Reading students patch into security system - virtually
Wednesday, 07 April 2010
Systems Engineering students analyse computer game
'Reading Graduates, in particular those from Systems Engineering, are very well placed to enter and thrive in the computer games industryÔÇÖ
University of Reading undergraduates shared experiences of the computer games industry with independent games development company, Mode 7 Games who brought an early version of their new game Frozen Synapse to the School of Systems Engineering recently.
The aim of the visit was to meet with undergraduate students to talk about the computer games industry and in particular, share their experiences of setting up a small independent software company.
Students spent some considerable time trying out the new tactical game that puts the player in control of a strike team that can patch into the opponent's security system. In return our students gave valuable feedback to the developers who are working to polish their product ahead of its release.
Dr Ian Bland, who organised the visit, commented on the relevance of the visit to the students courses; ‘On a day where many final year students were demonstrating their own software projects to staff members, Mode 7's beta test was an invaluable reminder of the sheer effort required to develop modern software to a commercial standard.
‘This goes well beyond the core programming and includes sometimes months of testing and refining a product before it is suitable for commercial release. In their project, students get some idea of this but the ‘beta' test demonstrates the need not only to be great programmers but great software engineers.'
For their part, Mode 7 Games were very impressed with the feedback they received and in particular noted the students' ability to understand the engineering concepts behind the game.
Dr Ian Bland again commented; ‘Computer game programming combines highly technical disciplines such as geometry, matrix algebra, fluid dynamics and artificial intelligence with all the necessary software engineering skills. On top of that a small computer games company needs all of the entrepreneurial, project management, marketing and management expertise it can muster in order to succeed. Reading Graduates, in particular those from Systems Engineering, are very well placed to enter and thrive in this industry.'