Come Game Jam with us and make your ideas come to life, and share with your friends!
If you play games, chances are you've thought about creating them yourself. So come in and create a game from scratch using industry-standard tools and see if you like it! There are careers in art, programming, design, and business in the video game industry, which is bigger than the music, sports, or movie industry and is currently seeing huge growth in sales as entertainment focuses on esports and home entertainment.
By the end of this course, you will have created a virtual reality game as a portfolio piece for your future college applications and get feedback on your search. If you have a portfolio already, awesome! if you're just getting started and are thinking "OMG where do I even start?," that's ok, we can help get you on the right track. Whether it's finding opportunities at video game companies that are looking for play-testers or making a series of game prototypes, let's figure it out together!
In this course, students will be able to:
- Produce a video game prototype
- Analyze a video game and understand terminology applied in the gaming world
- Explain a list of general functions and elements which make up a video game
- Achieve familiarity with the principles, terminology, procedures, and practices of game design and production
- Provide peer assessments and constructive feedback to fellow students
- Design the game mechanics for a video game
- Design and map level progression for a video game
Sessions Offered
Session 4: July 14 - July 20
Session 5: July 21 - July 27
Course Fees
Format
Residential, Non-Credit
Related Courses
This class is meant to be immersive and students will experience:
- Did you know that Flappy Bird was made in a couple of days? There are games that are beautiful, games that are fun, and games that make you want to scream. Our job is to enable you to develop your own "Work of Game" and focus on something you would want to play yourself.
- The game industry is huge! We find out what companies and career paths exist in the industry by investigating portfolios from developers of Halo, Assassins Creed, and Call of Duty. We also take a look at portfolios from students graduating with a 4-year degree, so that you can find a benchmark for "what you'll need to be able to learn"
- You can't make something if you don't understand it! Part of a Game Designer's job is to examine games critically, so we will play some short web games and analyze their content.
Schedule at a Glance
7am – 9am: Breakfast
9am – 12pm: Class
12pm – 1:30: Lunch
1:30pm – 4pm: Class or Workshop
2:40pm – 4:45pm: Closing Ceremony on Friday
5pm – 7pm: Dinner
7pm – 9pm: Social Programming
10:30pm: Room Checks
Meet the Professor
Professor Kenneth Thompson
Ken worked in the game industry for eight years as a Game Designer and Lead Designer before coming to the University of Connecticut. His responsibilities included directing game projects from start to finish, programming unique scenarios using game development tools, and working with publishers such as SEGA, Electronic Arts, and Activision. He has worked with Blockbuster franchises such as Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, Madagascar, Shrek, and over a dozen others. His work in the video game industry has received Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Award for best video game, Indie Game of the Year, and Innovation Awards from industry publications. He now works on serious and entertainment games with grants through the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and The National Institute of Health.
Ken Thompson’s Faculty Page: https://dmd.uconn.edu/person/kenneth-thompson/
And website: http://gamedevprofessor.com/
