The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Game Design is designed to provide students with the skills to communicate ideas and emotions through interactive media. The focus of the BFA degree is exploring games as an aesthetic and expressive form through critical analysis and creative, reflective practice. Anticipating emerging trends in the video and analog game industries—including broader platforms, audiences, and distribution channels—students will be oriented toward developing games and playful media in an independent creative context. Curriculum is geared to cultivate students’ unique creative voices through courses that apply theoretical analysis to game-development practices across a range of media. Students are exposed to a wide variety of genres and contexts, as well as alternative ways of thinking about games content, platforms, and asset production.
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.
University-Wide Requirements
All undergraduate students are required to complete the University-Wide Requirements.
NUpath Requirements
All undergraduate students are required to complete the NUpath Requirements.
NUpath requirements Creative Expression/Innovation (EI), Formal and Quantitative Reasoning (FQ), and Analyzing/Using Data (AD) are met through the major course requirements. All other NUpath requirements must be met through electives.
Required Courses
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Art and Design at Northeastern | ||
| ARTF 1000 | Art and Design at Northeastern | 1 |
| Game Studies | ||
| GAME 1110 | Games and Society | 4 |
| GAME 2650 | Introduction to Game Research Methods | 4 |
| Game Design | ||
| GAME 2500 | Foundations of Game Design | 4 |
| GAME 2950 | Game Studio | 4 |
| GAME 3700 | Rapid Idea Prototyping for Games | 4 |
| Game Development | ||
| ARTG 2260 | Programming Basics | 4 |
| GAME 3300 | Game Interface Design | 4 |
| GAME 3400 | Level Design and Game Architecture | 4 |
| GAME 3800 | Game Concept Development | 4 |
| Game Aesthetics | ||
| ARTF 1122 | Color and Composition (with optional ARTF 1124 ) | 4 |
| ARTF 1124 and ARTF 1125 | Form and Structure and Form and Structure Tools | 5 |
| ARTF 2220 | Movement and Time (with optional ARTF 2221 ) | 4 |
| ARTD 2370 | Animation Basics (with optional ARTD 2371 ) | 4 |
| Critical Play | ||
| GAME 2010 | The Business of Games | 4 |
| Capstone | ||
| A grade of C or higher is required: | ||
| GAME 4700 | Game Design Capstone | 4 |
Electives
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Game Design and Development | ||
| Complete two of the following as long as prerequisites have been met: | 8 | |
| Experimental Game Design | ||
| Principles of Board Game Development | ||
| Research in Game Design | ||
| Playful Design | ||
| Game Concept Development | ||
| Generative Game Design | ||
| Game Production | ||
| Game Aesthetics and Critical Play | ||
| Complete two of the following as long as prerequisites have been met: | 8 | |
| Narrative for Games | ||
| Games Criticism and Theory | ||
| Games and Social Justice | ||
| Designing Imaginary Worlds | ||
| Art + Design | ||
| Complete three of the following as long as prerequisites have been met: | 12 | |
| Observational Drawing | ||
| Experience and Interaction (with optional ARTF 2224) | ||
| Animation 1 | ||
| Character Design for Animation | ||
| Animation for Games | ||
| Physical Computing | ||
| Art History | ||
| Complete one art history course within the ARTH subject code. | 4 | |
Game Design Major Credit/GPA Requirement
Complete 92 semester hours for the major with a 2.000 GPA.
Program Requirement
128 total semester hours required
Sample Four Years, Two Co-ops
| Year 1 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer 1 | Hours | Summer 2 | Hours |
| ARTF 1000 | 1 | GAME 2500 | 4 | Art + Design Elective | 4 | Art + Design Elective | 4 |
| GAME 1110 | 4 | GAME 2650 | 4 | Art History Elective | 4 | Elective | 4 |
| ARTF 1122 (with optional 1123) | 4 | ARTD 2370 (with optional ARTD 2371) | 4 | ||||
| ARTF 2220 (with optional 2221) | 4 | ARTF 1124 and ARTF 1125 | 5 | ||||
| ENGW 1111 | 4 | ||||||
| 17 | 17 | 8 | 8 | ||||
| Year 2 | |||||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer 1 | Hours | Summer 2 | Hours |
| GAME 2950 | 4 | Co-op | Co-op | Elective | 4 | ||
| GAME 3300 | 4 | Elective | 4 | ||||
| ARTG 2260 | 4 | ||||||
| EEAM 2000 | 1 | ||||||
| Game Aesthetics and Critical Play Elective | 4 | ||||||
| 17 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||||
| Year 3 | |||||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer 1 | Hours | Summer 2 | Hours |
| GAME 3400 | 4 | Co-op | Co-op | Elective | 4 | ||
| GAME 3700 | 4 | Elective | 4 | ||||
| Game Design and Development Elective | 4 | ||||||
| Art + Design Elective | 4 | ||||||
| 16 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||||
| Year 4 | |||||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | ||||
| GAME 3800 | 4 | GAME 4700 | 4 | ||||
| Game Design and Development Elective | 4 | GAME 2010 | 4 | ||||
| Game Aesthetics and Critical Play Elective | 4 | Elective | 4 | ||||
| Elective | 4 | Elective | 4 | ||||
| 16 | 16 | ||||||
| Total Hours: 131 | |||||||