Game Development and Entrepreneurship

General information

Game Development and Entrepreneurship is designed to provide students with a wide range of game design development expertise. Students are immersed in the game development process from day one and develop complete video games beginning in their first year. Successful students develop their knowledge and skills in a diverse team environment and learn to work with programmers, artists, and designers to create innovative products that push the medium to its limits.

In Years 1 to 3, all students participate in the Game Development Workshop (GDW). Each course taken in that year is integrated with a GDW project for a semester long game project. Students will work in teams to, apply knowledge learned in all of the program’s courses by developing and delivering a game at the end of each year. In Year 4, students can participate in a year-long team-based Capstone program where they work on an industry-driven gaming project, or they can be part of an innovative incubator program where they are assisted in developing their own gaming start-up company.

Our state-of-the-art gaming and virtual reality laboratory features motion capture facilities, an audiometric (sound) room, 3D displays, and the latest in interaction devices. Students acquire business and management knowledge and develop entrepreneurial skills, allowing graduates to quickly advance their careers in the game industry as employees or entrepreneurs in charge of developing and managing their own gaming businesses. Students may take the required courses to obtain a minor in Marketing, Game Production Management, Operations Management, or Game Programming.

Admission requirements

Admission is competitive. The specific average or standing required for admission varies from year to year. Students are selected by taking into consideration a wide range of criteria including school marks, distribution of subjects taken, and performance in subjects relevant to the academic program. Possession of the minimum requirements does not guarantee acceptance. Preference will be given to applicants with the best qualifications.

Current Ontario secondary school students must complete the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) with six 4U or 4M credits including English (ENG4U) with a recommended minimum average of 60 per cent and one of Advanced Functions (MHF4U) or Calculus and Vectors (MCV4U) or Mathematics of Data Management (MDM4U) with a recommended minimum average of 60 per cent or Computer Science (ICS4U) with a recommended average of 70 per cent. All other applicants should refer to admissions  for the requirements for their specific category of admission.

Internship program

This program offers students who have successfully completed two years of study, achieved a minimum 2.3 GPA (C+ average on a 4.3 scale) and who are in good academic standing an opportunity to engage in a contracted learning partnership with businesses locally and globally. Faculty members may provide links to various internship placement opportunities or a student may secure an employer who meets the criteria as prescribed by the Faculty of Business and Information Technology.

The internship program not only gives students an opportunity to apply classroom concepts to the challenges of organizational life but also helps them to gain valuable and relevant work experience to promote networking and life-long career success. Participating employers are given the opportunity to bring the motivated learners, thinkers, and doers of tomorrow into their workplaces, as well as provide valuable mentoring to students.

The internship program placement equates to a minimum of 560 hours of progressive business and management experience. The intern’s wages (stipulated in a contract) are paid by the sponsoring business over a contracted period. Successful work placement completion and both a verbal and written final report will result in the intern receiving a mark and three credits toward the honours Bachelor of Information Technology degree requirements. Students who have successfully completed the Internship program are not required to take the Capstone Study Project.

Admission to the internship program is competitive. While students are participating in an internship program, they may enrol in one course (3 credits) per semester. This course must not interfere with the internship schedule outlined by the employer.

Program details and degree requirements

Although reasonable efforts will be made to adhere to the following program map, course requirements and term offerings may change. For the most up-to-date list of course offerings, please visit the faculty website at businessandit.ontariotechu.ca.

Year 1 (30 credit hours)

• BUSI 1130U – Introduction to Financial Accounting
• BUSI 1700U – Introduction to Entrepreneurship
• INFR 1020U – Essential Mathematics for Games I
• INFR 1030U – Essential Mathematics for Games II
• INFR 1100U – Introduction to Programming
• INFR 1315U – Concept and Graphic Design
• INFR 1325U – Introduction to 2D Animation for Games
• INFR 1330U – Basic Introduction to Game Design
• INFR 1335U – Digital Game Design
• INFR 1395U – Game Development Workshop I
• INFR 1396U – Game Development Workshop II
• INFR 2140U – Object Oriented Programming

Year 2 (30 credit hours)

• BUSI 2200U – Marketing Management
• BUSI 2550U – Introduction to Project Management
• INFR 1350U – Introduction to Computer Graphics
• INFR 2310U – Computer Animation: Algorithms and Techniques
• INFR 2330U – Intermediate Game Design
• INFR 2345U – Modelling and Animation Systems I
• INFR 2395U – Game Development Workshop I
• INFR 2350U – Intermediate Computer Graphics
• INFR 2370U – Game Sound
• INFR 2396U – Game Development Workshop II
• INFR 2810U – Computer Architecture
• INFR 2820U – Algorithms and Data Structures

Year 3 (30 credit hours)

• Open elective
• General elective
• BUSI 2700U – Entrepreneurial Finance
• BUSI 3730U – Creative Problem Solving, Entrepreneurship and Imagination
• INFR 3110U – Game Engine Design and Implementation
• INFR 3315U – Cinematic Systems Design
• INFR 3335U – Social and Multiplayer Game Design
• INFR 3345U – Modelling and Animation Systems II
• INFR 3350U – Games User Research
• INFR 3395U – Game Development Workshop I
• INFR 3396U – Game Development Workshop II
• INFR 3830U – Distributed Systems and Networking

Year 4 (30 credit hours)

• Four technical electives
• Open elective
• BUSI 4340U – Business of Gaming
• BUSI 4995U – Capstone Study Project
• INFR 4320U – Artificial Intelligence for Gaming
• INFR 4350U – Human-Computer Interaction for Games
• INFR 4560U – Law and Ethics in Game Development

Electives

General elective

Students must select a minimum of two non-INFR, non-computer science related courses from any faculty, subject to credit restrictions.

Open elective 

Students may enrol in any courses from any faculty as open electives, subject to credit restrictions. These courses may be either non-INFR/non-computer science courses or may include INFR/computer science courses.

Technical elective 

Students may enrol in selected approved INFR/CSCI courses as technical electives. Details will be sent to their Ontariotechu.net email accounts prior to registration and available in their schedule of classes.