Jake Adams Headshot

Jake Adams

Lecturer

School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Office Hours
Wednesday 10AM to 12PM and Friday 11-12 & 4:15PM to 5:15PM
Office Location

Jake Adams

Lecturer

School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Bio

Creator of the first digital holographic comic (holo-comic). Interactive visual artist and founder of Valholo a VR and digital holographic studio. Jake Adams holds an MS in Design and Digital Media from the University of Edinburgh and a BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Emanating from a fine arts background, his visual skills coupled with programming and asset production have allowed him to become a versatile artist and educator. His studio creates holographic content for the Looking Glass Factory and 3D/2D assets for Sandbox (SAND) on the Polygon network. Jake Adams specializes in mixed media arts, Asset production, and interactive narrative with a focus on making the intangible more tangible. 
 

Before Valholo, he was an artist assistant to Michael Zelehoski, and a gallery assistant to Ethan Cohen, and the Dia: Beacon Art Gallery. In 2019 he created and published the world's first holo-comic (digital holographic comic book). Other accomplishments include 2008 best in category: painting, Celeste Prize winner (Berlin Exhibition catalog), A 2019 CodeBase: creative informatics grant recipient issued by the Scottish Government, and the 2020 games & new media official selection at the Supernova: Denver Digerati Animation festival.

Jake Adams' work is defined by a sublime psychological narrative that interpolates the tangibility and intangibility of spatial-temporal decisions while utilizing social systems as a catalyst toward the fluctuation of emotional extra-diegetic space. 

Currently Teaching

IGME-101
4 Credits
This course provides students with an introduction to problem solving, abstraction, and algorithmic thinking that is relevant across the field of new media. Students are introduced to object-oriented design methodologies through the creation of event-driven, media-intensive applications. Students will explore the development of software through the use of a range of algorithmic concepts related to the creation of applications by writing classes that employ the fundamental structures of computing, such as conditionals, loops, variables, data types, functions, and parameters. There is an early emphasis on object oriented concepts and design.
IGME-119
3 Credits
This course provides a theoretical framework covering the principles of animation and its use in game design to affect user experience. Emphasis will be placed upon principles that support character development and animations that show cause and effect. Students will apply these principles to create animations that reflect movement and character appropriate for different uses and environments.
IGME-219
3 Credits
This course provides an overview of 3D game asset production. Basic ideas learned within the first asset production course are also revisited within the 3D environs. Topics covered include modeling, texturing, skinning and animation. Emphasis is put on low polygon modeling techniques, best practices in game art production, and effective communication strategies between artists, programmers and designers.
IGME-220
3 Credits
This course examines the core process of game design, from ideation and structured brainstorming in an entertainment technology context through the examination of industry standard processes and techniques for documenting and managing the design process. This course specifically examines techniques for assessing and quantifying the validity of a given design, for managing innovation and creativity in a game development-specific context, and for world and character design. Specific emphasis is placed on both the examination and deconstruction of historical successes and failures, along with presentation of ethical and cultural issues related to the design and development of interactive software and the role of individuals in a team-oriented design methodology. Students in this class are expected to actively participate and engage in the culture of design and critique as it relates to the field.
IGME-529
3 Credits
This course focuses on the major elements of narrative for interactive environments. Students in this course explore the basics of narrative in the context of interactive games and media, with examination of digital storytelling in games and interactive environments of several varieties. Branching narrative, hypertext, multi- and non-linear concepts are also explored with an emphasis on balancing immersive and interactive aspects of digital narrative.

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