman, which were apparently used at Caltech for a long time, and I must say that these are some of the most concise, well-written textbooks I've ever read. But of course nowadays many universities, including the school I attend [gatech.edu] devoutly follow the grand tradition of annual replacement of the expensive introductory calculus and physics textbooks with even more expensive textbooks with even more worthless full-color pictures, so Feynman's textbooks clearly cannot be used. But I digress...
Re:Well say what you want (Score:2)
Say what you will about johnny boy, but if this becomes a popular trend, we might have linus teaching the finer points of Operating system programming and design, or alan cox taking a computer ethics class, (Maybe thats a good way for older computer scientists to earn money, by teaching classes?)
I think you need to reverse your argument. You need more qualified people in their field such as Alan (as was said in the replies, Linus, IMHO, is too young still, but I could be wrong) to teach FIRST, see how well that progresses, then get others involved based on the successes and failures of the first. AFter that, THEN can you take the longshot of bringing in someone of marginal talent (especially since it's been proven how marginal it is by Daikatana) to teach your students.
Re:Textbook Error! (Score:1)
Unless you are one of the greatest writers [xrefer.com] that the English-speaking world has ever produced.
(yeah, offtopic, i know. so sue me.)
Class Schedule (Score:5, Funny)
Lesson 1: Spend millions to start with a huge company.
Lesson 2: ???
Lesson 3: Profit!
Deep Linking (Score:1)
He's so dreamy (Score:1)
*snrrk* (Score:2, Funny)
Don't worry though as your lab partners are coded with an advanced "node-based AI system", and should be a valuable and innovation part of your lab experience."
Correct Link (no deep linking) (Score:1, Redundant)
Deep linking is forbidden here.
Better still... Here is the article... Thus no deep linking issue at all.
Game programmers survive the Storm
Former ION studio executives to teach classes at UTD 07/06/2002
By VICTOR GODINEZ / The Dallas Morning News
The spectacular rise and fiery crash of Dallas-based computer game development studio ION Storm were landmark events in the game industry.
Now, the two men who piloted ION Storm, John Romero and Tom Hall, have resurfaced in the most unlikely of jobs: college professors.
Starting in the fall semester, Mr. Romero, 34, and Mr. Hall, 37, will be instructing computer science majors at the University of Texas at Dallas on the finer points of game programming and design.
"We're really excited to teach because we love to teach what we know, and this is the perfect place to do it," Mr. Romero said.
During ION's brief reign atop the gaming world, Mr. Romero almost single-handedly transformed the image of the nerdy game programmer, and he was known as much for his long hair, fast cars and reportedly standoffish attitude as he was for his programming flair.
On a recent afternoon on the UTD campus, Mr. Romero seemed jovial and comfortable as he and Mr. Hall talked about life after ION and their ventures into academia. Mr. Romero's rock star mane of hair was gone, replaced by a more conservative coiffure and slight stubble.
The UTD campus is a short drive from the Dallas penthouse suite in the Chase Tower where the two worked from 1996 to 2001.
But it's light-years away from the rarified air of the multibillion dollar computer game industry that Mr. Romero and Mr. Hall pioneered and rode to fame.
ION Storm was created in 1996, largely on the reputation of Mr. Romero, who helped found id Software in Mesquite, the computer game development firm responsible for mega-hits Doom and Quake.
At ION, Mr. Romero, Mr. Hall and more than 20 other programmers toiled on a game called Daikatana, which was supposed to revolutionize the world of computer games and compete with id's best offerings.
Instead, Daikatana was plagued by delays, internal disagreements documented in the industry press and disputes with publisher and financial backer Eidos, which poured millions of dollars into ION.
When Daikatana finally hit store shelves in April of 2000, it was panned by reviewers.
ION Storm did release one more game, Anachronox, that was well received critically, but the writing was already on the wall and the Dallas office shut down last year, imploding under the weight of its own publicity for Daikatana.
An ION Storm office in Austin did survive the Dallas closure, and released the blockbuster title Deus Ex, but neither Mr. Romero nor Mr. Hall were involved with the Austin location.
Scaling back
Mr. Romero and Mr. Hall did create a small game company shortly after leaving ION Storm called Monkeystone Games.
But Monkeystone's focus is on games for handheld computers, cellphones and portable consoles like Nintendo's GameBoy Advance.
"It's a very big attempt at not taking three to four years to make a game and to get something done really fast and actually get more back into
what we like to do," Mr. Romero said. "At ION we were mainly working in management, managing people, but not able to do what we really wanted to do, and we were kind of torn between it."
"ION was just too big, and now we're back to a nice, small company where we can actually do hands-on work on everything," he added.
Mr. Hall says that while Monkeystone isn't focusing on the big-budget computer game market, that doesn't mean he and Mr. Romero have thrown in the towel.
"Handheld devices are emerging and diverging and swirling around as the exciting new place to be," he said. "Everybody has cellphones and PDAs."
Mr. Romero and Mr. Hall say that working at Monkeystone is less time-consuming than ION Storm, giving them the time to embark on outside projects, such as their courses at UTD.
Learning curve
While Mr. Romero and Mr. Hall will each only be teaching one class next semester, they both say they're already drafting syllabi.
"The overall class for programming is going to be designing a game engine, and all the components that go into the game engine; the networking, the drawing subsystem, the input system, all the major components," Mr. Romero said.
Then students will learn to paste graphics on to the frame they've built and create a small game.
Mr. Hall said he's going to focus more on the design side.
"My class is more studying the whys and wherefores of game design, what you actually do, how you reward the players, the elements that make games fun," he said. "There are a lot of things that you learn, painfully, by experience that I guess these people will get a shortcut to."
"It's kind of fun to step back and analyze your craft and maybe learn some things as well," he added.
Mr. Romero said he hopes to eventually create an entire degree program at UTD in game development and design.
"If it turns out pretty good, we can maybe talk to some of our friends that are here in Dallas that are working at game companies to maybe help out with some new classes, maybe set up some kind of a degree," he said.
"There are a lot of game degrees that are popping up all over the place," Mr. Romero said. "I actually talked to a person at Collin County Community College back when we started ION Storm about doing a degree. But since we had just started ION, we had no time to do that."
Mr. Romero said he and Mr. Hall will probably sprinkle some of the business insights they learned over the years into their classes, but he said they'll mostly stay away from formal instruction on how to create and run a game development company.
"We're not doing a business class, because that's an entire class on its own," Mr. Romero said.
"A business class will knock all the illusions out of their head," Mr. Hall added with a wry grin.
E-mail vgodinez@dallasnews.com
And no I am not karma whoring... Make me a funny.
Actually not that new or surprising (Score:2)
I believe several of my co-workers at Ensemble Studios (located in Dallas) have responded to inviations from UNT/UT and have gone to the campuses to speak or otherwise give presentations.
As game development has matured from the garage band to the full fledged studios, it only makes sense that the instructors would want to show their students the combination of programming, project management, art, music, and magic mojo that game development really is.
Re:Actually not that new or surprising (Score:2)
What would be really remarkable for UTD is if they could score Carmack to teach a class since he's also in the Dallas area, though a somewhat longer drive from the Mesquite offices of id Software. There isn't any question which class would be in higher demand, is there?
Correct: We've sent speakers to multiple schools (Score:2)
Remember, I had just woke up from playing too much war 3 when I posted that
Re:Actually not that new or surprising (Score:1)
Formally? (Score:1)
Re:Formally? (Score:1)
Not old enough (Score:1)
They're not old enough to be teaching programming. Everybody knows you need to be at least 45 and have a grey beard!
John Romero comics. (Score:1)
Why I would not take that class (Score:1)
Game programming is not by itself a subject. It's just sections from math, computer science elements and maybe management and buisness. There is no cohesive set of general theories and ideas that define game programming but a bunch of ideas from other subjects and some set of tricks. To learn something like that, you don't really need a professor and a class.
Reminds me of some of the CS classes. 3 credit semesters of nothing. Long long lectures that just reiterated the super-obvious.
Re:Why I would not take that class (Score:1)
Untrue. You cannot use normal analysis, design, and implementation as taught in computer science classes. Games need some different approach in order to be well designed. UML and it's associated design and implementation ideas will only take you so far... in order to actually build a game you will have to use some other paradigm different from the ones used in application development.
Re:Why I would not take that class (Score:1)
Yes, every different application needs a slightly different method of application development. Making children's CD-ROMs needs a slighly different approach and designing but that doesn't warrant a class by itself.
If you see software design in terms of UML specs, then this class could all be an extra chapter in the book.
True, there are many things to learn to be a good game developer but university classes aren't supposed to be about trade learning, but to learn subjects that have their own unique set of rules, patterns and theorems. I think game programming isn't unique enough to be a class by itself. Just think of the syllabus and what it would consititure. It would not be anything very very new.
Already been done right next door (Score:2, Interesting)
Given the history of Parberry's class (which used to be called the Laboratory for Recreational Computing (LARC)), it's not surprising at all that Mr. Romero would fail to mention it. Back in '94 some of the students met him and came away...very unimpressed. The consensus then was that Carmack must have really written Doom and Romero came along for the ride -- Romero didn't know half the 32-bit asm as the students, and in the '94 gaming environment that was pretty shocking.
For those in the Dallas area who really want to learn games, try Parberry's course. He's an excellent teacher and a real coder (even though I hate his brace style
Kevin Lamonte
LARC class of '94
CSCI 4050 class of '99
Re:Already been done right next door (Score:1)
Wouldn't it be more fun if... (Score:1, Interesting)
Getting John Romero for game design is like getting Bill Gates for OS design - in times gone they did it themselves and produced good work (Bill Gates: anyone remember the Radio Shack Model 100?), now all they produce is crap...
What's the lesson plan? (Score:4, Funny)
Honestly, what has Romero got to teach anybody? How to be a success in the early 1990's and then live off of it for the rest of your life? What does he know about creating games in 2002, other than how not to do it?
He deserves a little respect for Doom, but that doesn't mean that it's sensible to listen to anything that he has to say now.
Come on They Created Deus Ex! (Score:1)
Sigh (Score:4, Insightful)
both formally of ION Storm
No, they're both formerly of ION Storm. [insert usual rant about how ./ editors never proofread peoples' news postings]
Not A Professor (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not A Professor (Score:2)
Re:Not A Professor (Score:1)
University revenue booster (Score:2)
It would be like (insert famous person) teaching a (insert a university school) class.
Next thing you know their entire school of (x) is swimming in applications... and $$$ (..and you thought they wouldn't raise their tuition... shame on you...at least they have a ready made excuse to give you this time.)
Re:University revenue booster (Score:3, Funny)
Stevie Case (Score:1)
COURSE PROSPECTUS: (Score:1)
Obligatory Prospectus (Score:2)
Come on now. (Score:4, Interesting)
In my experience, though, there have been a few teachers who have shown work that is thourougly underwhelming or even out-and-out weak. And from that point on, it's impossible to learn from the person, because you just don't respect what they do.
I imagine this will be the same in this programming class for anybody that's played Daikatana.
There are no fundamental, time-honored principles to game design, because it hasn't been around long enough to establish the same sort of rules you find in, say, graphic design. So in a class like this, you'll be entirely dependent on what the teacher has to say. There really won't be an authoritative accompanying text from which you could choose to learn instead of the professor.
All of Slashdot is going to post here that Daikatana sucks, and all of Slashdot is right. If John Romero knew anything about good game design, he would have taken the seemingly unlimited resources afforded him and been able to produce a good game.
I never played Anachronox, although I read that it was very good. Maybe Tom Hall's got some worthwhile things to say. But is there anybody out there that really respects the work that John Romero's done since he left id? The class is obviously the university's way of getting some press (and, in turn, enrollment and tuition) by taking advantage of a celebrity name, regardless of worth.
It was worse (Score:1)
It isn't just the crappy game that JR made, but the wake of destruction he left behind him was incredible and did great harm to the gaming industry.
Check out TTLG [ttlg.com], SShock2 [sshock2.com] and GameSpy [gamespy.com] for info on the people hoping to keep these games alive.
"You wanted to see me, Dean?" (Score:5, Funny)
"Oh, no need to worry about that. Things are coming along fine."
"But it's March! Your class was scheduled to conclude in December, like all the other fall semester classes!"
"Well, Dean, you can't rush quality work."
"And speaking of quality, that's another thing! You syllabus stated that you would be covering ten programming modules, the final one of which was 'Creating a Game Engine,' but your students are still working on Module 2, 'Creating Cool Cinematic Cutscreens."
"Well, I felt spending extra time on cutscreens was the most important thing we could do to generate hype over the class and ensure funding for next year."
"And that's another issue! You were given a fixed budget of $500 for class supplies for the semester. So far you've spent $156,000!"
"Dean, you just can't put a price on quality."
"Actually, I can. As Dean, managing the budget is part of my job. Moreover, Professor Spector at UT Austin managed to finish his class on time, on budget, and with five times as many students as yours...."
My First Questain: (Score:1)
Who cares about passing when you can piss the teacher off
This reminds me of an apropos saying... (Score:1, Redundant)
"When it's done" (Score:3, Funny)
This class sounds awesome!
Delta Q Delta party after class (Score:1)
The inititation rite? Playing Daikatana and fragging Stevie Case.
Stevie is getting old... (Score:2)
Romero HAS made quite a few games... (Score:4, Informative)
late assignments (Score:1)
John Romero? (Score:1)
Other Possible Names for this Course (Score:1)
For all of you Comets out there..... (Score:1)
AP -4370 COMPUTER GAME DEVELOPMENT 3 Hrs R
Call 13550 Sec 501 W 7-9:45PM JO 3.114 STAFF
Written Permission of Instructor Required
Call 972-883-4379
Call 13551 Sec 502 R 7-9:45PM JO 3.114 Dochtermann M
Written Permission of Instructor Required
Just Remember (Score:4, Funny)
bake me a diakatana (Score:1)
Re:bake me a diakatana ... bitch (Score:1)
To ace the class... (Score:2, Funny)
(if you don't get that, play the final level of doom 2)
"Professor Romero"??? (Score:1)
Romero's GF (Score:1)
UTD - get a real school (Score:1)
I rode through the UTD campus on the way to and from work for about seven months while working for Convex Computer Corporation (now part of HP), located on the north side of campus.
Teaching there is about the equivalent of teaching at the local community college.
Re: (Score:1)