Join a newly formed Game Design Studio with your fellow classmates as you work together to create your studios’ first video game project! Your team will be tasked with coming up with the initial concept for your game, building out the prototype, and presenting it to potential investors to see your creativity take flight. Take up a role in the studio as a designer, programmer, or project manager to help contribute to the final video game concept launch! This real-life simulation with industry will teach you what it’s really like to work in game development. Learn about your passions and talent through this exciting evolution! 

Project:

Students work on creating their own video game concept in teams throughout the program, defining the important elements which make a finished game such as level design, character creation, and world building. Students will need to identify who their target audience is by following our Game Design Framework and through this fun evolution pitch their game concepts to “investors” who give them constructive feedback on their ideas.

Skills & Knowledge:

From the nuances of selling their finished product to the complexities of code that bring them to life, students will get an under-the-hood look at how their favorite games are produced. By taking a look at every step of the process from brainstorming their concept to releasing it on the market, students will understand what it takes to build an intriguing game for the world to play. Additionally, students get to learn about themselves through the axis of creative and technical skills that video game creation provides, which builds a strong foundation for future career exploration.

Come together with your fellow students to develop your own startup business and first product idea! See what's made other companies successful like Nike, Adidas, Instagram and Tik Tok and use your team's creativity to develop your first idea. After learning how to identify your customer and validate their problems it's onto the fun part, creating a solution! Creating a great product is just as important as finding customers to buy it. How will you sell your product to your customer? How will it solve the customer’s problem? What new value will you create for your customer? How do you compare to the competitors? Learn from real companies’ successes and failures while creating solutions for customers, just like you will with your startup team. This real-life simulation will teach you the realities of working in the business world and the challenges you would face everyday.

Project:

Students are placed into teams to form their first company and first product or service they build around a societal problem or need. Students will identify why the product matters to their customer and how it is solving their problem. Through the given industry framework students will build out the product design, marketing pieces, pricing, and overall their team “pitch” to investors seeking to support their company's big new launch!

Skills & Knowledge:

Students will learn a scoped down and simplified version of the lean methodology: picking a problem, identifying who has this problem and who would buy a potential solution. Ideating a solution and how to gather information on whether people like your solution enough to buy.  Students need to think critically beyond just a tagline.

Thanks to new music technology, getting into the virtual studio and creating your own tracks has never been easier—but making that next hit needs more than talent.

This program will help you understand what makes a hit, and how to go from your song idea to recording and making beats like the pros.

Project

Students will create their own beats and songs to share with the class and discover what it's like to add their own style and energy into their music. By utilizing easy to use music software, musicians of all backgrounds will be able to get something on the airwaves and practice their craft. 

Skills & Knowledge

Learn the basics of music production software and how the different layers of percussion, melodies, and vocals come together to create a track. Gain confidence with your timing, tuning, and technical ability

Practice giving critical feedback to your peers