The Bachelor of Innovation™ in Game Design and Development (GDD) is a degree within the Bachelor of Innovation family. It is a rigorous technical curriculum based heavily on programming and game design topics with important cross-disciplinary breadth in art, music and other fields. The program as a whole will let students build the foundational knowledge and develop the skills necessary to form their own independent game development companies or to pursue employment in the games industry. In addition to traditional games for entertainment, the game 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-discipline core, and a set of general education courses in addition to the rigorous technical degree. The combination of the GDD-specific coursework and the core Bachelor of Innovation™ topics and experiences will position students to form a new small company to develop entertainment and serious games; pursue a career at a traditional entertainment game development company; join a company that develops or utilizes Serious Games; or use the critical thinking, design, programming and teaming skills developed throughout the curriculum to pursue employment outside the games industry.
Learning Outcomes
- Understand and apply game design principles in various domains
- Understand and apply programming fundamentals
- Understand and apply advanced software development techniques
- Understand and apply Innovation Core concepts in a team-based business environment
General Information
The Bachelor of Innovation (BI) degree in Game Design and Development requires the following:
- A minimum of 120 hours with a cumulative CU GPA of 2.0. At least 45 of those hours must be upper division (courses numbered 3000 and higher).
- A grade of “C” or better in each course with a CS or GDD prefix applied to the major.
- A minimum 2.0 GPA must be maintained in all CS course work.
Additional general education course work is required to complete the Game Design and Development, BI degree. Please see the advising guide on the Academic Advising website for more information and a sample 4-year schedule.
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