2021-2022 Catalog 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2021-2022 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Game Design and Development (GDD), BI™


The Bachelor of Innovation™ in Game Design and Development (GDD) is a degree within the Bachelor of Innovation family. It is a rigorous technical curriculum based heavily on programming and game design topics with important cross-disciplinary breadth in art, music and other fields. The program as a whole will let students build the foundational knowledge and develop the skills necessary to form their own independent game development companies or to pursue employment in the games industry. In addition to traditional games for entertainment, the game industry includes Serious Games (games designed for simulation and training, educational games, games for health care, and so on) and Casual Games (small, short games played in a Web browser or on a cell phone, for example).

The Bachelor of Innovation family requires an innovation core, a cross-discipline core, and a set of general education courses in addition to the rigorous technical degree. The combination of the GDD-specific coursework and the core Bachelor of Innovation™ topics and experiences will position students to form a new small company to develop entertainment and serious games; pursue a career at a traditional entertainment game development company; join a company that develops or utilizes Serious Games; or use the critical thinking, design, programming and teaming skills developed throughout the curriculum to pursue employment outside the games industry.

Learning Outcomes  

  • Understand and apply game design principles in various domains
  • Understand and apply programming fundamentals
  • Understand and apply advanced software development techniques
  • Understand and apply Innovation Core concepts in a team-based business environment

Degree Requirements


The Bachelor of Innovation in Game Design and Development degree requires the following:

  • Completion of at least 120 credit hours.
  • A minimum 2.0 grade point average in all computer science courses, GDD courses, and courses taken at the University of Colorado.
  • A grade of “C” or better is required for each class with a CS or GDD prefix for that class to count toward the degree requirements for the student’s major.

Course Requirements


GDD Concentration Requirements (15 Credit Hours)


Students select 15 hours of concentration courses in any 3000 level or above CS or GDD course not used to meet other GDD degree requirements.

BI Cross-Discipline Core (15 credit hours)


Complete one of the Cross-Discipline Cores listed below. Each Cross-Discipline Core consists of 15 credit hours. Open the expandable lists to see course options.

Note: The default Cross-Discipline Core for GDD students is the Creative Communication core.  If a GDD student wants to take Business or Globalization cores instead, they can, but they’re still required to take the VA course and the MUS course from the Creative Communication core.

Sample Schedule


Please see the sample schedule on our website.