DEGREE OFFERED IN COMPUTER GAME DESIGN

The University of California-Santa Cruz has approved a new science major in computer game design. 
The school said the new major is designed to provide students with a rigorous background in the technical, artistic and narrative elements of creating interactive computer games.

The university's department of computer science will administer the new interdisciplinary program that opens this fall. A highlight of the major is a yearlong game design project in which students will work in teams to develop and polish a substantial video game.

To help launch the program, UCSC has hired Michael Mateas, an artificial intelligence researcher and an assistant professor of computer science, to help students create computer-controlled characters.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., and the Georgia Institute of Technology have recently launched similar computer science programs.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International 

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