NEW!

Online Game Design Certificate Program

Certificate programs present a great option for adults to enhance their professional portfolios or enter a new field. Becker College´s new online Game Design Certificate Program is aimed at professionals with a degree in computer science, information technology, or art who seek entre into the growing digital games industry. Students will finish with the skills they need to get in and start creating games.

Courses include:

History of Game Development

This course covers the history and evolution of electronic game development, focusing on design elements, technical innovations, societal influence, and the impact of marketing. The course will dissect the roles of programmers, designers, artists, and writers, as well as provide an overview of various software and hardware developments for the gaming industry. Students will gain a global and historic view of the interactive entertainment field and its origins.

Introduction to Game Design

This course introduces the various aspects of game design for those intending to work as part of management, production, and/or design teams. The student will begin with an analysis of gaming, with consideration of various platforms, game genres, playability, objectives, rule dynamics, and overall quality. Further, the student will learn the elements of production including game conceptualization, story development, and interface, character, and soundtrack and level design.

Computer Illustration for Game Design

This course covers the creation and implementation of computer graphics within the framework of multimedia and game design. Students will learn how to use computer graphic software such as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop to render image files for use in the digital medium. Each phase of graphic creation will be considered, including digitizing a base image, creating and manipulating a digital graphic directly within one of the software packages, importing and exporting between programs, and outputting to any one of various suitable graphic formats. Emphasis will be given to designing graphics for digital video, animation, multimedia design, online development, and game production.

3D Modeling

This course covers the principles and techniques involved in creating three-dimensional media. Students will learn the step-by-step process of 3D graphics including modeling with NURBs, polygons, and subdivisions using sophisticated 3D software such as Maya. They will also acquire skills in texture design and UV Mapping skills, lighting, scene setup, and rendering.

3D Animation

This course covers the techniques involved in animating 3D models in 3D scenes utilizing sophisticated software such as Maya. Students will learn the process of creating and building a 3D scene from objects, lighting placement, and camera manipulation. Furthermore, the animation of characters including model skeleton building, rigging, and key frame animation will be covered in detail.

Senior Game Project I

This senior-level seminar is flexible in both format and content due to the ever-advancing technology within the field of game design and represents the culmination of the student’s bachelor of arts in game design degree experience. Working with the professor, students will select an appropriate topic for the design of an original interactive gaming project that will result in a presentation of associated development stages and final program. The thesis work will allow students to produce an advanced, cohesive project based on their accumulated course work within the major and further focused research and development for this seminar. It is intended to simulate the real-world experience of the game project developer/designer.

Game Production and Prototyping

This course teaches the fundamental principles and strategies of game production and prototyping, allowing the student to assume the role of project producer. Students will learn the core elements of game assembly, project management, development tracking and troubleshooting. They will become familiar with the procedures necessary for successful game development, from the conception stage and on through the implementation stage, covering the various technologies prevalent in the game design industry. Production focus will be on prototyping, planning, implementation, testing, and tracking across financial and technological constraints.

Prerequisites:

Techniques of Raster Imaging

This course introduces the student to the process of creating and designing with Raster images using Adobe Photoshop. Students will learn the scanning process and the importance of file sizes and resolution. The course focus will be on preparing photographic images for print and web applications and the different needs of each medium. Students will learn to adjust color, work in layers, create masks, use brushes and filters and appropriate color management for print (CMYK) and web (RGB).