Newswise — Starting this fall, Michigan State University is offering a new game design and development program.
The Specialization in Game Design and Development brings together students from computer science; studio art; and telecommunication, information studies and media (TISM) to explore the history, social impacts, technology, design fundamentals, and team-based production of digital games.
Students will work together to develop a well-rounded approach to game design and development. In a capstone experience, students in the specialization will work on a semester project in a team setting with an industry-based client. Students will be prepared for a variety of positions in the emerging digital games industry.
"Video games have grown to become an important medium in our society," said Brian Winn, co-founder of the program and assistant professor of TISM at MSU. "Like film, radio, television, and the Web before it, games have become worthy of academic study, analysis and research."
It's an area of research and development that universities can't afford to miss out on " literally. The commercial game business is big business. The average game now costs about $20 million to produce.
United States sales of video game consoles, portable devices and the games made for those platforms were $9.9 billion in 2004.
Digital games are a rapidly developing, widely used entertainment medium with untapped potential for education. Unlike TV and movies, each player has a unique experience even if they play the same game.
Kids' deep engagement in games and the hours they devote learning how to play complex games are both worrisome and hopeful, said Carrie Heeter, professor of TISM and co-founder of the digital gaming program.
"Commercial games often include violence and antisocial themes, spurring research on harmful social impacts of game play," said Heeter. "However, researchers are also beginning to find evidence of perceptual, cognitive and social benefits of playing commercial games."
Students completing the specialization will gain the knowledge, skills and experience for jobs in traditional game-development team roles, such as programmer, designer, artist or producer. But with the increasing application of digital games for more than purely entertainment purposes, students will also be prepared for jobs in what has been dubbed the "serious games" industry, developing games for education, business or military training, and advertising.
"While developing games is the focus of the specialization, the knowledge and skills the students obtain transfer directly to the larger interactive media and information technology industries, opening up a wide range of career paths," Winn said. "The size and complexity of games has increased. Given the large scope, blossoming team sizes, and multimillion dollar budgets of modern games, the industry is looking for a higher level of education, creativity and problem-solving in their employees."
Students learn the foundations for being team members, learning game design theories and principles, collaborating on the design and development of game projects, and engaging in active learning and authentic, situated creative problem solving.
But playing games is much different than designing them, as Winn tells his students on the first day of class.
"I tell my students that just because you enjoy playing games does not mean you will enjoy making them," he said. "Game creation is a rigorous, sometimes trying process, but it can be very rewarding."
For more information, see http://dmat.msu.edu/degrees/gamespecialization.html
RSS