Indie and Art Game Design

Catalog description

AAA video games are massive endeavors that require an enormous budget and an army of workers with highly specialized skills to produce. Despite the huge investment and the fierce competition for gamers -- or perhaps because of it -- many mainstream commercial games are uninspired, lacking distinctive artistic styles, engaging narratives or original gameplay. In contrast, indie and art games are much smaller affairs. One person or a small team develops the idea, creates the assets and programs the game, often designing it for a niche audience. The best indie and art games provide uniquely engaging experiences for players. They are personal expressions: compelling, thought-provoking and beautiful. In this course, students will work individually to create an original indie or art game using GameMaker Studio. Class discussions and demonstrations will help students build fluency in the conceptual frameworks, aesthetics and contemporary practices associated with indie and art games. Students will build skills in pixel art drawing and animation, "chiptune" audio composition, UI/UX design and programming. The course culminates in a completed game that is shared with the CWRU community in a custom arcade cabinet. Students with comparable student art experience (determined by the instructor) can request to override the requisite. Prereq or Coreq: ARTS 101 or ARTS 106 or ARTS 150 .