Game Art and Design Bachelor of Applied Science Degree Program

ART101: Drawing Bootcamp Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: None

The objective of Drawing Bootcamp is to teach students the tools necessary to enhance their drawing skills as well as teach a new way of seeing and looking at the world in preparation for a future in digital art. This will be achieved through a series of unique exercises, designed to develop skills in the standards of figure drawing, anatomy, perspective, and portraiture. The course focuses on drawing from life, using live models and inanimate objects, building artistic skills, honing visual acuity and hand-eye coordination, as well as developing an internal data bank of images and visual understanding. The final project for the course requires the students to produce a presentation quality portfolio of the best examples of their drawings from the course as well as a final composition using all of the concepts and lessons from the course.

ART103: Design Basics Lecture hours (27) Lab Contact hours (36) Semester Credit Units (3) Prerequisites: None

A career in the digital arts requires a working knowledge of art and art concepts, as well as familiarity with professional art terminology. Students will explore color theory, composition, figurative and conceptual sculpture, design, painting, and other traditional media, art history, and museum studies. The course culminates in a student art gallery exhibition of final projects. Concepts covered in class will inform students’ future work in both 3D and 2D digital art and design.

ART104: Concept and Imaging Lecture hours (27) Lab Contact hours (36) Semester Credit Units (3) Prerequisites: CC114 Living in a Media World 2, ART101 Drawing Boot camp, and ART103 Design Basics

This course builds on the skills learned in the fine arts courses and takes them into the digital realm by using Adobe Photoshop as a digital paint medium. Students will focus on composition, value study and perspective. We will look at specific techniques in Adobe Photoshop for creating color images, and custom brushes. Students will be expected to apply concepts learned from Drawing Bootcamp and Design Basics when creating their paintings. These painting will be done using the Wacom tablet and pen. From this course, students will strengthen their fundamental painting skills while gaining a strong foundation in Adobe Photoshop.

AVE203: Introduction to Animation Lecture hours (27) Lab Contact hours (36) Semester Credit Units (3) Prerequisites: ART101 Drawing Boot Camp

In this class, students will explore and create assignments covering the 12 Principles of Animation. Projects such as a bouncing ball, a walk cycle, a flap cycle, and a final project will allow students to learn principles such as timing, squash and stretch, posing and more. These projects will be created using pencil and paper, then scanned into the computer for timing using a timeline animation package called DigiCel Flipbook. Class lectures focus on history and application of the 12 Principles of Animation. Students will conclude the class by designing a complete animation piece to include in their portfolio.

GAD201: User Interface Design Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: None

The design of a digital User Interface is a crucial element of any interactive environment. This class covers the theories and concepts behind good interface design in a broad sense ‚Äì for educational applications, for business applications, and for web applications. Students will study source material from usability tests and studies that exist for interactive industries, and research the emerging studies for interactive game interfaces. Students will be tasked with designing individual interfaces for an instructional element, followed by individual interfaces for an in-game element (i.e. “choose your vehicle/character/level&drquo;, or an inventory). The course will conclude with a group project for the final week of instruction, which will involve a complete revamping of an existing user interface for an established product.

AVE201: Compositing 1 Lecture hours (27) Lab Contact hours (36) Semester Credit Units (3) Prerequisites: ART103 Design Basics and ART101 Drawing Boot Camp

Compositing is the art and science of manipulating and combining different photographs together to create one seamless image. In this course the students will learn the fundamental approaches to compositing with digital photography. Students will learn to use digital SLR cameras, digital darkroom techniques, creatively manage transparency, and develop an understanding of applied lighting and perspective. These skills are implemented along with image manipulation strategies to create a photographically “impossible&drquo; composition. In the second half of the course, the students will extend these compositing concepts into time-based media using track mattes, dynamic systems, and distortion effects. For their final project, students will composite a moving digital matte painting.

AVE202: 3D Modeling 1 Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: ART101 Drawing Boot Camp

In 3D Modeling 1 students examine 3D modeling techniques, terminology and methods. Students learn basic 3D modeling by using specific toolsets with an emphasis on modeling efficiently and correctly. Students will explore methods of modifying and deforming geometry, and apply skills to architecture, landscapes, vehicles and characters.

AVE204: Animation 1 Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: AVE202 3D Modeling 1 and AVE203 Introduction to Animation

In Animation 1, students are presented with the fundamentals of animating in a 3D environment. Students will explore the principles used in traditional cartoon animation, and how they affect modern digital animation techniques used in current industries. Students will learn how to pre-visualize an animation before producing it, and then move through a series of basic digital animation techniques to realize the final product. Animation skills will be developed through animating objects and infusing them with human characteristics, including a realistic walk cycle, action studies, lip synchronization, and a final acting scene.

GAD301: History of Games Lecture hours (27) Lab Contact hours (36) Semester Credit Units (3) Prerequisites: None

Games have been played throughout human history. An appreciation that the computer generated games of today are part of a continuing history is essential for a comprehensive knowledge of the subject. Students will learn and play ancient games, and look at how games have played a role in people’s lives throughout history through the present. Students will learn about game theory and will create game projects that use paper, pieces, dice and other non-digital media to realize originated gameplay mechanics.

AVE205: Texture and Lighting 1 Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: AVE202 3D Modeling 1

This course introduces the fundamental concepts, terminology and techniques of computer-generated 3D texturing and lighting. Students will create and apply textures to 3D objects, as well as work with concepts and techniques that will be used to create realistic objects and scenes. Students will explore the use of Photoshop and other software tools to create texture sources, and will work to create various real-world lighting effects, textures, texture maps and lighting schemes for 3D objects.

GAD412: Character Rigging Lecture hours (27) Lab Contact hours (36) Semester Credit Units (3) Prerequisites: GAD306 Modeling for Games

This course will explain and teach the skills required for the creation of a character rig, ready for animation. Technical Direction or Character Setup, as it’s more specific name applies to the class, is the intermediate stage that exists between Modeling and Animation. To animate a finished character model, it is first necessary to build a "puppet" control interface to expedite the animation process. The course breaks this process down into two distinct stages. Rigging and Skinning. Students will learn the process of using simple and logical control methods, and using nurb curves to "drive" a Maya skeleton. From there, they will be introduced to skinning and deformation, and another "bind" skeleton will be created for the purpose of realistic skin and muscle effects. A facial interface and custom UI will be created, and all the elements will come together at the end of the course to produce a final character rig. Students will also learn how to rig things such as vehicles or background objects to be brought into the Game Engine. Students will also use exporter and building scripts as well as altering and creating scripts to get these assets into the game.

GAD302: Game Production 1 Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: AVE205 Texture and Lighting 1

Students will learn the process of making a game level by forming teams and designing level concepts, specific looks and textures, and virtual floor plans. Groups will build levels in 3D and add textures, lighting, and interactivity to make it function effectively inside of a game engine. The final critique is done inside the game, where the students can actually explore each other’s work as a character within the game.

GAD401: Texture and Lighting for Games Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: GAD306 Modeling for Games

This class will focus on texture and lighting issues unique to games. Students will have to work within predefined texture resolution allowances and will have to “bake in&drquo; some of the lighting into their textures. This class will address normal mapping and other high end, real time effects such as reflections and particle effects. The models created in Modeling for Games will all be textured in this course. Students will also be introduced to certain effects in games using the particle editor of the Unreal Engine.

GAD303: Game Production 2 Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: GAD302: Game Production 1

Continuing work on levels started in Game Production 1, student groups will complete an entire conversion of a game, including characters, vehicles and custom scripts. Groups will customize audio, and test and optimize the game levels for final production.

GAD414: Animation for Games Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: GAD412 Character Rigging

This class focuses on animation sequences typically needed for games - walk cycles, run cycles, falls and hits. Students will create the animation assets for the game they design in Advanced Game Production. Students will also work with the editor and learn how to adjust animations from within the game engine for characters, vehicles and other background objects.

GAD304: Advanced Game Production Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: GAD303: Game Production 2

This course facilitates a full-scale pipeline experience that builds on the skills learned in Game Production 1 and 2. Students will establish teams which will develop a pre-production package for the game they will create for the remainder of the program. The class will begin by studying existing levels and discussing what makes them successful. Students collect reference materials, including photographs, topography, textures, and historic background using the learning resource center. Groups will create a back-story for the world and all of the characters in the game. The final project for this class will include character profiles that utilize five point turns, maps, blueprints of levels, color palettes, final goals, and prop designs.

GAD306 Modeling for Games Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: GAD304 Advanced Game Production

This class explores low-polygon models of characters, items, vehicles, and environments with the use of tiled textures in mind. Subsequent classes move on to high-polygon modeling techniques for normal map generation. The class objective is to create the model assets based on the designs created in Advanced Game Production, and to ensure student mastery with Maya, 3D Studio Max, and related software.

GAD315 Architectural Design and Modeling Lecture hours (27) Lab Contact hours (36) Semester Credit Units (3) Prerequisites: GAD303 Game Production 2

Students study architectural design and history to create game environments that are historically accurate and based on existing design theories and styles. Field trips will be taken around the area in order to effectively study architecture and gather reference. Students will be assessed on their knowledge and vocabulary of architectural history through projects and written papers. They will create models that emulate a specific style in addition to a model of their own design.

AVE401: Motion Studies Lecture hours (27) Lab Contact hours (36) Semester Credit Units (3) Prerequisites: GAD412 Character Rigging

This course teaches students storytelling through the medium of motion capture animation. After developing a 20-30 second story arc, students will learn Laban acting technique. Performances will then be ’digitized’ via the Vicon motion-capture system. MotionBuilder is then used to apply the performances to 3D characters students have created in prior classes. The final products of this course are imported into Maya where scenes will be lit and rendered.

GAD416 Final Game Project 1 Lecture hours (36) Lab Contact hours (48) Semester Credit Units (4) Prerequisites: GAD414 Animation for games

In this class students will assemble all of the assets they have been creating since completing Advanced Game Production. Assets will be placed into the game engine by maximizing “hands-on&drquo; application time during lab. Students will create an original playable game that uses assets that have been created by a student on their team. This course will help students to synthesize all of their developed skills gained in previous courses into a single, original game. The final game will be tested, refined, debugged and will have the audio portion added to it in Final Project 2.

GAD407 Final Game Project 2 Lecture hours (27) Lab Contact hours (36) Semester Credit Units (3) Prerequisites: GAD416 Final Game Project 1

Through a combination of intensive lab time and strategically designed lectures, this class will guide students through the testing and refining of their game level created in Final Game Project 1. Students will also create a demo reel of the assets they personally created in the playable game, as well as a personal portfolio website containing the highlights of their work and resume.

GAD418 Final Content Lecture hours (27) Lab Contact hours (36) Semester Credit Units (3) Prerequisites: GAD416 Final Game Project 1

The primary focus of this course is to enhance the students’ existing work. The instructor will assume the role of Art Director and assign goals and deadlines for deliverables to each student. Student work is critiqued by instructors and any industry professionals available at the time of the course. Students are expected to affect changes in their work based on feedback received by faculty members and industry professionals (when available) in order to create more polished demo reels. Students will also be exposed to industry software and techniques including version tracking and an optional assignment of bug tracking and Q&A. Students will finish the course with a refined reel appropriate for use in their job search.

Top