The central goal of the Game
Studies Certificate is to provide a framework of theoretical, and
practical skills that enable a student to analyze the major aesthetic,
structural, and social components associated with the emergence of
computer-based gaming and to use this analysis to inform experimental
and creative game-based productions. The productions should in turn
deepen understanding of theoretical issues. The combination of theory
and practice will prepare students for research in this field. The core
courses address this goal, and the learning outcomes are listed below.
After taking the core courses of this certificate the participants should be able to:
Identify and discuss major theories used to analyze games and gaming.
Identify and discuss the changing role of play and leisure in the 20 and 21st centuries.
Trace the history of video gaming and relate it to the much longer
history of game playing, visual, literary and social practices, and
technological innovation in which it is rooted.
Assess the many kinds of discourse that video games have provoked.
Analyze games through the lenses of ludology, narratology, literary, and performance theory.
Analyze video games and identify aesthetic and structural choices that lead to good game play.
Clearly present a game concept with visual material (storyboard, diagrams etc.).
Develop a succinct marketing pitch for for a game concept.
Create a realistic timetable for game production.
Work alone and/or in a production team to develop and test a computer-based game.
The
three core courses combine to form a theoretical and practical
perspective on Game Studies. The Game Studies Colloquium, is a
theoretical and historical investigation of video games. Designed Play
is a combined theory and practice course – focusing on the impact of
play and games on contemporary cultural production and design practice.
Game Design is a production course focused specifically on creating
video games.
