Game Design Practicum

Catalog description

The objective of the game design practicum is to provide students with hands on experience designing and developing 3D games as well as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) applications. Working in teams of three, students will gain experience brainstorming original game concepts, writing formal design documents and developing a fully functional prototype of their game/application. Technical features to be designed and implemented include novel game mechanics and/or user interaction models, game physics, character animation, game AI (i.e. movement control, path planning, decision making, etc.), sound effects and background music, 2D graphical user interface (GUI) design and multiplayer networking capabilities. State-of-the-art game engine middleware such as the Unity3D and Unreal game engines will be used to expose student to commercial-grade software, production methodologies and art asset pipelines. As a result of their game development efforts, students will learn first-hand about the creative process, design documentation, object-oriented software design and engineering, project management (including effective team collaboration and communication techniques), design iteration through user feedback and play-testing, and most importantly, what makes a game or virtual reality experience interesting and fun to play.