Gamers Flock to NRG, SAC

Austin Community College at the Northridge and South Austin campuses has begun offering core curriculum and three associate degrees in Video Game Development: Game Design, Game Art, and Game and Visualization Programming.

Most students remember Mario, the chubby plumber with a penchant for crawling through pipes to save his girlfriend, the helpless Princess Peach. Video games have come a long way since the original Nintendo, with consoles that are powerful enough to support Blu-Ray technology and other powerful features.

The video game industry is making a mark at ACC in a big way. "We are currently at a very exciting time in the games industry," Kalani Streicher, a video game design professor at NRG explained.

Streicher has been in the industry for over 20 years. He works with other video game development leaders in Austin, such as Rich Vogel of Bioware, Richard Garriott of NCSoft, and Denise Fulton of Midway, to contribute to ACC's new endeavor.

Streicher has held various positions in various companies including Lead Designer, Executive Producer, Studio Director, and CEO. His career began at LucasFilm Games/Lucas Arts Entertainment Company as a designer/programmer. He has worked on many games, including Armor Command, Star Wars: Force Commander, and Bruce Lee: Quest.

"A lot of great, new and innovative games are being designed and developed on various programs," Streicher said. "The quality bar of games is very high, and we are approaching movie-like visuals on consoles and PC's."

ACC's Video Game Development program is designed with the gamer in mind. Austin being the third-largest center for video game development in the country, according to authors Robert McGoldrick and Spencer Zuzolo, NRG and SAC welcomes all creative individuals with a passion for gaming.

"Our goal is to give the students a more real-world education and production-oriented skills," Streicher said. "We want them to have an edge and succeed as they venture out, landing a new job with game publishing or development companies. We are using the latest and greatest game tools and systems and we work with game industry veterans and companies to ensure that connection."

Curriculum Connection- Video Game Development http://www.austincc.edu/techcert/gaming/