Game Development Foundations Program

    This course is about putting ideas into lived experience.  Students have spent much of their time at TWU learning about ideas in a somewhat abstract way.  Before entering the world of professional employment, we want them to have the opportunity to take the excellent ideas that they have learned and put them into practice in an environment that prepares them for what they will quite possibly be doing for the rest of their lives.

    The objective of this capstone program is to go through the entire process of developing a computer game from the conception of an original game idea, through design, implementation, composition of original music and art, to deployment and marketing. For this we require a multidisciplinary team of programmers, artists, writers, designers, marketers, musicians, testers, and project managers.

    In this course, students will have the opportunity to experience the following:

    1. Leadership in collaborative settings: this is an opportunity to do a project with other students rather than as individuals.  Group work projects in a typical class give some feeling of what it means to collaborate, but this will be a major project that requires effective teamwork, and effective teamwork requires self-motivated leadership.
    2. Interdisciplinary work: most projects in life are not neatly segmented into different disciplines.  Working on a computer game will encourage students to look beyond the artificial barriers the academy puts up between different subjects.
    3. Creating a finished, marketable product and piece of art: much university work has an unfinished feel to it—like the real stuff is yet to come.  This class provides the opportunity to leave TWU feeling that students have accomplished a significant, finished achievement.
    4. Increasing marketable skills: this class will not be an automatic entrée into the established game industry, but it will provide students with demonstrable evidence that they have valuable skills that can contribute to many different kinds of careers (including those in the game industry!).  If they were interested in small business or independent media production, it would be hard for them to find a better class than this.
    5. Critical self-examination: this class will be a perfect environment for students to gain a deeper understanding of their pragmatic abilities and their commitment to their worldview.  We wish to encourage regular self-evaluation, something that will hopefully be of great value as they leave TWU.
    6. Integration of beliefs and work: the Christian worldview TWU has encouraged students to grow may have seemed abstract at times.  This project will require them to wrestle with the condition they will face for the rest of their careers: how do I put my beliefs into action? 


    who's blogging?

    Instructors/Executive Producers

     

    Alma Barranco-Mendoza
    Kevin Schut
    Sean Ho

     

     

     

     

    Students/Game Development Team

     

    Alenka Kyslik
    Andrew Chell
    Clayton Weme
    Daniel Giesbrecht
    Heather Cerny
    Ian Trick
    Joy Roodnick
    Kelsey Anderson
    Kenny Laing
    Kevin Vainio
    Matt Chell
    Paul Lindemulder
    Shua Her
    Steven Swab
    Tabitha Ewert
    Tyler De Jong
    Vincent Clements

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