Students are strongly recommended to have prior coding experience to meet the demands of this course. This may be gained from successful completion of at least one semester of an entry level coding course such as Coding in Action or Robotics. Students who can demonstrate sufficient prior programming experience may also consider this course.
The digital and interactive entertainment industry (games and mobile applications) generates more revenue than the global movie industry, yet most people are consumers rather than producers of its content. In this class, students will have the opportunity to investigate, research and develop their own interactive entertainment solutions for mobile devices. The course uses a Problem-Based Learning approach to guide students as they connect the principles of User Experience (UX) and Human-Centered Design with user interfaces and game logic that they will create with code. Students will apply the knowledge and skills that they learn in this course to design and build a series of their own classic ‘indie’ style games from scratch.
Students will:
- Understand the terminology and structure of different types of interactive entertainment, both physical and digital.
- Learn the traits that make certain interactive elements more challenging and appealing than others.
- Develop the skills needed to produce an interactive product.
- Learn to code simple and complex games in the Swift programming language.
- Develop various elements of a mobile game from the ground up, including the characters, graphics and music.
- Maintain a portfolio of their own products.
Achievement will be measured over a series of portfolio pieces, produced both in groups and individually, as well as from feedback throughout each stage of the design and development process.