Game Art and Animation, BFA

Game art and animation offers students an opportunity to master visual arts and animation within the game medium. The program focuses on developing the depth of knowledge required to be successful in a highly competitive industry. The continuing revolution in digital computing and animation has produced a rapidly evolving field for artists who create aesthetics, characters, and environments for games. The major encourages students to think critically and work collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams. The collaborative approach helps all team members to understand the context in which their asset contributions are used and to develop visual design skills in the service of larger experiential goals. Students will have a home college in the College of Arts, Media and Design but will have a minimum of four interdisciplinary courses where students interact and work together with students in the other degrees.

Working in the interdisciplinary game areas, the program fosters experiential learning opportunities utilizing diverse intersections of skills merging artistic practice and expression blended with technology. Focus is on establishing core skills that engage critical thinking in preparation for professional practice in game art and asset creation or moving on to advanced study. Students will have an opportunity to develop tools to succeed, eagerness to innovate, and skills to become next-generation entrepreneurs in an ever-changing games and media landscape. Practical and technical experiential training will be offered via Northeastern University’s world-renowned co-op program.

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• Concentrations and course offerings may vary by campus and/or by program modality.  Please consult with your advisor or admissions coach for the course availability each term at your campus or within your program modality. 
• Certain options within the program may be required at certain campuses or for certain program modalities.  Please consult with your advisor or admissions coach for requirements at your campus or for your program modality. 

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Complete all courses listed below unless otherwise indicated. Also complete any corequisite labs, recitations, clinicals, or tools courses where specified and complete any additional courses needed beyond specific college and major requirements to satisfy graduation credit requirements.

Universitywide Requirements

All undergraduate students are required to complete the Universitywide Requirements.

NUpath Requirements

All undergraduate students are required to complete the NUpath Requirements.

NUpath requirements Creative Expression (EI), Interpreting Culture (IC), Societies and Institutions (SI), and Analyzing/Using Data (AD) are met through the major course requirements. All other NUpath requirements must be met through electives. 

Game Art Courses

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
ARTF 1000	Art and Design at Northeastern	1
Art + Design Fundamentals Required
ARTF 1240 and ARTF 1241	Making with Video, Sound, and Animation and Making with Video, Sound, and Animation Tools	2
Art + Design Fundamentals Electives
Complete three of the following:		6
ARTF 1200	Representational Drawing
ARTF 1210	Abstract Drawing
ARTF 1220	Elements of Visual Composition (with optional ARTF 1221)
ARTF 1230 and ARTF 1231	Making with Form and Materials and Making with Form and Materials Tools
ARTF 1250 and ARTF 1251	Designing Interactive Experiences and Designing Interactive Experiences Tools
Art History Required
ARTH 1001 and ARTH 1002	Visual Intelligence and Seminar in Visual Intelligence	4
ARTH 2212	Survey of the Still and Moving Image	4
Art History Elective
Complete one of the following:		4
ARTH 1100	Interactive Media and Society
ARTH 2200	Topics in Design History
ARTH 2210	Modern Art and Design History
ARTH 2211	Contemporary Art and Design History
ARTH 2215	History of Graphic Design
ARTH 2311	The Science of Art, the Art of Science
ARTH 2312	Revolutionary Design and Propaganda in Eastern Europe
ARTH 2313	Global Networks in Early Modern Art and Visual Culture
ARTH 3000	Topics in Visual Studies
ARTH 3211	Performance Art
ARTH 4000	Topics in Visual Studies
ARTH 5600	Landscape and Ecology in Visual Culture
Game Art Required
ARTD 1001 and ARTD 1002	Media Art, Culture, and Social Justice and Seminar for ARTD 1001	4
ARTD 2100	Narrative Basics	4
or GAME 2355	Narrative for Games
ARTD 2370 and ARTD 2371	Animation Basics and Animation Tools	5
GAME 1110	Games and Society	4
GAME 2500	Foundations of Game Design	4
Complete one of the following:		5
ARTD 2360 and ARTD 2361	Introduction to Photography and Photo Tools
ARTD 2380 and ARTD 2381	Video Basics and Video Tools

Animation and Game Design Courses

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Animation
ARTD 3000	Topics in Media Arts	4
ARTD 3470	Animation 1	4
ARTD 3472	Character Design for Animation	4
ARTD 3473	Animation for Games	4
ARTD 4570	Animation 2	4
ARTD 4575	Animation 3	4

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Electives
Complete four of the following as long as prerequisites have been met. At least one must be at the 4000 level:		16
Game Design
GAME 1850	Experimental Game Design
GAME 2010	The Business of Games
GAME 2650	Introduction to Game Research Methods
GAME 2750	Games Criticism and Theory
GAME 2755	Games and Social Justice
GAME 2950	Game Studio
GAME 3300	Game Interface Design
GAME 3400	Level Design and Game Architecture
GAME 3700	Rapid Idea Prototyping for Games
GAME 3800	Game Concept Development
GAME 4000	Topics in Game Design
GAME 4155	Designing Imaginary Worlds
GAME 4460	Generative Game Design
GAME 4600	Game Production
Art and Design
If ARTD 3000 Topics in Media Arts (or any other topics course in the options listed below) is completed more than once, the additional completions may be allowed toward the electives.
ARTD 2000	Introduction to Immersive Media
ARTD 2340	Introduction to Computational Creative Practice
ARTD 3000	Topics in Media Arts
ARTD 3460	Photography: Concept + Process
ARTD 3471	Virtual Environment Design
ARTD 3480	Video: Sound and Image
ARTD 4565	Photography: Visual Strategies + Context
ARTD 4660	Studio Photography
ARTD 4661	Photography: Experimental Processes
ARTE 2500	Art and Design Abroad: Studio
ARTE 2501	Art and Design Abroad: History
ARTE 4901	Special Topics in Art and Design Studio
ARTG 2252	Graphic Design Principles
ARTG 2262 and ARTG 2263	Prototyping with Code and Lab for ARTG 2262
ARTG 3100	Physical and Digital Fabrication
ARTG 3250	Physical Computing
ARTH 1100	Interactive Media and Society
ARTS 2340	Painting Basics
ARTS 2341	Figure Drawing
ARTS 3449	Drawing in Mixed Media
Other
CS 2500 and CS 2501	Fundamentals of Computer Science 1 and Lab for CS 2500
PSYC 1101	Foundations of Psychology

Capstone Requirement

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
ARTD 4530	Media Arts Degree Project	4

Supporting Course

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
MATH 1260	Math Fundamentals for Games	4

Writing Requirement

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
ENGW 3314	Advanced Writing in the Arts, Media, and Design	4
or ENGW 3315	Interdisciplinary Advanced Writing in the Disciplines

Major Credit Requirement

90 semester hours required in the major

Program Requirement

130 total semester hours required

Sample Plan of Study Only: Four Years, Two Co-ops in Spring/Summer 1 

Year 1
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
ARTF 1000	1	ARTD 2370 and ARTD 2371	5	Elective	4	Elective	4
GAME 2500	4	GAME 1110	4	GAME or A+D elective	4	Elective	4
ARTF 1240 and ARTF 1241	2	ARTF elective	2
ARTF elective	2	ARTF elective	2
ARTD 1001 and ARTD 1002	4	GAME or A+D elective	4
ENGW 1111	4
	17		17		8		8
Year 2
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
ARTD 3470	4	Co-op	0	Co-op	0	Elective	4
ARTD 3473	4					Elective	4
ARTH 1001 and ARTH 1002	4
EEAM 2000	1
GAME 2355 or ARTD 2100	4
	17		0		0		8
Year 3
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
ARTD 3472	4	Co-op	0	Co-op	0	Elective	4
ARTD 4570	4					Elective	4
ARTH 2212	4
Advanced writing in the disciplines	4
	16		0		0		8
Year 4
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours
ARTD 4575	4	ARTD 4530	4
ARTH elective	4	GAME or A+D elective	4
GAME or A+D elective	4	Elective	4
Intro to photo or video basics	5	Elective	4
	17		16
Total Hours: 132