The film industry and game designing. Does it all add up? I'll spell it out.

I had an interesting, albeit short, conversation with someone today. They were a younger person, probably late teens, and serving in the local shop. Unfortunately, their whizz bang till had gone down, so all transactions were manual. My purchase came to $15.90 and I gave this person a $20 note (there was no ‘tap and go’ either).

Do you think they could work out the change to give me? Not a chance.

I was curious, so idly asked whether this person wanted to stay in this job or had higher ambitions.

“I want to be a game designer” was the reply.

Now, I have never designed a game, but I have done a lot of 3D modelling and scene creation work, which is closely related, and cannot for the life of me understand how this person – or any other similar aspirants – can even hope to get into that industry without even the basics of mathematics (and I refuse to say “math” by the way).

This is not an isolated case either; I have come across this situation in shops often. And yes, I understand some people are challenged in this area and can sympathise. But that I think is the exception rather than the norm.

Is it the schooling system at fault? A teacher who was high up in the food chain at a major Sydney Senior High School once told me that if the “cattle” are useless, it doesn’t matter how good the educators, or the system are.

I personally don’t believe that adage. I went to a normal country high school in the southwest of Western Australia, and one thing I remember vividly was the consistency. We had the same teachers for three years straight in the late 60s and early 70s – hell the headmistress at the time only retired from this school a decade or so ago! And this school had one of the highest academic rates in the State by far.

I don’t believe we have spawned a bunch of Gen Y and Gen Z idiots. Yet there seems so little literacy and numeracy skill around. Just take a look at social media and the appalling spelling and grammar that abounds. How can these people hope to get on in life without the basics?

But back to my main argument; in the film / video industry and its spinoffs and close cousins such as audio, 3D, motion graphics and yes, game designing, without those mathematic and literacy basics, you are simply not going to get anywhere, apart from maybe rolling up cables and humping gear cases.