3pointD.com

The Rochester Institute of Technology, which has had a game design concentration for undergraduates for some time now, has just had a Masters Degree in Game Design and Development approved by the New York State Education Department, making it one of the first such programs in the U.S., and perhaps the first Masters program to focus on the computer game industry itself and on broadly integrated aspects of game design such as gameplay, balancing and the other ingredients that go into gamemaking, rather than only including more granular elements such as 3D asset design or more academic pursuits like the sociology of online games. (The Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University also offers a Masters, but its program is not as focused on game development specifically.)

Certification by the NYSED is a big step for RIT, which has been working on the approval for years, according to gamer and blogger Andy Phelps, who is the director of the program. Phelps described the process to me as “intense.” I can’t think of too many better people to run a program like this, given that Phelps is also the person who wrote one of the best descriptions I’ve ever read of emergent gameplay in massively multiplayer online games. I love Andy’s solid perspective as a player, which I imagine will do a lot for education in the field.

The program has a mixed focus on design and development topics, Phelps says, including several core courses on things like games history, world design, story and treatment, etc., but also focuses very heavily on development topics such as game engines, AI, and databases. “It is meant to provide developers [with] the broader perspective of what they are building and the industry in which they are working,” Andy says.

Andy’s pretty excited, and I can’t say I blame him. It’s definitely a red-letter day when a state education department signs off on a graduate degree in game design — something that would hardly have been imaginable even five years ago. But RIT’s imagination seems to have been ahead of most. A hearty woot is in order. 3pointD raises its glass to Andy and RIT.