Schedule of Classes

Principles of interactive design for digital devices. Emphasis is on user interfaces and experiences.

Introduction to the use of scripting languages in a web-based environment.

Game industry terminology, culture, and history. Current employee roles and responsibilities in the game industry, including programmers, artists, marketing, and sales. Required skills and knowledge for these roles. Game development and distribution models. Publisher/developer relationships.

Presentations by faculty, alumni, and other professionals in the field allow students to make connections serving their academic and professional pursuits. Students will also engage in additional career development activities including portfolio creation, resum authoring, career research, networking, and engagement in public festivals and presentations of their works. Repeatable for up to a maximum of 8 credit hours. Crosslisted with IM 426.

Art and techniques of hand-drawn animation. Immersion in a variety of techniques exploring founding principles of animation, storytelling, drawing, and design.

Art and techniques of computer-based 2D animation, motion graphics, and compositing. Study of various digital animation techniques using multiple applications.

Introduction to user-centered design based upon usability research and testing. Topics include defining audiences, heuristic evaluations, and effective reporting.

Gameplay, storytelling, challenges, interface and information design, and world interaction. Construction of experiences, including rule design, play mechanics, game balancing, social game interaction, and the integration of interactive media. Playtesting and game design documentation.

Interactive game production using advanced development tools. Game production lifecycle and workflow pipeline. Group dynamics and communication skills. Integration and Design and development documentation.

Further explorations of the art and techniques of 3D computer animaMon. Emphasis on traditional principles of animation in addition to camera manipulation, rigging, and character animation core mechanics including walk cycles, expressions, and lip sync.

A project-oriented overview of the tools and techniques used in the creation of three-dimensional art for video games.

Introduction to building virtual environments and related field research. Philosophic and practical rationales for social virtual worlds. Virtual environment planning, layout, and implementation. Tools for designing and coding presence and interactivity. Avatars, space, terra forming, accessories, traffic and interaction patterns, social activities, communities. Monetization of virtual environments and presence. Fundamentals of qualitative field research methods in online virtual worlds.

Examines scholarly concepts, theories, and practices about human communication, mass media, and computational digital technologies. Develops conceptual foundations derived from the cultural and commercial dimensions of media histories, technological innovation, professional practice, and contemporary/everyday phenomena. Provides increased and improved technical vocabularies and develops students' critical examinations of taken-for-granted media phenomena. Posits informed speculations concerning the future of media with particular attention to the roles of citizens, consumers, and producers. Applies intensive writing skills combining reading, study, and discussion with analysis and thinking via diverse written assignments.

A studio course exploring typography and visual layout principles of interactive website design. Survey of theory, history, and methods of web design solutions. Discussion of transitional strategies in response to developing technologies. Cross-listed as ART 365.

Application of Interactive game production techniques. Emphasis on refining and developing art, sound, and game mechanics as well as marketing and game release.

Capstone course for students in Animation and Visual Effects and Web and Application Design concentrations. Experiential, project-based course focusing on problems and solutions of interactive authoring and human interface design.

Course is repeatable for up to a maximum of 8 credit hours. Crosslisted with IM 226.

Advanced production processes and techniques for creating an original animated short.

Topics course, with varying subjects, examining contemporary issues and problems in new media theory and the interactive media environment. Current topic/title in current schedule of classes. May be repeated three times under different topics.

Theoretical and practical sound design. Music composition, field sound recording, studio tracking, aesthetic analysis of music, electronic sound generation. Digital game technologies, 3D sound processing and generative audio structures. Mixing in non-linear environments and final mastering. Cross-listed with IM558, CIS458, CIS558.

Advanced, project-based course in Game Design and Development. Team-based, end-to-end, interactive game drawn from areas of expertise in the department, e.g., serious games, games for entertainment, virtual reality, augmented reality, mobile computing, design tools.

Individual scholarly research or advanced creative production investigating aspects of interactive media. May be repeated under different topics for a maximum of six hours. Requires application available from department chair or faculty.

Topics of special interest which may vary each time course is offered. May be repeated under different topics for a maximum of 9 hours credit. Topic and prerequisites stated in current Schedule of Classes. Only three hours may be applied toward IM specialization requirement.