Ernest unfortunately had to compress this down to a mere 15 minutes, but as a result it was an exceptionally snappy talk and the audience enjoyed it greatly.

1. Ten Commandments for Game Development Education Ernest W. Adams

2. 10. Thou shalt not give tests in game development courses, nor be dogmatic in thy doctrine, for even thou knowest not all.

3. 9. Thou shalt reward precision and punish hand-waving, for the Lord loveth it not.

4. 8. Except ye teach a master’s-level course in experimental interaction design, thou shalt not emphasize aesthetics or story at the expense of interaction , i.e. gameplay.

5. 7. Thou shalt teach not only game development, but also the history of games , the analysis of games , and the sociology of gaming .

6. 6. With industry shalt thou build relationships; yet also shalt thou remember that “industry” explodeth in all directions , and meaneth more than PC and console games for the West.

7. 5. Thou shalt require teamwork . Thou shalt teach the skills of project management , and shalt gently discourage over-ambitious projects.

8. 4. Thou shalt not punish failure in thy students’ first-year projects, but encourage them to learn from it.

9. 3. In their final projects, thou shalt encourage thinking outside the box .

10. 2. Thou shalt require thy pupils to study other arts and sciences besides the craft of game development, for the ignorant developer createth only the derivative game.

11. 1. Thou shalt integrate all the disciplines of game development unto the utmost of thy institution’s capacity.

12. 0. Thou shalt not take an existing computer science, art, animation, media studies, English, or other program, add a game course or two to it , and call it a game program, for that is an abomination unto the Lord .

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16. Ten Commandments for Game Development Education Ernest W. Adams