Interactive Media & Game Development
IMGD 1000. CRITICAL STUDIES OF INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND GAMES.
Cat. I
This course introduces non-technical studies of computer-based interactive media and games. The course develops a vocabulary for discussing games and other interactive media, and tools for analyzing them. Students are expected to provide written critiques using the critical approaches presented in the course. The games and other interactive media critiqued may be commercially available or under development.
IMGD 1001. THE GAME DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.
Cat. I
This course discusses the process of game development. It examines the roles of different participants in the development process and how the technical development and the artistic development proceed in tandem. Group work is emphasized, especially the importance of collaboration between technical and artistic efforts. Students are expected to participate in game development using appropriate game development tools.
IMGD 1002. STORYTELLING IN INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND GAMES.
Cat. I
This course explores different types of story within gaming and other interactive media. It delineates between linear, branching, and emergent storytelling, identifies hybrids, and finds new modes of making compelling narrative. A variety of games are discussed, including early text-based adventures, role-playing games, shooters, and strategy games. Students will construct characters, situations, and narratives through game play and scripted cut scenes. Students will explore and use visual storytelling techniques.
IMGD 2000. SOCIAL ISSUES IN INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND GAMES.
Cat. I
This course provides students with a realistic assessment of the potential and problems related to interactive media and games, especially computer games, and their effects on society. Topics include individual and group behavior, diversity, human responsibility, ethical and legal issues, and intellectual property. The course examines the issues from various points of view, and discover the political, social, and economic agendas of the people or groups championing those points of view. Students will write papers, participate in discussions, and research related topics.
Recommended background: IMGD 1000.
IMGD 2001. PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS OF COMPUTER GAMES.
Cat. II
This course introduces students to some of the political and ethical dimensions of the new entertainment modalities. Students will explore such issues as representation and power (e.g., gaming and disability, and race stereotyping in games), the phenomenology of virtual reality, capitalism and the commodification of leisure, gender and sexual violence, and cyberspace and democracy. Students will also develop critical tools for evaluating the ethical and social content of their own and others' games. In addition to writing several analytical papers on the critical theory of technology, students will be encouraged to work on game designs exploring philosophical or social themes.
Recommended background: IMGD 1000.
Offered in 2011-12 and in alternating years thereafter.
IMGD 2005. MACHINIMA (FILM MAKING IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS).
Cat. I
This course will address the cinemagraphic and narrative techniques involved with film making using video-game technology. Creation and development of characters, environments, and narrative structures will be explored. Using commercial game engines and audio/video editors, students will write, design, and produce complete animated movies. Industrial and artistic applications of this film making technique are discussed as well as how Machinima is contextualized in the history of film animation and visualization.
Recommended background: IMGD 1002.
IMGD/AR 2101. 3D Modeling.
Cat. I
This course focuses on the art of 3D computer modeling for graphics,animation, game design, and image visualization. Techniques in polygon, NURB, and subdiv modeling will be explored, as well as deformations, texture mapping, lighting, cameras, rendering, and MEL scripting. Realistic and stylized modeling concepts will be developed, including optimization for rigging and game design. Historical context in relation to traditional sculpture will be discussed.
Recommended background: AR1100 and AR1101.
IMGD/AR 2201. THE ART OF ANIMATION.
Cat. I
This course examines the fundamentals of computer generated 2D and 3D modeling and animation as they apply to creating believable characters and environments. Students will learn skeletal animation and traditional polygonal animation, giving weight and personality to characters through movement, environmental lighting, and changing mood and emotion. Students will be expected to master the tools of 3D modeling and skinning, and scripting of behaviors.
Recommended background: AR 1101.
IMGD 2500. Design of Tabletop Strategy Games.
Cat. II
The objective of the course is to teach students how to design board strategy games. The design principles are transferable to other types of games, such as computer games. Game quality issues such as rules unambiguity, depth, complexity, branching width, balance, and historical content are examined. Basic elements and types of game rules, such as map gridding, restricted play choices, resource limitations, and depths of game economics are discussed. Central to the course is the game design project: students design, playtest, and develop their own game. One two-hour laboratory a week covers play, and playtesting, and supports the game design project.
Recommended background: IMGD 1000
This course will be offered in 2012-13 and in alternating years thereafter.
IMGD 3000. TECHNICAL GAME DEVELOPMENT I.
Cat. I
This course teaches technical Computer Science aspects of game development, with the focus of the course on low-level programming of a computer games. Topics include 2D and 3D game engines, simulation-type games, analog and digital controllers and other forms of tertiary input. Students will implement games or parts of games, including exploration of graphics, sound, and music as it affects game implementation.
Recommended background: CS 2303.
IMGD 3500. ARTISTIC GAME DEVELOPMENT I.
Cat. I
This course focuses on the unique problems presented to the artist when working in game development. Students learn to work with 2D sprite-based art, including tiling and simple animation. They then explore 3D architecture, level design, texturing, and environmental animation. Students will use art to create compelling game experiences through environments by designing their own levels in both 2D and 3D games.
Recommended background: AR 3000.
IMGD 4000. TECHNICAL GAME DEVELOPMENT II.
Cat. I
This course focuses on the application of advanced Computer Science topics as they impact game development. Networking and distributed systems issues are addressed, including scalability and latency compensation techniques, for designing games for a online multi-player environments. AI, graphics and physics techniques specific to game development are discussed. Students will implement games or parts of games that apply advanced Computer Science topics.
Recommended background: IMGD 3000.
IMGD 4100. Artificial Intelligence for Interactive Media and Games.
Cat II
Advanced software design and programming techniques from artificial intelligence are key contributors to the experience of modern computer games and virtual environments, either by directly controlling a non-player character or through more subtle manipulation of the environment. This course will cover the current state of the art in this area, as well as prepare students for the next generation of AI contributions. We will study the application of AI techniques such as search, planning, machine learning, emotion modeling and natural language processing, to game problems such as navigation, strategy, believability and narrative control. Students will implement several small AI demonstration games.
Recommended background: IMGD 4000.
Students may not receive credit for both IMGD 4100 and IMGD 400X.
IMGD 4200. History and Future of Immersive and Interactive Media.
Cat II
This course will familiarize students with the history of the development, deployment, commercialization, and evolution of immersive and active media. The lesson plan will cover a broad range of enabling technologies, such as geometric perspective drawing, pre-20th-century panoramic displays, photography and the stereoscope, sound recording and reproduction, motion pictures, radio and television, the planetarium, immersive and 3-dimensional cinema, and special attraction venues, with a particular focus on digital games. Current trends and future directions will also be considered. Students will attend seminars and lectures, read and discuss texts on media history and aesthetics, and write an original research paper. Midterm and final exams test students' knowledge and understanding of important events and developments. A student may not receive credit for both IMGD 4200 and IMGD 5200.
Recommended background: IMGD 1000, EN 2211 and either IMGD 2000 or IMGD 2001.
Students may not receive credit for both IMGD 4200 and IMGD 402X.
IMGD 4500. ARTISTIC GAME DEVELOPMENT II.
Cat. I
This course focuses on the integration and organization of the various artistic elements used in game development. The course examines user interaction, interface design, and existing paradigms in current games. Students will combine elements of level design, animation, music, sound, and writing to create an aesthetically appealing game.
Recommended background: IMGD 1002, IMGD 3500, MU 1611.
IMGD 4600. Serious Games.
Cat II
This course explores the application of the technologies and design principles of interactive media and game development beyond traditional entertainment. The purpose of such applications is typically to change people's behaviors, knowledge and/or attitudes in diverse areas including health care, training, education, simulation, politics, marketing and art. Students read about, experiment with, compare and discuss examples, as well as the underlying philosophies and issues specific to this genre, such as domain analysis and rigorous evaluation. Students in groups also research a new application and produce a detailed design document and mock-up. Advanced programming skill is not required, but a background in game design is strongly recommended.
Recommended background: IMGD 1001 and either IMGD 2000 or IMGD 2001.
Students may not receive credit for both IMGD 4600 and IMGD 404X.
IMGD 4700. Advanced Storytelling: Quest Logic and Level Design.
Cat II
This course provides an in-depth examination of storytelling as it is currently done in 2D and 3D games through a study of quests and construction of gaming spaces. Level designers turn stories into games through building virtual spaces and populating them with non-player characters who have their own objectives. Cinematics are used to extend the narrative space. The course requires students to build multiple virtual spaces that have a history and a population with present needs. Students need to work out plotting through the logic of a quest, build several areas that supports that logic and create cinematics to extend their narrative space.
Recommended background: IMGD 1002, or equivalent knowledge.
Students may not receive credit for both IMGD 4700 and IMGD 403X.
