GAME TIME

TCNJ to Create Video Game Design Courses

Video game design is quickly becoming a popular topic of scholarly study, as formal preparation increasingly becomes a necessary requirement in order to enter this booming industry. Programs and courses in the subject have already been established at such highprofile universities as Carnegie Mellon, the University of Southern California, MIT and Stanford.

However,TCNJ is not far behind. With the help of an $80,000 unrestricted grant from Microsoft, a group of professors at the College is developing a suite of advanced gamedesign courses that will allow for the interdisciplinary collaboration of students and faculty members from six majors and three of the College's seven schools.The grant will also allow for the purchase of the top-of-the-line hardware and software programs necessary to create the new curricula.

Originally submitted in December 2004, Ursula Wolz, computer science professor and primary investigator for the grant, received word via e-mail in mid-February that her team's proposal was one of three selected from more than 40 applicants to the Microsoft Research Computer Gaming Curriculum RFP. Rounding out the winners circle were proposals from Northwestern University and Rochester Institute of Technology.

The objective of the Computer Gaming Curriculum RFP was to create a set of innovative and reusable game development curricula, with courses that will enhance computer science and game-design programs through the introduction of video gaming concepts, such as graphics, audio production, performance management, and classic computer science topics relevant to game development.

The interdisciplinary approach necessary for game design was a perfect fit for the College's team, several of whom have already participated in the development of the Interactive Multimedia (IMM) Program that was officially launched in 2003.

One of the College's newest majors and the only one of its kind in the country, IMM targets students who are talented across disciplines, emphasizing interaction and collaboration among the three areas of digital media, interactive computing and professional writing. Currently, IMM prepares students for careers in diverse fields such as Web design and production, technical writing, instructional technology, and print, online, broadcast and interactive media. The game design curriculum will employ a similar structure of interdisciplinary collaboration, one to which Wolz attributes the proposal's success. "The details of the proposal were written by experts in each particular field," she said. "Our proposal had a tremendous amount of credibility and energy."

The suggested suite of four courses includes networked artificial intelligence, visual media, auditory media, and non-linear storytelling. The course series offers a vehicle through which students from a wide variety of academic backgrounds can collaborate and work in a small-scale setting that mimics the environment for production in the real world gaming industry. According to the proposal, students will register for an advanced course in their area of expertise, but will meet in course sections with students across disciplines. English majors will create a storyline, and music majors will learn what it takes to create a musical score for a video game. Simultaneously, they will work with digital arts majors in the production of graphics and assist the computer science majors in the final programming of all the components. Students will complete a common core of material on game design and architecture, culminating in the development of a threedimensional virtual reality multi-player video game. Through this process, students will not only expand on their own skills and areas of expertise as they pertain to game design, but will come away with an appreciation of the essential components of game design that extend beyond their individual areas of focus. This summer,Wolz's team will develop the courses, with the plan to deliver draft course curricula by September and offer a pilot program during the 2005-06 academic year.

Team members include Anita Allyn, associate professor of art and founder of the digital arts program; Terry Byrne, chair of the communications studies department; Jikai Li, assistant professor of computer science; Miroslav Martinovic, associate professor of computer science; Robert McMahan, associate professor of music; Kim Pearson, assistant professor of English and founder of IMM; Philip Sanders, associate professor of art and coordinator of IMM; and James Lentini, dean of the School of Art, Media and Music.

"This is a compelling way for both professors and students to think about their own discipline," Wolz said."We're all very excited about the possibilities."

Return to TCNJ update Home