The 3-Dimensional Game Art and Design class offers students the unique opportunity to explore both the creative and technical aspects of game development. Taught by art teacher Eislyn Wolf-Noyes, the class covers everything from basic game design principles to advanced 3D modeling and programming to prepare students for a potential career in the gaming industry. The course also teaches students professional, industry-standard tools and processes.
“We start by making card games to learn some of the principles of game design. And then we start with 2D video games using a scratch-like program where you plug and play around with things to make the game work. And then in the second semester, we do more 3D modeling and 3D game design,” Wolf-Noyes said.
Though not all students plan on pursuing a job in art and game design, the skills developed in the class can be applicable and useful to other subjects and career paths, making the knowledge obtained in the class versatile. For example, according to Wolf-Noyes, the design cycle is the essential class concept and an essential element of the game design process.
“The design cycle is the bread and butter of the class, and kind of giving them tools to work in this project-based flow, where they’re getting feedback and then using it to make changes. So they’re like, revisiting the same thing over and over and adding to it slowly. That is the core of the class,” Wolf-Noyes said.
Collaboration is a major component of the course, and the class structure encourages students to try new things and work together to understand topics. Game Art and Design student sophomore Deavon Bradley spends a lot of time working in teams to finish projects.
“We can choose whether or not to collaborate on a game with some of our classmates. If we choose to do so, we can still make our own game, but we’re allowed to take ideas from other people,” Bradley said.
Along with collaboration, junior Ivana Ma enjoys the creative freedom the class awards.
“My favorite part about being in this class is the creative freedom [Wolf-Noyes] gives us. She gives us brief instructions, and then we just create our games and ask questions if needed,” Ma said. “I also really like the collaboration aspect as well, I think the thing that’s special about this class is that we both work [on] computers and also on paper with card games as well, so if you’re not a computer person, you still have a lot of opportunities to kind of explore your creative side with things like drawing.”
Between collaboration and the multitude of projects worked on throughout the year, the class stands as a unique elective option. Students are able to dig deeper and expand their creative abilities.
“My favorite project this year was the two-dimensional game we did, which was like a top-down shooter, which was fun,” Bradley said. “In the beginning, we did a card game, we did that two-dimensional game a few months ago, and now we’re working on a three-dimensional game.”
Ma agrees that the different projects throughout the school year ensure that students work on all the different skills needed for the class.
“My favorite project so far this year was from last semester, which was our two-dimensional game. We use another platform called Construct Three, and [Wolf-Noyes] just taught us the basics, and then we each created our own game, and that was also our final,” Ma said.
