From the crush of people in 361 Upson you would have thought there was free food. (There was, across the hall, but nobody was paying much attention to it.) People were lining up two or three deep in front of 50 or so computers, waiting to play one of the games on display at last December's Game Design Initiative at Cornell (GDIAC) showcase.

The lesson: People like games. Teaching game design is motivating students to learn fundamental engineering skills and even preparing some of them for careers in the multibillion-dollar digital gaming industry.

But creating computer games is, well, not all fun and games. "This is something rooted in deep pedagogy, engineering design and theory," says David Schwartz, director of GDIAC. As taught at Cornell, at least, it requires rigorous discipline. "This course is a lot of work!" the Computing and Information Science (CIS) 300 course Web site declares in large type.

Students in game-design classes work in teams, usually including musicians, writers and artists as well as programmers. The project-management, teamwork and presentation skills that the courses require are valuable assets even for students not planning game-design careers, Schwartz points out. Because students must prepare documentation and make frequent classroom presentations on their progress, the beginning course satisfies the College of Engineering's engineering communications requirement.

The beginning course, CIS 300, Digital Game Design, provides an overview of game theory and the game industry, then challenges students to complete a project for a semester-ending showcase. The advanced course, CIS 400, Advanced Projects in Game Design, introduces 3D and networked games and other advanced technology. Many students then continue with independent study, in effect taking CIS 400 over and over, working on multisemester projects or moving on to new games. This, Schwartz says, allows them to build a "portfolio" they can show to potential employers.

What student-built computer games lack in high-powered graphics they often make up in ingenuity and whimsy.

"Zombies vs. Humans," for example, promises to "emphasize violence and gore to a humorous degree." "Quarter Qard Revolution" simulates Ho Plaza, where people are frequently accosted by students handing out cards advertising clubs or events. In the game, players can chase away the card-handers by throwing such missiles as peanut butter or live squirrels. In "Spellcaster," a duel between two wizards, moving the mouse in certain patterns activates a spell. Student games can be downloaded from the GDIAC Web site at http://gdiac.cis.cornell.edu/. Some games have recorded up to 5,000 downloads.

Jobs in the highly competitive field are not easy to get. "They [companies] don't recruit," Schwartz says. "They don't need to." An exception is Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), which produces The Sims and Madden NFL games. About 10 GDIAC graduates work for EA, and several graduating seniors already have job offers. And this year Microsoft Game Studios has recruited two students.

Schwartz sees gaming as something that will attract high school students to the university and as a powerful motivator for students with other career plans. Undergraduate education, he adds, is sometimes criticized for not teaching enough interpersonal and teamwork skills. "Students are somehow miraculously supposed to develop this," he says. "We fill that need, and show them how to work with people on very challenging projects."

When Schwartz launched the program six years ago he encountered skepticism from some faculty members, but now, he says, most have recognized that game-design students are learning valuable skills. About 28 percent of computer science majors, he finds, have had some involvement with the program. The Department of Computer Science has formed a game-design committee, including tenured faculty, to develop new course materials.

Schwartz admits there is still some stigma attached to gaming but believes this will pass as the "game-playing generation" moves into positions of leadership. "Our generation gets it," he says.

Minor in game design

A minor in game design was introduced in fall 2006, administered by the Department of Computer Science but available to any undergraduate. The minor is suggested "for students who anticipate that game design will have a prominent role to play in their academic and professional career." But some students, organizers say, may elect it for the experience it provides in software development and interdisciplinary teamwork, and some perhaps just for fun. Along with game-design courses, students in the minor choose among courses in computer graphics, animation, artificial intelligence and the psychology of media and human-computer interaction.