Game Design and Development Decal Spring 2025

bluegreen Welcome Back! pinkyellow

Join Us for GDD Info Sessions

We are kicking off the Fall 2025 semester with two infosessions in Jacobs 10 at 6:30PM! Come learn about our DeCal and see how you can get involved this semester! We can’t wait to see you there!

Fall 25 Application

Due Friday 9/5, 11:59 PM!

Jump to Week: 0

Schedule

Week 0

Sept 2
Lecture Infosession
LabLab 0: Unity Setup
Sept 4
Lecture Infosession
LabLab 0: Unity Setup

Week 1

Sept 9
Lecture Intro to Unity
LabLab 1: Intro to Unity
ReadingGame Design Principles
Sept 11
Lecture Game Design
LabProgrammer: Lab 2: Basic Scripting / Artist: Lab 3: Pixel Art and Spriting
ProjectProject 1

Week 2

Sept 16
Lecture Game Art Fundamentals
LabProgrammer: Lab 4: Advanced Scripting / Artist: Lab 5: Tilesets
ReadingGraphics vs Aesthetics
Sept 18
Lecture Fundamentals of Animation
LabProgrammer: Lab 6: Colliders and Rigidbodies / Artist: Lab 7: Animation

Week 3

Sept 23
Lecture Game Loops
LabLab 8: Animator and Blend Trees
Reading13 Principles of Gameplay
Sept 25
Lecture User Interfaces
LabProgrammer: Lab 9: UI and Layering / Artist: Lab 10: UI Asset Creation
ProjectProject 2: Game Jam

Week 4

Sept 30
Lecture Git Tutorial
LabProgrammer: Lab 11: Coroutines / Artist: Lab 12: Environment Design
ReadingHow to Pitch your Project
Oct 2
Lecture Design Docs and MVPs

Week 5

Oct 7
Lecture Pitch Day
ReadingHow to Write a Good Game Design Document
Oct 9
Lecture Project 2 Showcase
ProjectProject 3: Final

Week 6

Oct 14
Lecture Work Day
Lab Optional: Lab 13: Transitioning, Saving and Building
Project Milestone 0: Game Design Doc
ReadingTeam Structures in Game Development
Oct 16
Lecture Tutorial + Level Design
LabOptional: Lab 14: 3D Rigging, Skinning, and Animation
Project Milestone 1: MVP Playtest

Week 7

Oct 21
Lecture Game Feel
LabOptional: Lab 15: Raycasting
ReadingTips for Better Playtesting
Oct 23
Lecture Work Day

Week 8

Oct 28
Lecture Work Day
LabOptional: Lab 16: Lighting
ReadingInsightful Playtest Questions
Oct 30
Project Work Day

Week 9

Nov 4
Lecture Music and SFX
LabOptional: Lab 16: Lighting
ReadingInsightful Playtest Questions
Nov 6
Project Milestone 2: Alpha Playtest

Week 10

Nov 13
Lecture Guest Lecture

Week 11

Nov 18
Lecture Work Day
Reading AI in Gaming
Nov 20
Project Milestone 3: Beta Playtest

Week 12

Nov 25
Lecture AI Design
Reading Tutorial Design

Week 13

Dec 2
Lecture Building and Publishing
ReadingGamification
Dec 4
Lecture Course Postmortem
Project Milestone 4: Final Submission

Week 15

Dec 9
GDD Showcase