Game Design and Development (GDD), BI™

The Bachelor of Innovation™ in Game Design and Development (GDD) is a new degree within the Bachelor of Innovation family. It is a rigorous technical curriculum based heavily on computer science topics with important cross-disciplinary breadth in art and music. The program as a whole will let students build the foundational knowledge and develop the skills necessary to pursue employment in the games industry. In addition to games for entertainment, this industry includes Serious Games (games designed for simulation and training, educational games, games for health care, and so on) and Casual Games (small, short games played in a Web browser or on a cell phone, for example).

The Bachelor of Innovation family requires an innovation core, a cross-disciplinary core, and a set of general education courses in addition to the rigorous technical degree. The combination of the GDD-specific course work and the core Bachelor of Innovation™ topics and experiences will position students to pursue a career at a traditional entertainment game development company; join a company that develops or utilizes Serious Games; from a new small company to develop Casual Games; or use the critical thinking, design, and teaming skills developed throughout the curriculum to pursue employment outside the games industry.

Degree Requirements

The Bachelor of Innovation in Game Design and Development degree requires the following:

Completion of at least 120 credit hours
A minimum 2.0 grade point average in all computer science courses, GDD courses, and courses taken at the University of Colorado.

Course Requirements

The Courses for the Degree are as Follows:

Innovation Core (27 semester hours)
Cross-discipline Core (21 semester hours)
Creative Communication Core, Business Core,
or Globalization Core, outlined as follows:

Note:

GDD students who select the Business Core or Globalization Core are required to take VA 101, VA 104, and VA 210 as free electives.

Mathematics

(7 semester hours)

Science

(10 semester hours)

English

(3 semester hours)

ENGL 131 - Rhetoric and Writing I: Academic Reading and Analytical Writing

Remaining hours

Selected from classes below:

Biology, Chemistry, Geography and Environmental Studies, Geology, and Physics and Energy Science.

GDD Core (30 Semester Hours)

GDD Concentration Requirements (15 Semester Hours)

Students select 15 hours of concentration courses related to game design and development from the table below. We believe that there will be a significant number of students interested in opportunities for even deeper exploration of GDD topics than undergraduate courses provide; the table below also includes a variety of graduate-level courses that are regularly taken by undergraduates at UCCS.

Free Electives (7 Semester Hours)

Students select 7 hours of free elective courses from all the courses offered at UCCS.

The Bachelor of Innovation students are required to participate in research/innovation projects. Most of these will be industry-sponsored projects. Students employed full-time who wish to pursue a degree in this program will be required to sign IP agreements and have such agreements executed by their employer, or arrange for their employer to be one of the industry-sponsored projects.

Sample Schedule

Freshman Year

Fall Semester (15 Semester Hours)

Free Elective (2 credits)

Spring Semester (14 Semester Hours)

Sophomore Year

Fall Semester (16 Semester Hours)

Spring Semester (16 Semester Hours)

Junior Year

Fall Semester (16 Semester Hours)

GDD Concentration Course (3 credits)
Natural Science Elective (3 credits)

Spring Semester (15 Semester Hours)

Creative Communication Core course (3 credits)
GDD Concentration Course (3 credits)
Natural Science Elective (2 credits)
Free Elective (2 credits)

Senior Year

Fall Semester (14 Semester Hours)

GDD Concentration Course (3 credits)
Free Elective (3 credits)

Spring Semester (14 Semester Hours)

GDD Concentration Course (3 credits)
GDD Concentration Course (3 credits)