The Art and Science of Virtual Worlds

Catalog description

GAME 180N is a multidisciplinary course which introduces students to the theories, concepts, and technologies behind virtual worlds. This course will focus on the myriad ways that narrative arts and physical sciences relate to the development of technologically mediated virtual worlds. Designing the physical and narrative voyages of avatars through virtual worlds is necessarily a team-centered undertaking requiring recursive editing from a macroscopic and microscopic point of view to refocus project goals and deliverables. Besides learning the requisite computing and technical skills involved in virtual world development, students enrolled in this course will produce a world design proposal, and storyboards, interactive fiction graphics, or world maps for their virtual world; in this way, they will explore some of the ways that creative writing, particularly interactive fiction and storytelling techniques drawn from non-VR and VR gaming contribute to the planning, design, and execution of virtual worlds. Students will also learn about the basic science behind virtual world concepts such as the physical environment, physical processes (e.g. kinematics, motion), and light; ultimately, they will produce an immersive time-space experience in their proposed world and reflect on the complexity of integrating design elements in a way that creates a satisfying immersive experience. The objectives of the course include: (1) students will work in teams to design a proposed virtual world using world making principles found in interactive fiction narratology and physical principles that embody the avatar and allow it to move in a virtual world environment; (2) students will work in teams to construct a virtual scene, movement in time/space, from that world using computer software tools and mediated through virtual reality hardware; (3) students will be able to discuss developing immersive technology and applications of virtual worlds in business, society, and academia; (4) students will analyze and critique the virtual world designs of other student teams; (5) students will demonstrate comprehension of interactive fiction scene and level structures and world maps as they relate to designing the voyage of the avatar in a virtual world; and (6) students will demonstrate comprehension of physical principles (e.g. kinematics, light) as they apply to virtual worlds. In addition to directed readings, discussions, and quizzes in computing, narrative arts, and physics (related to concepts inherent in virtual worlds), the course will incorporate hands-on lab exercises and online discussions. A semester-long team project will be the primary means of student evaluation. During this semester-long team project students will design and create their own virtual environment(s) and character(s) using software tools and accepted world design principles. Students will apply a variety of computing concepts in the world creation, including some combination of programming, 360-degree video, and digital imagery. The course will culminate in the oral and visual presentation of their creative and technological works. The semester-long team project will be heavily integrated into the in-class experience and assessed using rubrics that draw on examples and assignment descriptions provided to students.