When it comes to games and medical treatment, it seems that they are two completely unrelated professional fields, but USC University of Southern California has always had a game medical specialty. So, how does USC Nantah combine game design to "cure" patients? Now, let's take a look at how the USC game design major is an interdisciplinary medical direction?

How does the USC game design major pursue interdisciplinary medical direction?

First of all, the USC game design major is divided into two major directions. One is biased towards design and creativity, and is set up under the Academy of Film Arts. After completion, the degree of interactive media and games will be obtained; The other focuses on programming and R&D, so students can choose to study in Viterbi Engineering College, and ultimately obtain a degree in computer science.

From the perspective of the whole Game Design, the School of Film Arts and the School of Engineering are mutually cooperative. Because in USC, games are a professional field that integrates elements of many disciplines such as design, art, production/product and engineering.

One thing I need to share with you is that USC University of Southern California Although divided into two directions, its game design, as a whole, is still biased towards game programming, that is, technology development, program settings and other back-end technologies. Most of the game designs we have been exposed to before are mainly character design, game scene design, game experience design, etc., which are biased towards the design and the overall feelings of later players.

At present, although some colleges and universities such as Parsons, NYU, CMU, ACCD, or LCC in the UK all have game design related majors. However, USC can be said to be the first school to focus on game program development, and also the first school to teach game design and programming as a major. This is also the most distinctive point of USC game design.

Undergraduate, with B A. In Interactive Entertainment and B S. In Computer Science (Games), the professional name can be seen from the two choices, one is more artistic and the other is more computer oriented.

In the master's stage, the direction is set on the basis of specialty:

　　M. S.in Computer Science with Specialization in Game Development

　　M. F.A.in Interactive Media

　　M. F.A.in Interactive Media（Games and Health）

　　M. A.in Cinematic Arts（Media Arts，Games and Health）

There are two related to health care. M. F.A.in Interactive Media (Games and Health) and M A.in Cinematic Arts（Media Arts，Games and Health）。

Interactive Media (Games and Health)

In the professional introduction part, USC directly proposed that the key to this profession is games and health, based on cross domain/professional cooperation. Students who choose this major should first apply for an MFA degree, and then choose this major after the first year of basic professional courses.

According to the current social concern and crowd demand, the major will mainly guide students to develop in the following directions:

Sports and Exercise for Wellness

Improve health problems related to obesity, nutrition, and physical exercise by using entertainment and games, combined with novel assessment and treatment techniques

Healthy Brain Architecture

This direction mainly requires the design and dissemination of innovative game story products, so as to promote human brain development, guide healthy behavior, and affect the regulation of the entire human life span

Social and Sensorimotor Play

It is committed to studying new evaluation and treatment technologies through interactive games, so as to improve people's social interaction, visual spatial cognition, and physical spatial movement coordination ability

Games for Health

The best understanding is to promote, develop and evaluate innovative game applications with behavioral health functions

Storing for Mobile Health (mHealth)/Mobile Health (mHealth)

Mobile interactive games designed for general health problems, health care, or some specific chronic diseases

The Future of Health Care

Reconsider the patient/user/athlete experience related to the healthcare environment through game interaction

Each of these directions has its own emphasis, but I personally think that this is actually a major focusing on health care, interspersed with games and other courses. The main part of the game, frankly speaking, is to provide more emotional and convenient conditions and services for medical care.

In the professional framework, USC also mentioned that students will design, develop and evaluate the impact of interactive entertainment on health and happiness during their study.

Secondly, we should also pay attention to this sentence: Students will observe a broad perspective on theory, methods and practice through an intensive overview of core concepts of science with a lifespan perspective on brain development,lifelong resilience,wellness and illness.

For students in this major, they will begin with an in-depth overview of the core concepts of science and a lifelong perspective on brain development, lifelong adaptability, health and disease. Based on these research contents, students will carry out corresponding learning and gain a wide range of perspectives related to theory, methods and practice.

For specific professional objectives, USC proposed four points——

A - Conduct interdisciplinary formative research, such as literature review, existing technology analysis, etc., to establish professional background data, and reasons for design and evaluation;

B - Use interdisciplinary research methods, such as ethnography, research, observation and research, to adjust the intervention plan and design requirements for the target population;

C - iteratively develop and adjust existing interventions for health status in an interdisciplinary environment;

D - Design and manage small project studies to carry out effective ecological assessment of interventions, such as feasibility trials, experimental design, clinical trial studies, etc.

This major lasts for three years. The first academic year mainly focuses on project experiments, seminars, and workshops, but the courses are not basic courses. In general, students will complete three years of learning in an environment that combines new research methods, methodologies and teaching concepts.

In my opinion, the specialty's particularity lies in that USC game design points to a very special field - that is, medical health, which we have been talking about today. Medical health can be said to be a topic and field that people have paid special attention to for a long time. USC has found the interoperability and interdisciplinary practicality of the two.

From the professional curriculum, we can also see that students who choose this major will even be exposed to medical clinical research during their study. That is to say, USC will create a relatively complete medical cognitive system for students from the medical perspective, so as to help students better combine the two disciplines and maximize the role of games in medicine. It is difficult for other schools to have the opportunity to practice this. recommend: USC Nanda Animation, course/application requirements/tuition fees/portfolio requirements

　　Cinematic Arts（Media Arts，Games and Health）

From the perspective of professional structure and interpretation, this major is basically the same as the Interactive Media (Game and Health) we talked about earlier. It is also divided into 6 main directions:

Sports and Exercise for Wellness;

Healthy Brain Architecture;

Social and Sensorimotor Play;

Games for Health;

Storing for Mobile Health (mHealth)/Mobile Health (mHealth);

The Future of Health Care

But the difference is that this major lasts for two years. And from the perspective of curriculum, it is more inclined to theoretical research, with particular emphasis on exploration in neuroscience and public health.

From the perspective of curriculum, the content is not as much as that of the previous major, but it is also a large-scale project and research, which requires students to spend no less time and experience than that of the previous major. For example, in the first semester of the first academic year, students must first face a lecture course called "Interactive Entertainment, Science, and Healthcare".

In this course, students will learn to design, develop, and evaluate interactive entertainment and cross media based interventions in the interdisciplinary fields of neuroscience, public health, and medicine. It is a very systematic basic theory course.

In the first semester of the second academic year, what needs to be completed is a large interdisciplinary project. This project is jointly completed by students, artists, designers, and professionals from other disciplines with non art and design professional backgrounds. In terms of volume, the project is a team project, and due to the participation of non professionals, it is quite interdisciplinary.

In the second semester, what students need to complete is also an interdisciplinary project, but at this time, the school gives the definition of "Media based Interventions in Healthcare", which is a comprehensive project based on the scope of health care. Secondly, this is also reflected in the work requirements submitted by students when they graduate, and the overall requirements are very strict.

More USC University of Southern California games related to:

University of Southern California, Interactive Media and Games

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