Current Courses & Advising at American University

GAME-620 Making Meaningful Games
Offered through the American University Game Center

Description: The focus of this course is the construction and evaluation of effective argument through play. Students apply foundations of game design and related skills in the examination and construction of multiple games, with a critical eye on underlying design theory and production practices. Students identify audience, medium, distribution, and production methods as they design and develop two games of rhetoric. Specific emphasis will be placed on both learning the production process for games and elevating work from early designs to advanced prototypes and beyond, as well as exploring and comparing strategies and techniques for creating meaningful experiences and tools for research that resonate with players. Usually Offered: fall. Grading: A-F only. Prerequisite: GAME-610. Restriction: Game Design (MA), Games and Interactive Media (MFA), Film and Media Production (MA), Film and Media Arts (MFA), or Game Design (Graduate Certificate). Class 3, Credits 3. (F)
Course Syllabus Available here. (MS Word DOCX).

GAME-675 (formerly GAME-696) Writing for Interactivity
Offered through the American University Game Center

Description: This course examines storytelling strategies for digital games and other interactive media forms. This is a hands-on course that focuses on story-driven, single- and multi-player experiences in the context of storytelling across media. It introduces students to the design and development of narrative games and media experiences including conceptualization, foundational narrative design strategies, and putting these designs in practice through the authorship and delivery of project-based work. Particular attention is paid to both pre-existing and emergent development practices and technologies, as well as how writing for interactivity relates to more traditional dramatic writing and current research in the field. Restriction: Game Design (MA), Games and Interactive Media (MFA), Film and Media Production (MA), Film and Media Arts (MFA), or Game Design (Graduate Certificate). Class 3, Credits 3. (F)
Course Syllabus Available here. (MS Word DOCX).

COMM-702 Thesis Project: Games & Interactive Media
Offered through the American University Game Center

Description: The capstone course is an opportunity for students to produce a project of considerable sophistication and should be an expression of the student’s own personal voice and vision. The final thesis presentation must demonstrate mastery of the craft of media/gamemaking and should rise to the level of professional standards in its execution so that it can help the student transition to a professional career. MFA students complete thesis projects that can be interactive media, films, games, and applications, accompanied by design and process documentation, a professional artists statement for the work, and academic research into how it fits into the field and relates to other relevant work. Grading: A-F only. Prerequisite: GAME-620, GAME-696, 3rd Year Standing. Restriction: Games and Interactive Media MFA. Credits 6: (3F & 3S)
Course Syllabus Available here. (MS Word DOCX).

GAME-603 Web Portfolio
Offered through the American University School of Communbication

Description: Students learn an overview of the theoretical structures behind informational design for the Internet. In addition, they learn basic HTML programming and static site development, as well as how the skills can be applied as a communication medium. This course provides students with an overview of web development using code and development tools. Students create their own online content and website with the objective of creating a professional portfolio for their own work in the context of their creative discipline. Course (3), Credit (3). Usually Offered: Summer. Compressed 6 week course, online. Course Syllabus Available here. (MS Word DOCX).

Advising & Mentoring
Phelps regularly advises all students in the GAME MA and MFA programs, and is formally the advisor of MFA projects for part of the capstone thesis year in concert with other faculty. He also advises students in the Ph.D. in Communication in areas of games and media where they intersect the program focus of media, technology, and democracy.

Selected Lectures at the University of Canterbury

From 2020-2023 Phelps "taught into" numerous courses and lectures as part of the Masters of Human Interface Technology graduate program at the Human Insterface Technology Laboratory New Zealand (HITLabNZ). This was a shared course model in which different faculty would take different topics and assignments based on expertise to prepare students for independent research activity. His topics included:

Project Planning and Scope
Introduction to Prototyping
Introduction to Game Development
Designing Applied Immersive Games
Qualitative Analysis
Aesthetics in Human Interaction Design
Design Post-Mortem and Critique

Selected Courses & Advising while at the Rochester Institute of Technology

While at RIT Professor Phelps taught and advised undergraduate and graduate students in Game Design & Development (GCCIS), Motion Picture Sciences (CIAS), 3D Digital Design (CIAS), Film & Animation (CIAS), New Media (CIAS & GCCIS), and through the School of Individualized Studies. His game production class is pictured below the year they worked on Splattershmup: A Game of Art & Motion, in which undergraduate producer Katie Tigue presents to guest visitor (and alum of Phelps' first games course) Anna Sweet, who at the time was a senior manager and producer with Valve.

photo of andy's production studio course

(Above: Student Kathleen Tigue presents her work as producer on Splattershmup: A Game of Art & Motion in Phelps' game production class, 2015)

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS OF SELECTED CLASSES AT ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY:

IGME-589 RESEACH STUDIO and IGME-580 PRODUCTION STUDIO
(Offered through RIT School of Interactive Games & Media in collaboration with the RIT MAGIC Center and MAGIC Spell Studios)

This course will allow students to work as domain specialists on teams completing one or more large projects over the course of the semester. The projects will be relevant to experiences of the Interactive Games and Media programs, but will require expertise in a variety of sub-domains, including web design and development, social computing, computer game development, multi-user media, human-computer interaction and streaming media. Students will learn to apply concepts of project management and scheduling, production roles and responsibilities, and their domain skill sets to multidisciplinary projects. Students will complete design documents, progress reports and final assessments of themselves and their teammates in addition to completing their assigned responsibilities on the main projects. (Third Year Standing) Class 3, Credit 3 (F, S)

IGME-540 FOUNDATIONS OF GAME GRAPHICS PROGRAMMING
(Offered through RIT School of Interactive Games & Media)

Description: Students will explore the use of an advanced graphics API to access hardware-accelerated graphics in a real-time graphics engine context. The course will involve discussion of scene graphs, optimizations, and integration with the API object structure, as well as input schemes, content pipelines, and 2D and 3D rendering techniques. Students will also explore the advanced use of the API calls in production code to construct environments capable of real-time performance. Students will construct from scratch a fully functional graphics engine, with library construction for game development. (Pre-requisites: IGME-309 Data Structures & Algorithms for Games & Simulations II) Class 3, Credit 3 (F)

IGME-740 GAME GRAPHICS PROGRAMMING
(Offered through RIT School of Interactive Games & Media

Description: Students will explore the use of an advanced graphics API to access hardware-accelerated graphics in a real-time graphics engine context. The course will involve discussion of scene graphs, optimizations, and integration with the API object structure, as well as input schemes, content pipelines, and 2D and 3D rendering techniques. Students will also explore the advanced use of the API calls in production code to construct environments capable of real-time performance. Students will construct from scratch a fully functional graphics engine, with library construction for game development. Advanced topics will be explored, including real-time special effects, custom shading pipelines, and advanced deferred rendering techniques. (IGME-601 Game Development Processes and IGME-603 Gameplay and Prototyping) Class 3, Credit 3 (S)

IGM-4080-590 PROJECT COURSE
(Offered through RIT School of Interactive Games & Media)

Browser based 3D technologies are a recently emerging trend that is impacted by the larger movement towards media-rich delivery via standards-based web technologies. With the development of web browsers capable of utilizing 3D hardware and traditional graphics APIs, coupled with recent advances in script engine performance, it is now possible to create deep and complex 3D experiences without the need for custom plug-ins or separate engines outside of the browser environment. However, the development of content of this type is highly customized to these new environments, and traditional techniques are being re-examined in light of new workflows, processes, and strategies that are emerging in response to these shifts in the underlying delivery model. In this course, students will explore these emerging technologies and software trends through the implementation of a rich-media game experience utilizing these tools and techniques. The construction of individual and group projects and accompanying documentation is required. Prerequisites: 4080-309 and (4080-434 or 4080-502 or 4080-387 or 4080-431)

Curriculum Design & Development

Phelps was the lead curriculum designer of both the undergraduate and graduate programs in Game Design & Development, now offered by the School of Interactive Games & Media that he later founded. The graduate degree was approved by the NY State Department of Education and accepted enrolled students in 2006, followed by the undergraduate degree a year later. Since 2009, they have been ranked in the top 10 nationally by the Princeton Review, every year since the rankings began and until Phelps left RIT in 2019. Alumni from the programs are found through the industry, as well as numerous other careers, graduate programs, and opportunities as detailed throughout this site. Below are a collection of materials designed by Phelps and colleagues.

In addition to his role in designing the curriculum, Phelps also led the other co-authors and faculty collaborators in this effort, shepherded these degrees through approval at department, college, and institute curriculum committees, presented the degrees before the Academic Senate and the Board of Trustees, and authored the NY State Department of Education documentation. Throughout this process he worked closely with the Office of the Provost, various deans and department heads, enrollment management, finance and administration, and other campus groups and liaisons.

Below are several of the documents he prepared as a part of the degree proposal process, with financial and enrollment information redacted. While serving as Director of Interactive Games & Media Phelps revised these degrees in collaboration with Dr. Christopher Egert (Associate Director) and IGM faculty in preparation for semester conversion in 2013.

Masters of Science in Game Design & Development (MSGDD) Full Proposal (Blue Cover). [PDF 285M]
MSGDD Summary for Academic Senate (Orange Cover). [PDF 863K]
MSGDD Graduate Capstone FAQ (Purple Cover) [PDF 879K]
MSGDD Implementation Details (Red Cover) [PDF 942K]
MSGDD Overview Presentation (Red Cover). [PDF 6.7M]

In addition to the graduate documentation above, the full undergraduate proposal is available (left), and the abbreviated report presented to the full RIT Academic Senate is also available (right). These are some of the most successful degrees on the entire campus, having grown to a combined student body of over 700. This in turn has attracted numerous additional faculty, research opportunities, collaborative proposals, minors, and drastically altered the facilities footprint of the entire campus. The impact of these programs on RIT as a campus cannot be overstated: they are a crown jewel of the Institute.

From 2012-2013 RIT transitioned from a quarter-based system to a semester-based system. This necessitated every degree at the university to be rewritten (the number of courses, offerings, and schedule all changes). Phelps oversaw this process as Director for IGM, and was responsible for numerous details large and small throughout this time period. The final converted degrees that he prepared along with Christopher Egert, Associate Director of IGM, are presented here as historical data. These materials were currently on file as of 2013 and were presented (and approved) to both Academic Senate and the NY State Board of Education. NOTE: These files technically replace those listed above, although they are based heavily off of the initial program designs therein. Given the demands of this conversion process, he is especially proud of having led this effort for the School, and is pictured below with the IGM Curriculum committee in their 'IGM team jerseys' from the semester conversion experience. (Phelps is back row, towards the right).

BACHELORS of SCIENCE in GAME DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT (zip file 932K)
BACHELORS of SCIENCE in NEW MEDIA INTERACTIVE DEVELOPMENT (zip file 924K)
BS/MS in GAME DESIGN and DEVELOPMENT (zip file 1.4M)
MS in GAME DESIGN and DEVELOPMENT (zip file 1.2M)

Course Design & Development

In 2012-2013 RIT transitioned from a quarter system (3 marking periods per years excluding summer) to a semester-based system (two marking periods per year excluding summer). As a part of this process, Professor Phelps, acting as Director of IGM, along with Christopher Egert, acting as Associate Director, shepherded the process to rewrite and condense the entire curriculum offered by the school, across 3 degrees (2 undergraduate and 1 graduate). As a portion of this work, Phelps was intimately involved in the creation of first drafts of every course in the school, which were then provided as templates to the faculty to build from, and he was then engaged in reviewing the courses, ensuring they met the curricular and program mappings, presenting the courses to the Dean and Associate provost, and presenting the new degrees to the RIT Academic Senate and preparing the materials for the NY State Board of Education. The following are a list of the courses prepared by Phelps and Egert, with those courses in bold being those that Phelps was most engaged in. (NOTE: The curriculum of the school, like any such effort, continues to grow and change, and these are not to be considered 'current' with respect to students now enrolled.)

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES: (ALL FILES MS WORD FORMAT)
GCCIS IGME 101 New Media Interactive Design & Algorithmic Problem Solving I
GCCIS IGME 102 New Media Interactive Design & Algorithmic Problem Solving II
GCCIS IGME 105 Game Development & Algorithmic Problem Solving I
GCCIS IGME 106 Game Development & Algorithmic Problem Solving II
GCCIS IGME 101 Introduction to Interactive Media
GCCIS IGME 119 2D & 3D Animation And Asset Production
GCCIS IGME 201 New Media Interactive Design & Algorithmic Problem Solving III
GCCIS IGME 202 Interactive Media Development
GCCIS IGME 209 Data Structures & Algorithms for Games & Simlations I
GCCIS IGME 219 Advanced Animation & Asset Production
GCCIS IGME 220 Game Design & Development I
GCCIS IGME 230 Website Design & Implementation
GCCIS IGME 236 Interaction, Immersion and the Media Interface
GCCIS IGME 309 Data Structures & Algorithms for Games & Simulations II
GCCIS IGME 320 Game Design & Development II
GCCIS IGME 330 Rich Media Web Applications Development I
GCCIS IGME 430 Rich Media Web Applications Development II
GCCIS IGME 431 Digital Video for the Web
GCCIS IGME 440 Online Virtual Worlds & Simulations
GCCIS IGME 450 Casual Game Development
GCCIS IGME 451 Systems Concepts for Games & Media
GCCIS IGME 470 Physical Computing & Alternative Interfaces
GCCIS IGME 470 Physical Computing & Alternative Interfaces
GCCIS IGME 499 Undergraduate Co-Op
GCCIS IGME 529 Foundations of Interactive Narrative
GCCIS IGME 540 Foundations of Game Graphics Programming
GCCIS IGME 550 Foundations of Game Engine Design & Development
GCCIS IGME 560 Artificial Intelligence for Game Environments
GCCIS IGME 570 Digital Audio Production
GCCIS IGME 571 Interactive Game Audio
GCCIS IGME 580 IGM Production Studio
GCCIS IGME 599 Independent Study

GRADUATE COURSES: (ALL FILES MS WORD FORMAT)
GCCIS IGME 601 Game Development Processes
GCCIS IGME 602 Game Design
GCCIS IGME 603 Gameplay & Prototyping
GCCIS IGME 609 Programming for Designers
IGME 670 Digital Audio Production
IGME 671 Interactive Game Audio
IGME 680 IGM Production Studio
IGME 681 Innovation & Invention
IGME 695 Colloquium In Game Design & Development
IGME 699 Graduate Co-Op
IGME 720 Social & Persuasive Game Design
IGME 730 Game Design & Development for Casual & Mobile Platforms
IGME 740 Game Graphics Programming
IGME 750 Game Engine Design & Development
IGME 760 Artificial Intelligence for Gameplay
IGME 788 Capstone Design
IGME 789 Capstone Development
IGME 790 Graduate Seminar in IGM
IGME 795 Game Industry Themes & Perspectives
IGME 796 Advanced Topics in Game Design
IGME 797 Advanced Topics in Game Development
IGME 799 Independent Study

Personal Statement of Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy can be essentially summarized in the slogan I established at the MAGIC Center: “We Learn by Making Things”. What this means to me is a deeply contextualized form of constructionism and constructivism – a general approach that I began to adhere to in graduate school studying work like Seymour Papert and Randy Pausch, and later a host of other researchers and designers. I believe it is at the core of the ‘maker movement’, and essentially any design field, and I have been very fortunate over the past two decades to be able to engage students directly in learning to build the very thing that captures their interest: video games and interactive experiences. I think probably the best way to describe how I approach teaching is to explain a little bit about the curriculum I designed: the values and norms I hold are (I hope) self-evident in the goals and objectives of the program.

President Destler and Dr. Rebecca Johnson visit Andy's class

(President William Destler and Dr. Rebecca Johnson visit Phelps' class with undergraduate student Joe Coppola and play Hack, Slash & Backstab, 2016)

The undergraduate degrees that I founded and helped design and nurture at RIT are based on a fairly simple principle, which is a broad core of study for undergraduates that asks them to do, essentially, a ‘little bit of everything’ and then specialize in years 3-5 (it is a cooperative education program spread out over 5 years with planned absences for work experience). The idea here was not only that students would gain core skills in computing, animation, art, design, math, physics, technology, language, psychology, writing, etc., but also that they would experience things outside their comfort zone, and learn a little bit about the various roles and communities that comprise a multidisciplinary, design-centric, high-tech field like games. The important thing to me in this context wasn’t just core skills to advance, but that right from the beginning students were forced to learn a little bit of everything – the gifted programmer had to draw, the gifted artist had to code. I didn’t expect they would all be good at everything, even at an introductory level – I was hoping that they would learn a little bit about each others roles. The other core components of the program was that students would start building things right away: that the curriculum would meet students directly at their passion in a very immediate way.

Later that transitions to specialized roles on multidisciplinary teams, building games at ever increasing scale, in ways that test professionalism, communications, and integration. Formalized structures of reporting, clearly identified roles, discrete task-based assignments towards long, open-ended projects, group decision making and individual leadership, use of professional tools in context – these are the hallmarks of my upper division game studio courses. We focus on production, and apply skills and knowledge in context. This can vary across content and form: art games, serious games, health games, pure entertainment games, etc. One of my personal passions is what I would term ‘experiential learning games’ where I’m looking to explore a particular subject or feeling in a way where merely playing the game itself conveys the concept. Splattershmup is an attempt at this – a way to explore line, motion, space, and context merely by playing, relating a familiar thing with an unfamiliar style.

At the graduate level I’ve worked to incorporate those same principles of applied production, multidisciplinary collaboration, and specialized roles and marry them with an applied research focus and pursuit of fundamentally new processes and concepts. This can take many forms, across all of Boyer’s various classifications of scholarship and discovery, but the fundamental shift is a move away from an undergraduate focus on innovation and invention, into a more structured research methodology and analysis. But this can and does need to operate in harmony with a production focused, product-centric approach.

When I look at the students I’ve had the pleasure of teaching, the thing I am most proud of is not just their accomplishments, their contribution to the medium, or even their successes beyond their careers in families and living and citizenry and making the world a better place. I think every educator has to have the passion for those things, the ability to want for their students a better world and to want to help them succeed beyond measure.

The thing I am most proud of is that for so many of my students they explore the intersection of computing and the arts, and come out on the other side of that with a newfound appreciation for both. I’ve worked my entire career to help students bridge this divide, to construct curriculum that flows back and forth across these fields, and to design experiences that engage students in situated learning directly through construction and production. The thing I am passionate about is helping student learn, directly, to respect both technology and the arts, and most importantly their intersection. I am passionate about helping them make the things they are driven to make. Because in the end, we learn by making things.

Andrew Phelps, 2018