The IGM Department offers two Academic Minors, a Minor in Game Design & Development, and a Minor in Game Design. The first minor (GD&D) is intended primarily for students within GCCIS and/or with a technical background in computing (such as computer engineering, or another technically oriented program). The second minor, Game Design, is intended primarily for students across campus who want to experience the process and underpinnings of world design and game interaction studies, but are just beginning to explore the technology required to produce computational interactivity. Each of the minors consists of five required courses, but the GD&D minor has several pre-requisites that apply.
The minor in GD&D is intended for computing majors in disciplines like Information Technology, Computer Science, Software Engineering, New Media Interactive Development, Computer Engineering, or other computing majors. The minor consists of five courses (20 credits) selected from the core sequence of the BS program in Game Design and Development, and it requires a set of prerequisites in programming, Web and multimedia development, physics, and Discrete Mathematics.
Students should meet with an academic advisor in their major to discuss how the courses in the minor and the prerequisites will fit into their major.
Game Design & Development Minor Courses
Three of the courses in the minor (4080-330, 387, 487) come from the core programming sequence from the BS GD&D program. The other two courses (4080-380, 381) are from the core game design sequence from the BS GD&D program.
4080-330 Interactive Digital Media
4080-380 Fundamentals of Game Design and Development I
4080-381 Fundamentals of Game Design and Development II
4080-387 Data Structures & Algorithms for Game Design and Development I
4080-487 Data Structures & Algorithms for Game Design and Development II
Prerequisites for the GD&D Minor
The prerequisites for the minor are the combined prerequisites for the five courses in the minor. Some or all of these prerequisites might meet requirements in students' majors, but they all must be completed before beginning the GD&D minor.
Programming Prerequisite
Any rigorous three-course programming sequence will fulfill the programming requirement, so computing majors can use their introductory programming sequence to meet this prerequisite. Specifically, any of the following three-course programming sequences or equivalent programming experience is required:
4003-231 Computer Science I
4003-232 Computer Science II
4003-233 Computer Science III
4002-217 IT Programming I
4002-218 IT Programming II
4002-219 IT Programming III
4080-230 Intro Programming for New Media
4080-231 Programming II for New Media
4080-333 Programming III for New Media
4080-334 Programming IV for New Media
0618-231 Technical Programming I
0618-232 Technical Programming II
0618-233 Technical Programming III
Web and Multimedia Development Prerequisite
Students in the BS Information Technology, Medical Informatics or Applied Networking and System Administration programs take 4002-320 as a required course. Students in New Media Interactive Development can meet this requirement by taking 4080-299, which is required in their major. Other students would have to work either 4002-320 or 4080-299 or the alternate, 4002-206, into their curriculum, in addition to the five courses in the minor (note that 4002-206 does not count for credit for GCCIS majors, and as such they are discouraged from pursuing this option as a pre-req path).
4002-320 Introduction to Multimedia: The Internet and the Web
-or-
4080-295 Introduction to Interactive Media
-or-
4002-206 Web Foundations
Physics Prerequisite
Either of the following Physics sequences will meet the prerequisite. Students in BS programs can usually count these courses as lab science requirements in their majors.
1017-211 College Physics I
1017-212 College Physics II
-or-
1017-311 University Physics I
1017-312 University Physics II
Discrete Mathematics Prerequisite
Either of the following Discrete Mathematics sequences will meet the prerequisite. Students in computing majors in the Golisano College will complete one of these two sequences as part of their major.
1016-205 Discrete Math for Technologists I
1016-206 Discrete Math for Technologists II
-or-
1016-265 Discrete Mathematics I
1016-366 Discrete Mathematics II
Game Design Minor Courses
To minor in Game Design, students must complete the following five courses. Pre-reqs apply between these courses, but there are no pre-reqs required to start the sequence, although general familiarity with computing is assumed.
4080-346 2D Animation for Interactive Media
4080-230 Introduction to Programming for New Media
4080-231 Programming II for New Media
4080-380 Fundamentals of Game Design & Development I
-and 1 of-
4080-381 Fundamentals of Game Design & Development II
4080-434 Programming for Digital Media
4080-347 3D Modeling & Animation for Interactive Media
