UCCS Bachelor of Innovation Degree in Game Design and Development (GDD)

Do you like playing computer games? Have you ever wanted to build your own games, but you know there's a whole lot to learn? Have we got a deal for you!

In the Fall 2005 semester, an interdisciplinary team of faculty formed the Game Design and Development Program Committee to develop a proposal for a Bachelor’s degree in Game Design and Development. This degree program was officially approved by the Colorado Regents on November 2, so we'll start offering this degree program in Fall 2007.

We recently decided to fold the Game Design and Development degree into a larger proposed family of degrees called the Bachelor of Innovation. A Bachelor of Innovation in Game Design and Development will provide students with the technical knowledge needed for success in this field while also addressing numerous business issues like intellectual property, marketing, and so on. This business knowledge should prove invaluable to our graduating students whether they pursue jobs at large game companies, decide to form their own companies instead, or pursue some other career path in this area.

For more information about the proposed degree program, click here.

CS 110, Problem Solving through Game Creation In Fall 2003, Dr. Chamillard developed and taught a freshman-level course in which we create 2D and 3D games using drag-and-drop tools; almost no programming is required in the course. The course is strongly recommended for computer science majors, but it’s open to everyone. It’s also a required course for the Bachelor of Innovation in Game Design and Development discussed here. We’ve offered this course every fall semester since the initial offering in Fall 2003. For more information about this course, click here.

A game made with The Games Factory

Example Semester

Wondering what a semester in the Bachelor of Innovation in Game Design and Development program looks like? Here is an example of one possible Fall semester, sophomore level.

GDD 220                 Data Structures for Game Developers

INOV 201                Innovation Team, Reporting & Analysis (Innovation Core)

INOV 210                Technical Writing, Proposals and Presentations (Innovation Core)

MUS 215                 The Computer in Music

VA 104                    Beginning Drawing

Cross-Discipline Core Course

Employment Opportunities In 2004, sales in the computer game industry surpassed Hollywood box-office receipts for the first time. Also in 2004, Halo 2 had over $125M in sales on the first day it was available. A search on Gamasutra's job site (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/jobs_display.php) yielded 365 game-related job opportunities posted in November 2005 alone. Employment at Electronic Arts, the No. 1 game maker, has almost doubled since 2000, with the number of employees actually creating games almost tripling in the same time period. Electronic Arts has also started sponsoring academic programs in game design and development programs because "... the students are starting to come out of school immediately able to contribute to real projects, which is what we need ... there is still not as much talent as there is opportunity."(NY Times)

A game made with FPS Creator

We also note that the Colorado Game Developers Association lists 31 companies in Colorado that engage in game development activities (http://www.coloradogamedev.org/companies.php). Even those Game Design and Development graduates who choose to stay in Colorado will have an opportunity to join an existing local game developer or, in some cases, form their own game development company.

A game made with C++ and DirectX

It's also important to note that companies that build games designed for entertainment aren't the only employment possibility for graduating Game Design and Development students who decide to work in the game industry. Serious games - those that are designed to teach as well as entertain, like simulation and training games, educational games, games for healthcare, and so on - are also a fast-growing game-related domain. Employment in this area of game development is also a possibility for graduating Game Design and Development students. Game design and development is clearly a viable career choice, and the demand for effective game developers is likely to continue experiencing a significant growth for the foreseeable future. Even for those students who decide to pursue career options outside the game industry, the critical thinking and information management and manipulation skills that they learn in this program will also serve them well in other careers (NY Times).

High School Presentations

During the Spring 2006 semester, Dr. Chamillard visited Colorado high schools to present information about the Game Design and Development activities going on at UCCS. Click here to find out more about presentation options.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments about the UCCS game design and development courses or programs, please feel free to contact me.

Dr. Tim Chamillard

Chair, Game Design and Development Program Committee

Assistant Professor of Computer Science

chamillard@cs.uccs.edu

(719) 262-3150