If you’re serious about a career in gaming, Georgia is a great place to live. Thanks to the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act, digital entertainment producers and video game companies have an incentive (20 percent base tax credit) to locate their businesses in Georgia, which has become the top video game development site in the Southeast.
When the first tax incentive legislation passed in 2004, the number of game companies in Georgia grew from five to 60 within a couple of years, said John Thacher, computer science program director at Gwinnett Technical College.
“They passed another bill in 2008, and now we have over 100 companies in the state,” he said.
Industry officials approached Gwinnett Tech three years ago because companies were having trouble finding enough programmers in Georgia.
“Savannah College of Art and Design and the Art Institute of Atlanta had programs that focused on the aesthetics and graphics of game development, but a programmer has to build in the fundamentals first,” Thacher said.
Gwinnett Tech launched its simulation/game developer program in 2007. The program, which has 183 enrolled, takes two years to complete for full-time students. Students can earn an associate degree, a diploma or a certificate for those who already have an IT degree and just want to learn gaming skills.
The college accepts new students in any quarter, and attracts both recent high school graduates and older students. Most of the classes are offered at night. Tuition and fees for in-state, full-time students run about $800 a quarter.
“Parents of new high school graduates are worried about whether their child will find jobs with a degree in simulation/game development,” Thacher said. “What people don’t understand is that game development skills aren’t just used for entertainment. There are so many other applications.”
The military uses game programmers to develop computer training programs that teach soldiers about battle tactics, how to drive a tank and how to shoot a weapon. Medical and nursing schools use simulators to teach clinical skills and critical thinking. Logistics companies use programs to track their drivers and alert them to problems with weather or accidents.
“Pharmaceutical companies use simulators to test for drug interactions,” Thacher said. “They can test a drug multiple times on a computer, so that they just have to do animal testing once.
“Not everyone will start out working for Electronic Arts in California [a gamer’s dream job], but a student could be employed by Delta to program flight simulators. There are so many ways to use these skills.”
The curriculum includes courses in game development and management, C++, Python and PHP programming, game physics, algebra and artificial intelligence. Good math skills are required.
“It takes passion and curiosity to become a successful game developer,” Thacher said. “You have to be passionate about programming. It’s hard for some people to wrap their heads around programming logic.
“Once they get through the program design and development class, they understand the flow and step-by-step process of building code, then they find out if programming is really for them or not.”
Students build on their skills and develop a portfolio of work, so potential employers can see what they’ve accomplished. Thacher encourages students to hone one special skill and focus on that during job interviews.
“In other classes, I’ll see students in the back of the room playing tic-tac-toe or texting, but our students are glued to their screens,” Thacher said. “They’re intense about what they are learning.
“Some already know what they want to do or where they want to work, and we’re here to help them get there. Innovation and expertise are what the industry wants.”
Georgia companies are hiring programmers.
“CCP White Wolf in Stone Mountain hired 100 people last year,” he said. “Game Developer Magazine says that entry-level salaries for game programmers are at $70,000, but in this economy, the starting salaries in Atlanta are more in the $45,000 to $55,000 range. That’s still good money for a two-year degree.”
For information, contact Gwinnett Tech (770-962-7580, www.gwinnetttech.edu) or John Thacher (678-226-6679). For more about the industry in Georgia, go to www.ggda.org.
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