IMED 3500 - Special Topics in Interactive Media

SPRING 2024 SPECIAL TOPICS:

SECTION 01 TABLETOP AND FANTASY CARD GAME ILLUSTRATION AND DESIGN
This course focuses on illustrating and designing artwork for collaborative Tabletop and Fantasy Card Games. Illustrate and design full color works of art based on common elements, tropes, and archetypes found in these heroic games of adventure. Coursework will place emphasis on creating representational art that combines figures, objects, and environments. Assignments will teach you the process of planning and building artwork that tells a story from the ground up using compositional elements, clearly defined preliminary drawings and color images that exhibit punch and impact.

SECTION 02 STORYTELLING THROUGH CHARACTERS
This course is an exploration of character development and storytelling in character design and animation. Students will learn to create 3D game characters deeply rooted in their unique stories, including character costume design using Marvelous Designer. They will also build rigging for both body and facial animations, navigate the complexities of Mecha vs. Human character dynamics, understand animation techniques, including both motion capture (mocap) and handkey methods, and seamlessly integrate art assets into gaming environments. Previous knowledge of 3D modeling, rigging and animation is recommended. Familiarity with Autodesk Maya or Blender is helpful.

SECTION 03 AUDIO PRODUCTION
This course explores the fundamentals of the medium of sound and processes of sound-design, with the goal of understanding, articulating, and creating audio assets for games. Through demos and creative projects, students will experiment with the essential building blocks of sound and explore audio principles such as acoustics and perception, the use of microphones and digital recording hardware, editing, signal-processing and mixing using ProTools, Foley recording and sound-effect production, sampling and MIDI, audio synchronization to video, and applications of audio assets in digital-media and game development. The course sets a solid foundation for the understanding of sound while developing a strong toolset for working within the medium.

SECTION 04 ENVIRONMENT ART
Environment Art is a specialization within game development which straddles the line between modeling and level design. In this course, students will learn to build art assets such as modular architectural components and reusable landscape models, then construct full real-time environments in a commercial game engine.  

SECTION 05 NARRATIVE DESIGN
This course will cover the techniques and strategies of narrative design. Students will learn the elements of storytelling and character as well as how they are used specifically throughout the course of a game. Students will learn about and assume the tasks and duties of a narrative designer. Once students gain an understanding of these topics, they will undertake the responsibility of designing and writing their own narrative-driven game. 
 

May be repeatable for credit.

Anticipated Terms Offered: varies