In this occasional series, we ask Arts & Sciences instructors to discuss how they engage students in the great questions of our time.
Associate Professor
Fundamentals of Game Design
Q. What is the best way to describe this course?
A. Essentially, this course helps Computer Science students find their gateway in the gaming industry.
To break into the industry, you need to show that you can do what they want you to do. For computer science majors, that question is whether or not they’ve made any game programs. I try to emphasize that in class, especially with the homework assignments. Another part of that is the class project. This is when they can work with fellow students or people in other majors to make a grander version of what we do in class.
Q. What makes this course appealing to computer science students?
A. This course is something that I would have loved to take as an undergraduate. We talk about making games and the game design process as an abstract idea. We discuss the sort of things you do as a game designer, not just as someone in a specific role on a design team. It’s a different angle, but an important one.
Q. Why is this course important?
A. People enjoy games and have played them in some form for thousands of years. I don’t see that going away anytime soon. Technology will only get better and allow us to do some amazing things.
For example, augmented and virtual reality are still at the beginning stages. There are problems we haven’t overcome yet. Teaching computer science students these basic ideas leads to significant advancements. We are in an exciting time for the industry, and we will always have a desire to be entertained and entertain others.
Q. How can students take this course into the workforce?
A. If they’re interested in doing game development for a living, certainly this course will help. Making video games takes a lot of effort and a lot of skill. To do it, you learn a lot in the process. You think about things you don’t usually think about, such as interactivity.
For example, if you have a character in a game with a predestined role, can you ensure that the character always does what they need to do? In some games, there are cutscenes, which are portions of the game that happen without player input, almost like movies.
In a game not too long ago, there was an instance where a character could be killed at some point, only to reappear later in a cutscene whether the player had killed that character or not.
These types of interactivity vs. immersion problems show the difficulty of making games. You have to consider many possibilities and scenarios that you might not have to worry about if you’re writing a program from line to line.
Essentially, it causes the average computer science major to think differently and encounter new problems. It’s a good experience and makes students realize that this is a lot tougher than it initially appears. Students can also apply these same skills to more basic computer science simulations.
Q. What got you interested in this subject?
A. I’ve been interested in games for as long as I can remember. I remember playing them early on and thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could change things?” Even the little things such as the background color of a level. It was natural for me to try and make games when I was young. That’s what got me into Computer Science in the first place.
Q. What is the most interesting or unusual assignment you have assigned for this course?
A. Last semester, I gave an assignment based on The Game of Life. In this game, you have what is known as cellular automatons, and you can make a cell grow or die depending on its neighbors. What I did was take this program and apply it to trees.
Students would have to show where the new trees showed up. As the program continued, the trees would grow more prominent, lose leaves, and eventually die off. We also added a fire mod (modification) to the simulation that made the fire spread.
Interestingly, the fire never extinguished because it always hopped to another tree. When we altered the game rules a bit, we fixed the glitch. The whole thing was fascinating.
– Interview by Emma Barrett (B.A., English, ’25). Photo by Raven Schley.