The Academic Study of Games

Rensselaer’s new Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS), formally announced as a B.S. degree with enrollment beginning in Fall 2007, is among a handful of such programs in the country and is designed to educate students for early career positions, in addition to providing them with the technical, communication, and leadership skills needed to help shape an industry emerging out of the “games” phenomenon.

Game design studies: an interdisciplinary approach

Rensselaer’s Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences program, like the existing Game Design Studies Minor, is a second-generation program intended (1) to educate students for early career positions and (2) to provide them with the technical, communication, and leadership skills needed to help shape an industry emerging out of the “games” phenomenon.

A true spirit of collaboration

Students have played a seminal role in the development process of the games and simulation curricula by facilitating the links between the academic community and the world of games. From its inception, the GSAS was concieved as inherently interdisciplinary, where students would work in multidisciplinary teams.

According to John P. Harrington, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, game design, development, and research can provide junctures and cooperation between the arts and cultural studies, social sciences, computer sciences, engineering, and information technology.

The Game Design Studies curriculum includes current courses offered within the departments of cognitive science; arts; and language, literature and communications, as well as new courses in digital imaging, animation, computer music, and performance art.

Learn more about the GSAS program