New Media Interactive Development BS - Curriculum

An audio professional working in the gaming industry is required to possess not only musical and audio talent, but also knowledge and experience with typical audio workflow. Composing for Video Games and Interactive Media prepares the student for a career in the industry by covering the many facets of sound production and engineering that are particular to game music and other forms of interactive media. Lecture 3 (Annual).

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 course is restricted to students in GAMEDES-BS or NWMEDID-BS or GAMED-MN students.) Lec/Lab 3 (Fall, Spring).

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. (Prerequisites: IGME-119 or equivalent course and student standing in GAMEDES-BS or NWMEDID-BS.) Lec/Lab 3 (Fall, Spring).

Interactive media applications are no longer restricted to personal computers. They can now be found on many distinct hardware platforms including mobile, tablet, wearable, and large-screened computing devices. In this course, students will learn to design, prototype and develop media rich interactive experiences that can be deployed to a wide variety of hardware devices. Programming projects are required. (Prerequisites: IGME-330 or equivalent course and student standing in GAMEDES-BS or NWMEDID-BS.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).

This course will immerse students in the international games industry via a study-abroad experience in a location that will vary. The course will hold several meetings on campus before departure, but then the bulk of the course will center on a two-plus-week intensive experience abroad. While abroad, RIT students will spend half the course on the campus of a host university where they will participate in classes and/or other academic offerings, participate in a weekend game jam at the host university, and visit local and regional sites with cultural, historical, and/or game industry significance. Students will spend the rest of the course in a major city center of game development visiting game studios, governmental offices related to the games industry, and/or cultural and historical sites. This course has been offered for both Germany (the largest European games market) and Japan. Other offerings in other countries may emerge over time and the country visited varies for year to year. International travel is required. (Prerequisites: IGME-320 or IGME-330 or equivalent course.) Lecture 3 (Spring).

This course provides a survey of underlying concepts and technologies used to represent and understand the earth, a form of new media collectively referred to as Geospatial Technologies (GTs). Students will gain hands-on experience with GTs, including Global Positioning Systems (GPSs), Geographic Information Systems (GISs), remote sensing, Virtual Globes, and geographically-oriented new media such as mapping mashups. Students also will develop basic spatial thinking, reasoning, problem solving, and literacy skills. Lec/Lab 3 (Fall).

This course is targeted to students with a serious interest in geographical problem solving via underlying spatial algorithms. Students will learn how to compare and contrast different specific spatial algorithms for solving specific geographic problems and develop proficiency with encoding and implementing spatial algorithms in computer programs. Students taking this course will gain a broad interdisciplinary skill set in how to think spatially and computationally through critical engagement of geographical problem solving. (This class is restricted to undergraduate students with at least 2nd year standing.) Lecture 3 (Fall).

This course provides students with the opportunity to explore games and simulations for social change and learning. Students will explore various research, design, and development techniques for applying games to addressing issues and problems in communities, from local to global. Students will learn to design and develop games and simulations as well as how to gather and analyze data about the games’ usage. Topics may include issues-based organizing and advocacy, place-based learning, and games for civics. In addition, students are exposed to current debates in the field of Games for Change. (Prerequisites: IGME-220 or equivalent course and GAMEDES-BS or NWMEDID-BS Major students.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).

Web-deployed video is an increasingly important medium. It is used for illustration, instruction, entertainment and marketing. Students working with video for the web require an understanding of its inherent qualities, limitations and how it may be implemented. This course will focus on video and specifically how to create and implement quality work suitable for web delivery. (Prerequisites: IGME-202 and IGME-330 or equivalent courses.) Lec/Lab 3 (Spring).

This course explores the design and construction of casual game experiences. Topics include modes of casual game play, mechanics for casual games, characteristics of successful games, development processes, and the distribution of casual games. Students will create casual games, and employ technologies to address issues of scalability, presentation, social interconnectivity, and game analytics. (Prerequisites: IGME-330 or equivalent course and restricted to students in NWMEDID-BS or IGME-320 or equivalent course and restricted to students in GAMEDES-BS.) Lec/Lab 3 (Spring).

Our world is flooded with data, and making sense of it can be a challenge. Visualizations help by exposing information, trends, and correlations that might otherwise go unnoticed in the raw data. In this course, students will learn to collect, clean, organize, and filter data sets of their own choosing. They will learn and apply principles from multiple fields including visual design, the psychology of perception, user experience design, and ethics. They will create static and interactive visualizations with a variety of information structures (hierarchies, maps, timelines, etc.). Students will learn to develop exploratory experiences that tell the story within the data. Programming projects are required. (Prerequisites: IGME-330 or equivalent course.) Lec/Lab 3 (Spring).

Interactive media development is a rapidly evolving field. This course provides an opportunity for students to learn and experiment with emerging themes, practices, and technologies that are not addressed elsewhere in the curriculum. Topics covered in this course will vary based on current developments in the field. Students will explore, design, and develop creative interactive experiences pertaining to the semester's domain area. Programming projects are required. (Prerequisites: IGME-330 or equivalent course and student standing in GAMEDES-BS or NWMEDID-BS.) Lec/Lab 3 (Spring).

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. (NWMEDID-BS,GAMEDES-BS) Lec/Lab 3 (Spring).

Students will design and build creative applications, while studying the history of computation in the visual arts, music, and other relevant areas. Technical topics include advanced audiovisual programming techniques, while theoretical topics include foundational discussions on artificial life, generative art, microsound, participatory and process-based art, programming as performance, and computational creativity. Individual and/or group projects will be required. (Prerequisites: IGME-330 or equivalent course.) Lec/Lab 3 (Fall, Spring).

This course will allow students to work as domain specialists on teams completing one or more large projects over the course of the semester. The projects will be relevant to experiences of the interactive games and media programs, but will require expertise in a variety of sub-domains, including web design and development, social computing, computer game development, multi-user media, human-computer interaction and streaming media. Students will learn to apply concepts of project management and scheduling, production roles and responsibilities, and their domain skill sets to multidisciplinary projects. Students will complete design documents, progress reports and final assessments of themselves and their teammates in addition to completing their assigned responsibilities on the main projects. (Prerequisites: IGME-330 or equivalent course and restricted to students in NWMEDID-BS or IGME-320 or equivalent course and restricted to students in GAMEDES-BS.) Lec/Lab 3 (Fall, Spring, Summer).

This course will allow students to work as domain specialists on teams completing one or more faculty 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. (This course is restricted to students in NWMEDID-BS or GAMEDES-BS with 3rd year standing.) Lec/Lab 3 (Fall, Spring, Summer).

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. (This course is restricted to students in NWMEDID-BS or GAMEDES-BS with 3rd year standing.) Lec/Lab 3 (Fall, Spring, Summer).

The student will work independently under the supervision of a faculty advisor on a topic not covered in other courses. (Enrollment in this course requires permission from the department offering the course.) Ind Study (Fall, Spring, Summer).

Technologies and techniques for producing and manipulating digital audio are explored. Topics include digital representations of sound, digital audio recording and production, MIDI, synthesis techniques, real-time performance issues, and the application of digital audio to multimedia and Web production. (Students must be in GAMEDES-MS or GAMEDES-BS and have taken IGME-202. Undergraduate students may not take and receive credit for this course if they have already taken IGME-570.) Lec/Lab 3 (Fall).

This course provides students with exposure to the design, creation and production of audio in interactive applications and computer games. Students will become familiar with the use of sound libraries, recording sounds in the studio and in the field, generating sound with synthesizers, and effects processing. Students will create sound designs for interactive media, integrating music, dialog, ambient sound, sound effects and interface sounds within interactive programs. (Students must be in GAMEDES-MS or GAMEDES-BS and have taken IGME-202. Undergraduate students may not take and receive credit for this course if they have already taken IGME-571.not if IGME-571) Lec/Lab 3 (Spring).

This course will allow students to work as domain specialists on teams completing one or more large projects over the course of the semester. The projects will be relevant to experiences of the interactive games and media programs, but they will require expertise in a variety of sub-domains, including web design and development, social computing, computer game development, multi-user media, human-computer interaction and streaming media. Students will learn to apply concepts of project management and scheduling, production roles and responsibilities, and their domain skill sets to multidisciplinary projects. Students will complete design documents, progress reports and final assessments of themselves and their teammates in addition to completing their assigned responsibilities on the main projects. (Prerequisites: IGME-601 or equivalent courses.) Lec/Lab 3 (Fall, Spring).

This is intended to allow for special one-time offerings of graduate topics. 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 seminar offering. (Varies) (This course is restricted to GAMEDES-MS students or (GAMEDES-BS or NWMEDID-BS students with at least 3rd year standing).) Lecture (Fall, Spring, Summer).

This course extends the material covered in the Foundations of Mobile Design course and provides students with the experience of creating interesting applications for small-size form factor mobile devices such as smartphones These devices are exceptionally portable, have unique sets of hardware and communications capabilities, incorporate novel interfaces, are location aware, and provide persistent connectivity. Students are encouraged to make creative use of these unique device characteristics and operating properties to develop innovative applications. Programming projects are required. (Prerequisites: (ISTE-252 and ISTE-340) or IGME-330 or equivalent courses.) Lec/Lab 3 (Fall, Spring).

This course extends the Foundations of Mobile Design course in that students will learn to apply mobile design skills to develop applications in the Android platform. Students will design, develop, and test mobile applications using the Android Studio IDE. This course covers the major components such as activities, receivers, content providers, permissions, intents, fragments, data storage, and security. Programming projects are required (Prerequisites: (ISTE-252 and ISTE-340) or IGME-330 or equivalent courses.) Lec/Lab 3 (Fall, Spring).

This course is a sequel to ISTE-358, Foundations of Wearable and Ubiquitous Computing. In this advanced course, students will further their understanding of these technologies and what they can do. A major emphasis will be on context and activity recognition; for example, automatically understanding what a person is doing or whom they are with. This class is primarily project-based. (Prerequisites: ISTE-358 or equivalent course.) Lec/Lab 3 (Spring).

Rapidly expanding volumes of data from all areas of society are becoming available in digital form. High value information and knowledge is embedded in many of these data volumes. Unlocking this information can provide many benefits, and may also raise ethical questions in certain circumstances. This course provides students with a hands-on introduction to how interactive data exploration and data mining software can be used for data-driven knowledge discovery, including domains such as business, environmental management, healthcare, finance, and transportation. Data mining techniques and their application to large data sets will be discussed in detail, including classification, clustering, association rule mining, and anomaly detection. In addition, students will learn the importance of applying data visualization practices to facilitate exploratory data analysis. (Prerequisites: (STAT-145 OR MATH-251) and (GCIS-124 OR ISTE-121 OR CSCI-140 OR CSCI-142 OR CSCI-242 OR ISTE-200 OR IGME-201 OR IGME-106 OR GCIS-127) or equivalent courses.) Lecture 3 (Fall).

This course provides theoretical foundation as well as hands-on (lab-style) practice in computational approaches for processing natural language text. The course will have relevance to various disciplines in the humanities, sciences, computational, and technical fields. We will discuss problems that involve different components of the language system (such as meaning in context and linguistic structures). Students will additionally collaborate in teams on modeling and implementing natural language processing and digital text solutions. Students will program in Python and use a variety of relevant tools. Expected: Programming skills, demonstrated via coursework or instruction approval. Lecture 3 (Spring).

Information design for static, dynamic and interactive multimedia integrates content with visual indicators. Legibility and clear communication of information and direction is important to the success of any user interface design. This course integrates imagery, type, icons, actions, color, visual hierarchy, and information architecture as a foundation to design successful interactive experiences. (Prerequisites: NMDE-102 or NMDE-112 or equivalent course and student standing in NMDE-BFA or HCC-BS or DIGHSS-BS program.) Lab 3, Lecture 2 (Fall).

This course extends previous interactive design and development experience and skills to emphasize interactive design principles and development. The emphasis in this course will be on the creative process of planning and implementing an interactive project across multiple platforms. Students will concentrate on information architecture, interactive design, conceptual creation, digital assets, visual design and programming for interactions. (Prerequisites: NMDE-103 or ISTE-140 and NMDE-112 and NMDE-201 or equivalent courses.) Lab 3, Lecture 2 (Spring).

This course examines the user-centered and iterative design approaches to application and interactive development with a focus on interface design, testing and development across multiple devices. Students will research and investigate human factors, visual metaphors and prototype development to create effective and cutting edge user interfaces. (Prerequisites: NMDE-201 and NMDE-203 or equivalent courses.) Lab 3, Lecture 2 (Fall).