Serious Games

Overview

Serious Games from University of California, Santa Cruz targets the development of novel games that have the potential to make high societal impacts, such as learning games, simulation, health-based games, and more. Students in this program will propose their own game ideas and work with subject matter experts to realize and test their creations. 

The program’s curriculum is designed so that all students develop a baseline understanding of the necessary areas: game design, game technology, integrating subject matter expertise, designing and performing efficacy measures, effective teamwork, and career planning — all within the context of the serious games field.

Students at Serious Games from University of California, Santa Cruz will be able to:

• Use fundamental game design knowledge and knowledge of the serious games field to specify systems that will lead to a desired player experience, playtest to see what experience is achieved, and iterate to improve results and/or revise design goals in light of playtest discoveries, making necessary scope and focus decisions to complete within available time and resources.

• Use fundamental game technology knowledge and knowledge of the serious games field to select appropriate platforms and frameworks for a serious game project, construct novel software components to integrate into project frameworks, and debug and refine to achieve desired system behavior.

• Use an understanding of the role of subject matter expertise in the serious games field to successfully identify appropriate sources of subject matter expertise, elicit the necessary knowledge to inform a game project, and integrate that knowledge into the core gameplay experience.

• Use knowledge of appropriate serious games efficacy measures to design measures for a game, perform the measurement, analyze results, and identify potential game revisions arising from the results.

• Use an understanding of communication and collaboration approaches to operate effectively as a member of a serious game development team, and support others in doing so.

• Use knowledge of the professional landscape of the serious games field to define their own intended career trajectory.