On January 10, 2023 John Brown University announced two additional majors to the roster, Game Design and Mechatronics Engineering. Both are slated to officially start in fall 2023.
According to the press release by JBU the reason for implementing this new major to the catalog is related to the projected market of gaming industry being roughly $387 billion by 2026. This includes more than videogames. However, it is also tabletop board games, card games, visual novels and mobile games. When interviewing Dr. Jonathan Himes, English professor and Head of the University’s Writing Center, he says that the game design program is much more than learning how to code. It is about learning how to create an immersive experience for the player. Dr. Himes also says that it is about “getting a program to simulate artificial intelligence so closely, that when the game predicts the players moves, they think ‘Wow, this thing really knows what I am about to do.’”
Due to this, the game design major will not only consist of classes such as Intro to Computing, Computer Graphics and Object-Oriented Programming. It also incorporates classes geared toward teaching storytelling such as: Masterpieces of Literature, Interactive Fiction and even Social Psychology.
The diversity of these classes goes to show another point about the game design major: It is not just for those who enjoy coding. Himes says that “It [Game Design] is much bigger than just computer science, in the class going right now, we have all sorts of majors: Graphic design, CS and even Outdoor Leadership Ministries.”
According to Dr. Himes, creating a game of any kind will take teamwork. Any game created is going to need artwork, any pc game is going to need coding and many games are going to need a solid story. Furthermore, every game that is created needs not only a solid vision, but a person who can concretely communicate that vision to the rest of the team. This is why the University offers such a diverse set of classes for game design. It is critical for students to have the hard skills for game creation and the soft skills of explaining the vision.
Dr. Himes ended by explaining that one of the goals of the game design major is finding new ways to reach others for Christ. Ted Song, Chair of the Engineering, Computer Science and Cybersecurity Department, seconded this idea, saying “JBU’s Bachelor of Science in Game Design will prepare students to design games that integrate faith covertly or overtly and portray people and situations in their games.”
If you are interested in learning more about the game design program you can reach out to either Ted Song at Tsong@jbu.edu or Jonathan Himes at JHimes@jbu.edu.