Parsons Learn Game Design? How wild is Parsons? yes! You heard me right! Does Parsons really have no major in game design? The answer to this question: Yes, no! What do you mean? First of all, Parsons did not set up a special game design specialty like NYU Tisch Game Center or LCC Game Design.

However, when applying for Parsons, students can indeed choose Game Design as their intention. The mystery is shown in the Parsons official website search Design and Technology（DT） Parsons' game design is a professional direction set up under DT.

Although there is no specific specialty, Parsons, like the Game Center specially built by NYU Tisch, also has a special specialty New School Games As an independent game design plan. Today we compare Parsons New School Games with NYU Tisch Game Center , let's see:

"Learn game design at Parsons,

How wild is the game? "

First, on Parsons School of Design On the homepage of

"When creating, some artists will integrate oil painting, sculpture and other different disciplines. For New School Games, We advocate the combination of games with fashion, film, law, science, illustration, sound art, architecture, social research, and any other professional disciplines or fields we can obtain. The direction of game design we teach includes challenge games, social games, mobile games, serious/functional games, video games, computer games, physical games, large-scale games and games designed with various interesting media. "

It's not hard to see that Parsons has great courage, "Dare to play" , game design not only emphasizes Interdisciplinary , integrating various disciplines; Secondly, it also requires diversification and creativity. Parsons can teach in all game fields, whether you can think of it or not. This is very similar to the Game Center of NYU. Students can make full use of college resources to carry out diverse exploration and development, in other words—— It gives students great freedom and development space.

If you want to study game design in Parsons, you can choose from the following two majors: Design and Technology with both undergraduate and graduate degrees, and Media Studies with only graduate degrees:

But as we said at the beginning of today, these two majors are not completely targeted game design majors, but students can choose the direction of game design under these two majors as their specific professional development options in the future (is it "wild" and a bit wayward?)

Today we mainly use Design and Technology Let's talk about it for the main. In my opinion, Design and Technology is conceptually similar to the ITP/IMA+Game Center compared with NYU Tisch. It is a relatively complex "big project".

On the one hand, the professional name gives a wide range of "design" and "technology", covering almost all the design and scientific fields you can think of at once; On the other hand, the major itself has also subdivided specific selection directions, including both the ITP/IMA direction and the game design direction. The direction of game design is “Game Design” Similar to ITP/IMA “Creative Technology”。

No matter which direction you choose, you need to be clear: this major is based on a major prerequisite, that is, "solve design problems by refining software, hardware, art, and design creatively" - creatively solve design problems in an environment that integrates software, hardware, art, and design.

As a whole, Parsons also emphasizes c Ode/code programming Parsons even means "code comes your second language and express means of connecting with others"

This is actually a prerequisite. If you want to play and dare to play, first of all, you should be able to solve problems creatively in thinking and consciousness, and at the same time, you should master hard skills.

Special attention should be paid to Parsons' game design Find the aesthetic concept of game design in the environment of combining innovation and technology. This is similar to Game Center. Game Center views game design in this way we look at games as a creative form of art Creative art form. There is not enough technical content, but also aesthetic value to attract audiences from the artistic aspect.

When we talked about games in the past, most people might think: "Oh, games are used to relax and entertain the public, to kill time, or to increase interaction."

However, Parsons gave a deeper definition of game design, put game design in the context of the development of the whole society and the world, and combined with the concept of Design and Technology, believed that game design could be used to Explore activism, social change, scientific development, information visualization, and educational significance.

　　 As for professional aesthetic concept exploration, it is mainly reflected in the interdisciplinary direction For example, students can combine the concepts of installation art, interaction design, exhibition space, experimental inquiry and other disciplines to extend the game in multiple spaces and dimensions.

In order to help students develop the broader meaning of game design in more directions, Parsons also set up a special laboratory PETLab, which is different from Game Center.

If Game Center is a premise to help students better "design" games, so that students can better combine technology and art to explore new fields. Then PETLab has more social and cultural implications.

PETLab will contact Red Cross Society, climatologists, geographers, political scientists, etc Cooperate to solve some difficult problems in the world - floods, climate, economy, extreme weather, world disasters, etc. from the perspective of game design.

Seeing such a design proposition, I think many students may have found the clue. It is difficult for us to associate such a proposition with "games" in our past cognition. But in Design and Technology Parsons has explored the definition of games in other fields under the professional background.

Moreover, Parsons has done more than that in game design! In addition to PETLab, we also communicate with Quest to Learn, which is committed to combining digital tools, art design and traditional learning; It also cooperates with the non-profit social welfare game organization Games for Change to develop projects.

To sum up, Parsons' game design is as arbitrary as it is dare to "play". It is not enough to provide experience for individual, Parsons' real game intention is to solve problems directly for groups in need in the world and create new value concepts.

Finally, when it comes to specific courses, how to realize such a big idea? Like other professional courses of Parsons, game design also focuses on studio and drama, but the content is very targeted, such as the Core Studio Objcet: Game course in sophomore year.

The key point of this course is to let students understand heart of games:the design of interactivity The student union mainly learns the creation concept, media and creation technology of the game object, so as to master the composition, experience, game community building and other knowledge of the game.

　　 For example, students will think about and discuss: Can we find common ground in all types of games? How does a game work? As an interactive experience, what is the biggest difference between games and other interactive experiences? What are the main elements of building a game? How do players interact with the game? How does the game intersect with community order and culture and create new community order and culture?

In the undergraduate stage, Parsons first gave students a very big concept of game design to let them know that the original game design can also be used to solve the world's cultural, economic and historical problems; Secondly, it also pays more attention to the creativity and experimentation of students' learning. Next, we will talk about MFA/graduate students. This stage of learning can be seen as a deep exploration of specific professional content, which will be more in-depth and broad, and will also have more professional concepts.

In the professional description part, Parsons gives a definition. Students will conduct research in an interdisciplinary environment. For example, students can cooperate with students in visual design, photography, pure art, illustration and other majors.

Specifically, in terms of curriculum, the graduate stage does not distinguish between specific games and CT directions like the undergraduate stage, but from specific research dimensions, according to different creative themes.

Finally, let's talk about specific applications. Since Parsons does not divide majors, students need to choose a specific professional direction for creation when applying.

　　 Today's summary

To sum up today's content, "Does Parsons have a major in game design?" Parsons did not set up a separate discipline option of Game Design, but for students who want to develop future planning in game design, there are still options, that is, Design and Technology (DT). The major is divided into two major directions, one of which is Game Design.

Secondly, Parsons not only dares to play, but also has high requirements for playing. First of all, it is reflected in the way, with special emphasis on students' interdisciplinary awareness, Students are required to combine game design with different disciplines for creative design.

Secondly, in terms of content, different from our previous understanding of games - entertainment, Parsons also emphasizes the combination of social topics and world topics with broader significance to expand the definition of "games". In other words, in Parsons' view, game is not only a game, but also can help people to think and reflect on a specific thing under a pleasant interactive experience, so as to get the final solution of the problem at a deeper level.

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