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 will allow students to work as domain specialists on teams completing one or more faculty-led research projects over the course of the semester. The faculty member teaching the class will provide the research topic(s). Students will learn about research methodology to implement, test, and evaluate results of projects. Students will complete research reports and final assessments of themselves and their teammates in addition to completing their assigned responsibilities on the main projects.