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Media Arts and Game Design

The Media Arts and Game Design module will enable you to take the initial step for a career in emerging technologies. This module will help you to learn the foundations of digital interactive art, gaming, creativity for web, sensor based interactions, and useful daily applications of digital media. You will graduate with a portfolio that may lead you to a graduate program in interactive arts and gaming. You will develop skills for collaboration with digital media specialists. 

Media Arts and Game Design module will introduce you to emerging trends in interactive arts and will give you several opportunities to create various interactive objects and platforms for a variety of uses. Special attention will be given to the development of form and content. We will also emphasize the ability to create a wide scope of decision making opportunities for the users (players, consumers) of these projects. As a capstone, you will expand a final project that you developed in one of the module classes or build a new project that becomes a portfolio piece. 

Learning Objective

  • Develop an understanding of interactivity and exhibit that understanding via the creation and analysis of a range of interactive works. 

Courses

Media Arts and Game Design Course Requirements 

Co-Curriculars

Opportunities for application and practice on campus:
Participation in Knight Lab courses, visiting artist lectures. 

Opportunities for projects, practica, and internships off campus:
Local and national production and exhibition opportunities and internships. 

Community Building Activities:
Block Cinema, Chicago museums, game companies. 

Capstone

As a capstone, students will expand a final project that they developed in one of the module classes or build a new project that becomes a portfolio piece. 

Capstone Assessment 

The capstone piece should demonstrate that students: 

  • Understand the context of their work within interactive trends. 
  • Have acquired a mastery of at least one chosen skill among several required to produce high quality works using interactivity. 
  • Have attained a degree of self-awareness about the trajectory of their body of work. 
  • Have completed at least one significant work using interactivity. 

Click HERE to see some examples of student capstone projects.

Sponsoring Department: Radio/Television/Film 

Module Coordinator (main student contact): Özge Samanci 

Committee of Instruction: Jacob Smith, Debra Tolchinsky, Darren Gergle, Ian Horswill, Özge Samanci, Eric Patrick, Ariel Rogers, Derrick Fields, Stephan Moore 

Module Advisor: Pierce Gradone

How to Enroll

All NU Undergraduate students are eligible to apply for the Media Arts and Game Design module. Seven RTVF majors and five students from other majors or schools will be accepted into the module each year. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. 

To apply, students are required to be in their sophomore, junior, or senior year. Newly applying 4th year students who have not taken any module courses will necessarily not be admitted to the module. Non-RTVF students can enroll in this module without taking any prerequisites. For a detailed description of the courses, please see the courses page. Prerequisite for RTVF students is RTVF 190 for all RTVF production courses. 

To apply, students should submit a one-page letter of application to the module coordinator. The letter of application should outline their interests in Media Arts and Game Design and their intention to complete the module requirements. Once admitted by the module coordinator, students must meet with the module advisor to complete the entry process. 

 

Module Timeline: 

Applications will be ongoing for students in the approved class years to declare candidacy in the module until the twelve spots have been filled for the academic year.  All course work must be completed by the end of the winter quarter of the senior year.  The capstone must be submitted for evaluation by the fifth week of spring quarter in the senior year.  See the school wide rules and regulations [pdf] on module completion for more information. 

Grade Policy

Students must maintain a B- average in module coursework. If their average falls below B-, they will not be permitted to submit a capstone.