Simon Tarr gets paid to teach students how to create video games.
"Video games are the most dynamic new form of art out there right now. I really wanted to help students examine that process," said Simon Tarr, assistant professor of new media arts and design.
Electronic Entertainment Design, a course where students will design and build a game for sale, will be offered for the first time in the spring.
Beyond simply creating games, students will study the design, production, history and theory of video games.
Tarr said he wants the course to be more hands-on for the students than just lecturing.
"We'll be going in depth in the theories and concepts behind gaming, but at the end of the day, what I want people to do is actually make something," Tarr said.
Tarr said the types of games students will create depend on the kinds of experience brought to the class.
"The game design process is so huge, even more complicated than film making, which is where I come from," Tarr said.
Tarr said the course will hold up to 20 students, and he has already had a lot of people express interest to him.
The course is open to both graduate and undergraduate students.
There are no prerequisites for the course other than the permission of the instructor, and students interested do not have to be media arts majors or minors.
Tarr does warn students that the course is difficult.
"Though it will be worth it, this class will be a lot of work. If you can't deal with that next semester, don't bother," Tarr said on a course description Web site.
Tarr is optimistic that similar types of classes will be offered in the future through cooperation between faculty in the media arts, computer science and engineering departments.
The course listing is MART 590E, and the class will meet on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2:30-3:20 p.m. in McMaster 214.
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