Das Capitolin
07-11-2006, 05:06 PM
Game on: UCSC will offer video game design major this fall
By Matt King
Sentinel staff writer
SANTA CRUZ — UC Santa Cruz will offer a major in computer game design this fall, making it the first school in the UC system to offer such a program, the campus announced Monday.
The major, which will culminate with a bachelor's degree in computer science, will lead students through the technical, artistic and narrative elements of interactive games.
"Millions now play massively multi-player online games, which constitute a new cultural force," said Warren Sack, assistant professor of film and digital media at UCSC. "Digital media courses will provide students with the tools they need to understand this cultural transformation."
In other words, the gaming industry is hot, and the new major is a way to attract more students to the school's computer science department. The possibility generated a lot of excitement on campus, said department chairman Ira Pohl.
"Students lobbied very vigorously," Pohl said. "We wouldn't have gone ahead with if we didn't think it is going to bring quite a few motivated students."
To prepare for the new major, UCSC is designing a new computer lab and bringing in a nationally known game design professor, Michael Mateas.
Mateas' most recent creation, a game called 'Facade,' uses the latest in artificial intelligence to drive an interactive drama in which the player must help a couple save their crumbling marriage.
Read more here: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/July/11/local/stories/02local.htm
By Matt King
Sentinel staff writer
SANTA CRUZ — UC Santa Cruz will offer a major in computer game design this fall, making it the first school in the UC system to offer such a program, the campus announced Monday.
The major, which will culminate with a bachelor's degree in computer science, will lead students through the technical, artistic and narrative elements of interactive games.
"Millions now play massively multi-player online games, which constitute a new cultural force," said Warren Sack, assistant professor of film and digital media at UCSC. "Digital media courses will provide students with the tools they need to understand this cultural transformation."
In other words, the gaming industry is hot, and the new major is a way to attract more students to the school's computer science department. The possibility generated a lot of excitement on campus, said department chairman Ira Pohl.
"Students lobbied very vigorously," Pohl said. "We wouldn't have gone ahead with if we didn't think it is going to bring quite a few motivated students."
To prepare for the new major, UCSC is designing a new computer lab and bringing in a nationally known game design professor, Michael Mateas.
Mateas' most recent creation, a game called 'Facade,' uses the latest in artificial intelligence to drive an interactive drama in which the player must help a couple save their crumbling marriage.
Read more here: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/July/11/local/stories/02local.htm