Creative classes for computer generation

Michigan colleges become players in video games

Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Ever since Kevin Ingrassia first played Super Mario Brothers at age 3 he's been obsessed with video games.

Now 21, he's sitting in a classroom behind a powerful computer and translating his artwork into game designs of his own.

"I'm pretty much looking forward to doing (this) forever," said Ingrassia, a College for Creative Studies game arts student.

Colleges in Michigan are embracing creative minds like Ingrassia's by opening majors and expanding video gaming courses, so much so that Michigan is among the top producers of game designers, artists and programmers. But many graduates of such programs tend to leave the state to pursue their gaming dreams, and industry professionals advocate luring the industry here with the state's generous film tax credit.

Michigan's job market for game development is not as rich as those in California, Montreal, Seattle or other game-design hubs that have wooed Michigan grads. Some graduates have found work at smaller studios nearby or translated their skills to other art or computer jobs.

"Most of our kids do not go into games, most of our kids go into more traditional areas and part of the reason is that most of our kids prefer to stay in the state," said Bruce Maxim, an associate professor in the University of Michigan-Dearborn's Computer and Information Department, which has a game design track. "The people who have gone into the video game industry have gone out of state."

Michigan's labor department doesn't track the video game development industry, but people in the business say it's a relatively small field. There are some gaming companies in Michigan, including Stardock, which will spend $900,000 to expand its Plymouth facility and an additional "tens of millions of dollars over the 10 years" for hiring, said Brad Wardell, CEO and president of Stardock.

But more commonly there are smaller groups or individuals working independently on projects and iPhone apps out of their basements, said Matt Toschlog president of Reactor Zero, an Ann Arbor-based game company.

Despite the recession, Reactor Zero has been growing slowly since it opened in 2005. Applications stream in from students at CCS and Michigan State University, in particular, as well as from gaming schools out of state. The graduates in art and computer programming are strong, he said, but colleges have yet to figure out how to teach game designers, who conceptualized the games and map out the levels.

Michigan could do much to lure more gaming business if the film tax credit would be granted to game companies, Toschlog said. The tax credit is open to video game publishers, but none has collected the incentive yet.

"We applied for one and we were turned down," for their project last year to create the PC version of "Red Faction: Guerrilla." The publisher of the game has to be the one to apply, he said, not the local company developing it.

"What we need is to have someone get one of those and get it publicized," Toschlog said. "It's a generous tax credit and it's worked well for the film industry."

A record number of colleges -- 254 in 37 states and the District of Columbia -- offer courses and degrees in computer and video game design, programming and art, according to a new study by the Entertainment Software Association, which represents game companies. California is at the top with 46 colleges offering gamer courses or degrees. Michigan tied for 10th with seven colleges meeting the criteria.

The growth at colleges reflects the expanding role of video games in society, experts say.

Today 68 percent of American households play video games and annual computer and video game software sales have shot up a whopping 800 percent over 12 years to $11.7 billion last year.

"Video games are not only the fastest-growing entertainment medium, they are also increasingly used in education and business for professional training and e-learning," said Rich Taylor, senior vice president for communications and industry affairs at the ESA.

Gaming may be the reason why U-M Dearborn's computer science enrollment has increased 30 percent since 2006, whereas nationally enrollments have dropped to the point where there's a shortage of computing professionals, Maxim said.

He's not apologizing for marketing the college's video game courses to spark the interest of high-schoolers, as it shows "there's more to computing than sitting in a room someplace and writing some code," he said. "And that's the sort of position we've taken, that all engineering and computer science is an exciting field, it's a creative field."

The students studying their passion seem to know their chances of making it in-state, but are grateful to be learning in a field they love.

"It's so immersive that you feel like you are in a different reality. That's why I do it," said Stephanie O'Malley, 21, of Howell, a game arts student at CCS.

"The first time I saw one of the characters I made running around, it was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life," said Adam Skutt, 27, a game arts senior at CCS. "It made all the stuff I had to go through to make this happen worthwhile."

In a basement classroom at the College for Creative Studies, 15 art students tediously work to make their paintings become scenes for games.

Ingrassia carefully builds a digital model to replicate his painting of an eerie tiered pagoda housing a caged demon. The pagoda starts off as a grey structure, then Ingrassia adds layers of detail and color.

The texturing work takes hours but to him, "it's really fun."

Later that day, in a computer science class at U-M Dearborn, another 15 students -- all males, many toting laptops -- were learning complicated codes with slashes, algebra-like equations that represent the language of programming.

Students will work in pairs to create games ranging from NFL matchups to medieval adventures.

Artistry and computer science are two very different approaches to teaching games but when both worlds of expertise come together great games can happen, similar to how both the creative side and backend coding side of the industry must collaborate.

Car Genesis, a racing game created for Ford Motor Co. by CCS artists and U-M Dearborn computer programmers, is an example of that partnership. Players can customize a car and race through the desert with life-like caves and rocks.

"It's an amazing result for a student project," said Scott Bogoniewski, chairman of the entertainment arts department at CCS.

mschultz@detnews.com (313) 222-2310