IMED 215 - Introduction to Game Studies and Design

(3 semester hours)
Prerequisites: IMED 110 or permission of instructor
Corequisite: IMED 245
Description: A key goal of this course is to understand the history, contexts, conceptual and technical foundations of digital games as an interactive media. To identify and understand the scope and complexities of digital games, this course draws on a range of disciplines and approaches including (but not limited to) communications and media studies, sociology, literature, film, semiotics, aesthetics, and games design. Through understanding the history, contexts, and theories of digital games as well as key concepts including engagement, identification, and immersion, the student will learn analytical skills which will enable them to develop and refine a critical vocabulary for articulating the range of elements that make up the overall gameplay experience. This includes both the distinctive features unique to games and those they share with other forms of media and culture. Offered Spring semester, annually.