Let’s Talk Video Game Development

By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development

A group of faculty has spent the last year exploring how Valpo can expand our curriculum offerings in the exciting and growing field of Video Game Development. In 2023, Valpo launched a new minor in Game Narrative and Design (a joint project of the English department and the Communication & Visual Arts department). Then last year, we opened the new Center for Games and Interactive Entertainment. In order to build on that momentum, Aysegul Yayimli (Computer Sciences) decided to launch a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) to brainstorm next steps and create a roadmap for potential degree paths in the field. 

Aysegul knew that many students in her department were originally drawn to her field because of how much they enjoyed playing video games. She also found that more and more of her incoming students were expressing an interest in game design. To address this growing need, she decided to create an FLC to bring together faculty from a variety of disciplines including English, Physics, Occupational Therapy, Music, Sociology, and Theater.

This FLC needed to be interdisciplinary because game design incorporates so many fields, such as story writing, music, psychology, system design, coding, and graphic design. Some of the FLC members were already offering courses on game design. For example, Joe Bognar (Music) has been teaching a course on video game music, Martin Buinicki (English) has taught students how to write RPGs (Role Playing Games) such as Dungeons and Dragons, and Aysegul (Computer Science) has been teaching Introduction to Game Programming. 

The FLC group began their work by researching the industry. They invited Valpo alum Jeremiah Dost as a guest speaker, because he had been in the gaming industry for many years. Having worked for several large gaming companies, Jeremiah was able to share with the group what industry recruiters are looking for.  The group then went on to research what curriculum other universities had in the field of game design so that they could better assess what strengths Valpo already had to offer. 

The FLC group discussed creating a major in Game Design down the road. However, for now, they decided that it made the most sense to offer it as an individualized major that would allow students to concentrate on the area of game design that most interests them. For example, one student might prefer to focus on the visual art of game design, another might choose to focus on story writing for tabletop games. So the group put together a list of existing classes that students could draw from. With the help of their advisor, each student can make their own path through these courses.

The FLC met with the marketing department to learn about how best to promote this individualized major to students who might be interested. The group also spoke with Adrian Lee, the Assistant Dean of Arts & Sciences, about the logistics of offering an individualized major.

To learn more about the new individualized major in Game Design or to see the list of courses offered, you can email aysegul.yayimli@valpo.edu.