Game Studies & Design Minor
for the Undergraduate Minor in Game Studies & Design
Contact: Lisa Bievenue, Director PH: (217) 333-4930
Game Studies & Design Minor website: https://informatics.ischool.illinois.edu/game-studies-design/
Email: game-studies@illinois.edu
The Game Studies & Design Minor is intended to foster critical skills in academic game studies, and technical skills in game design. The minor will serve undergraduates who are interested in the study and design of games, gaming, game design and the digital, extended and virtual reality (XR/VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies involved with the crafting of interactive systems and interfaces relevant to the game, film, education, and media industries, as well as a range of other emerging professions. Through this minor, students will learn to think critically about the history, cultural meaning, social impact, ethics, and increasingly significant role of games, gaming, and interactive media in a diverse society; they will develop the logical, algorithmic, narrative, and design capacities needed to make games, interactive narratives, and simulations; and they will become prepared for graduate work, if desired, on a path to pursuing a career in the game industry or in academic game studies research.
for the Undergraduate Minor in Game Studies & Design
The program requires 18 credit hours of undergraduate coursework, for which students must complete 9 credit hours of foundational coursework, and 9 credit hours of elective coursework.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Required Foundational Courses | ||
| Introduction to Game Studies and Design | ||
| A minimum of one 100-200 level historical/social perspectives course. | ||
Choose from the following: | ||
| Introduction to the Videogame Industry | ||
| Undergraduate Open Seminar (section SHG: Social History of Games & Gaming) | ||
| Interactive Media & You | ||
| A minimum of one 100-200 level introductory game design course. | ||
Choose from the following: | ||
| The Basics of Game Design | ||
| Introduction to Digital Learning Environments | ||
| Electives Courses | ||
Students must choose a minimum of three elective courses, at least 2 at the 300-400 level. | ||
| Minimum Total Hours | 18 | |
for the Undergraduate Minor in Game Studies & Design
The elective coursework requirement allows students either to generalize across game studies fields, or to specialize by taking elective courses concentrated in one of our nine advising pathways which correspond to different professional specializations in the game industry and in game-related academic research. The current advising pathways are Design, Programming, Education & Research, Film & Media, Music, Sound & Dance, Narrative, Play Studies, Theater, and Visual Arts. Students do not need to declare a pathway and may even elect to take courses from three different pathways if they wish a general survey of the field. Pathways do not need to be declared.
Only one experiential (independent study, studio, internship, or capstone) course will be accepted as an elective towards the minor degree.
From the College of Applied Health Sciences
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| COMMUNITY HEALTH | ||
| CHLH 441 | Health Behavior and Technology | 3 or 4 |
| KINESIOLOGY | ||
| KIN 346 | Case Study: Endless Summer | 3 |
| KIN 369 | Coaching Strategies | 3 |
| KIN 442 | Body, Culture & Society | 3 or 4 |
| KIN 474 | Tech-Driven Health Intervention | 3 or 4 |
| RECREATION, SPORT AND TOURISM | ||
| RST 199 | Undergraduate Open Seminar (Section ESF only) | 1 to 5 |
From the College of Education
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION | ||
| CI 210 | Introduction to Digital Learning Environments (Can only be used for either a foundational required course OR an elective course, but not both) | 3 |
| CI 437 | Educational Game Design | 3 or 4 |
| CI 439 | Critiques of Educational Technology | 3 or 4 |
| CI 483 | Computer Systems for CS Teachers | 2 |
| CI 499 | Issues and Development in Education (Sections "Attention Learning & Tech" and "Technology Apps for Teachers" only) | 2 to 4 |
From the College of Fine & Applied Arts
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| FINE & APPLIED ARTS | ||
| FAA 499 | Special Topics (Section "Escape Rooms as Interactive Theatre" only) | 0 to 4 |
| ART | ||
| ART 310 | Design Thinking | 3 |
| ART 350 | Writing with Video | 3 |
| ART 499 | Special Topics in Art | 1 to 4 |
| ARTD 318 | Interaction Design | 2 |
| ARTD 418 | Advanced Interaction Design | 3 |
| ARTD 451 | Ethics of a Designer in a Global Economy | 4 |
| ARTD 499 | Special Topics in Design | 1 to 4 |
| ARTJ 301 | Manga: The Art of Image and Word | 3 |
| ARTJ 302 | Intro to Japanese Animation | 3 |
| ARTS 320 | Fashion and Textiles Design | 3 |
| ARTS 340 | The Art of 3D Imaging | 3 |
| ARTS 444 | Interaction II | 3 or 4 |
| ARTS 445 | Special Topics in New Media | 3 or 4 |
| ARTS 499 | Special Topics in Studio Art | 1 to 4 |
| DANCE | ||
| DANC 256 | Choreographic Laboratory I (Section JT only) | 1 |
| DANC 268 | ||
| DANC 330 | Dance Documentation | 1 |
| DANC 451 | Ind Study and Special Topics (Section "Social Impact thru Arts Tech" only) | 1 to 4 |
| DANC 465 | Screendance | 3 |
| MUSIC | ||
| MUS 209 | Music, Sound, Technology (Acoustics for Musicians) | 3 |
| MUS 407 | Elect Music Techniques I | 3 |
| MUS 409 | Elec Music Techniques II | 2 |
| MUS 499 | Proseminar in Music (Sections "Audio Coding with SuperCollider", "Audio Recording Techniques I", and "Critical Audio Listening for Audio Engineers" only) | 0 to 4 |
| THEATRE | ||
| THEA 409 | Stage Management Workshop | 3 or 4 |
| THEA 410 | Dramaturgs Workshop | 3 or 4 |
| THEA 411 | Playwrights' Workshop | 3 |
| THEA 418 | Devising Social Issues Theatre | 3 or 4 |
| THEA 426 | History of Decor | 3 |
| THEA 427 | Scenic Painting I | 3 |
| THEA 428 | Scenic Painting II | 3 |
| THEA 445 | Costume History I | 3 |
| THEA 448 | Costume Crafts | 3 |
| THEA 453 | Introduction to Theatre Sound | 3 |
| THEA 455 | Sound Design II | 3 |
| THEA 456 | Properties Design | 3 |
| THEA 461 | Introduction to Media Design | 3 or 4 |
From the Grainger College of Engineering
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| COMPUTER SCIENCE | ||
| CS 418 | Interactive Computer Graphics | 3 or 4 |
| CS 419 | Production Computer Graphics | 3 or 4 |
| CS 498 | Special Topics (Section "Game Development" only) | 1 to 4 |
From the School of Information Sciences
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GAME STUDIES & DESIGN | ||
| GSD 399 | Advanced Individual Study | 0 to 3 |
| GSD 403 | An Introduction to Top Down Video Game Design | 3 |
| GSD 405 | Introduction to the Video Game Development Process | 3 |
| GSD 409 | Design & Programming of Narrative Games & Simulations | 3 or 4 |
| INFORMATICS | ||
| INFO 303 | Writing Across Media | 3 |
| INFO 416 | Makerspace: Game Studies | 3 or 4 |
| INFO 418 | Makerspace: Escape Rooms | 3 or 4 |
| INFO 490 | Special Topics (Only sections: "Musical Informatics", "Computer Music") | 1 to 4 |
| INFORMATION SCIENCES | ||
| IS 145 | Mapping Inequalities | 3 |
| IS 199 | Undergraduate Open Seminar (Section SHG only; Can only be used for either a foundational required course OR an elective course, but not both ) | 1 to 5 |
| IS 357 | Introduction to Data Storytelling | 3 |
| IS 410 | Storytelling | 2 to 4 |
| IS 426 | Museum Informatics | 4 |
| IS 490 | Topics in Info Foundations (Section "Playful Design Methods" only) | 2 to 4 |
From the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ENGLISH | ||
| ENGL 253 | Topics in Literature and New Media | 3 |
| ENGL 277 | Gender in Gaming | 3 |
| ENGL 396 | English Honors Seminar (Section "Games Telling Stories" only) | 3 |
From the College of Media
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ADVERTISING | ||
| ADV 390 | Content Creation | 3 |
| JOURNALISM | ||
| JOUR 101 | Interactive Media & You | 3 |
| JOUR 430 | Augmented and Virtual Reality | 3 or 4 |
| JOUR 460 | Special Topics (Section "Basic Video Production" only) | 1 to 4 |
| MEDIA AND CINEMA STUDIES | ||
| MACS 323 | Studies Film/Media Production | 1 to 3 |
| MACS 326 | New Media, Culture & Society | 3 |
| MACS 370 | Cinematography and Sound Design | 4 |
| MACS 371 | Editing and Post-production for Cinema | 4 |
| MACS 372 | Screenwriting | 3 |
| MACS 480 | Advanced Filmmaking | 3 |
| MACS 481 | Advanced Filmmaking Studio | 3 |
| MACS 485 | Making Video Essays | 3 or 4 |
| MACS 496 | Advanced Media/Cinema Topics (Sections "Collaboration in Interactive and Immersive Media" and "Advanced Media Practicum" only) | 3 or 4 |