In addition to the academic programs housed within the department, the department is also the home of several research and development initiatives of the faculty and our student body. The research mission of the department is to support the research and associated projects that relate to the Game Design & Development programs (BSc, MSc) degrees, and the New Media Interactive Development degree (BS). Through exploration, collaboration and computational simulation in games and virtual spaces, the creation of systems, prototypes, and interaction models for new and emerging media, and the production of public works and dissemination of our findings, the department investigates new means of shared experience and visualization in domains such as interaction, education, science, technology, and entertainment.
Activities in the department range from experimental game design & development to exploratory research in visualization environments and integrated media frameworks, outreach efforts that surround games and underlying technologies, support of STEM learning through games and interactive entertainment, and the application of games and game technology to non-entertainment domains (i.e. “Serious Games”). Also of interest is the current phenomenon of small, discrete play experiences (i.e. “Casual Games”) and their growing impact on the day-to-day perception of games as a medium, and the current production issues surrounding the creation of "media rich" experiences in various forms.
Come see what we're working on... We have everything from multi-user experiences to research into preserving virtual worlds.
A listing of our most recent papers published from people within the department of Interactive Games and Media. These cover a very wide range of topics, including but not limited to game programming and education with games.
