Microsoft Announces 2004 Computer Game Production RFP Awards

The research division of the Microsoft corporation announced the three winners of its earlier Request for Proposals awards. The RFP sought to fund "innovative and reusable" game-related academic curricula at the university level. The first winner was Dr. Jessica Bayliss at the Rochester Institute of Technology, whose proposed curriculum is called "Reality and Programming Together." Bayliss proposes to use games as the real-world application all students can relate to when a concrete example for entry-level programming concepts is necessary. Some form of videogame would be used to demonstrate beginning computer science concepts such as object-oriented programming, software engineering, data structures, and algorithms, using the C# and DirectX platforms. Drs. Bruce and Amy Gooch at Northwestern University, the second award recipients, will use the research money for their "Game Production and Development For Multiple Hardware Platforms" curriculum. Their proposal, part of an intended interdisciplinary major, also focuses on a five-quarter span of introductory computer science using videogames as a focal point. Specific topics covered would be 2D and 3D graphics, audio, game design, and debugging, with C++ and C# as the languages used. Finally, an eight-professor team at the College of New Jersey will enact their proposal, "Advanced Interdisciplinary Game Design and Architecture Courses." The eight professors, each in different disciplines at the college, would oversee students from many majors and disciplines working together on all aspects of game design, from programming to sound composition and visual design. The course would last a year, with the goal of creating a project with team members from all disciplines. The winning proposals will receive funding totaling $240,000 from Microsoft. Assets from all three of the awarded curricula will be available at the MSDNAA Curriculum Repository.