This course introduces level design theory and best practice through game level analysis, evaluation, and creation. Students will learn by analyzing game levels from existing games and discussing what made those levels successful or unsuccessful. Through their analysis and hands on experience, students will gain an understanding of overall level design including layout, flow, pacing, and balance. They will enhance their understanding of level design principles by creating their own game levels.

This course provides an overview of media in historical, current and future contexts. Incorporating lectures and discussion with hands on work involving written and interactive media assets, students examine the role of written and visual media from theoretical as well as practical perspectives. The course also provides an introduction to interactive media development techniques, including digital media components and delivery environments. Students will be required to write formal analysis and critique papers along with digital modes of writing including collaborative editing and effective presentation design.

This course is designed to engage the new media major in a capstone production experience. The instructor will form interdisciplinary student teams that will design, plan, prototype, and implement new media projects. Student groups are required to test their product with users and provide written feedback and analysis.

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.

The student will work independently under the supervision of a faculty advisor on a topic not covered in other courses.

This course continues to examine the core theories of game design as they relate to the professional field. Beginning with a formalized pitch process, this course examines the design and development paradigm from story-boarding and pre-visualization through rapid iteration, refinement, and structured prototyping exercises to further examine the validity of a given design. Specific emphasis is placed on iterative prototyping models, and on methodologies for both informal and formal critique. This course also explores production techniques and life-cycle in the professional industry.

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.

This is intended to allow for special one-time offerings of undergraduate topics or to allow faculty to pilot new undergraduate offerings. Specific course details (such as the course topics, format, resource needs, and credit hours) will be determined by the faculty member(s) who propose a given special-topics offering.

The student will work independently under the supervision of a faculty adviser on a topic not covered in other courses.