About Us
An IMGD Artist, by Britt Snyder
IMGD by the numbers
* Undergraduate program started in 2005
* First graduating class in 2009
* Graduate program started in 2011
* 200 IMGD majors
* 13 full-time faculty (4 IMGD, 4 HUA,
4 CS, 1 Physics)
* 11 Industry advisors
* 4 IMGD-specific laboratories
WPI's Interactive Media and Game Development (IMGD) major provides an outstanding cross-disciplinary education to its students in the principles of interactive applications and computer-based game development.
Interactive media respond to user actions, and include digital whiteboard presentations, distributed virtual environments, as well as performance-based media. Computer games are another form of interactive media, and include those created for both entertainment and educational purposes, as well as serious games that help make decisions in public policy, education, corporate management, health care, and combat preparedness. Game development includes all aspects of creating games including design, content creation, programming, testing, and project management.
WPI's IMGD majors receive a base education in both the technical and artistic aspects of interactive media. There is particular emphasis on programmers and artists working closely together, providing invaluable experience for their post-graduate years.
Art + Technology = Games
The IMGD program at WPI is built around the idea that if you put artists and technical people together in an atmosphere where they can share ideas, new ways of looking at traditional media will happen, and new media will be created.
To that end, we want our artists to know enough programming to be able to appreciate the problems that programmers face, and we want our programmers to be versed in the language of art in order to work with their colleagues. Basically, we want to train technical artists and artistic programmers. It is through communication that new things are discovered, and it always seems to be on the borders between art and technology that new ideas form.
Our students start working in groups when they first arrive, and carry through on projects and collaboration their entire time here. At WPI hands on learning has always been a part of the curriculum, and we've embraced that in the IMGD program. Our students don't just study how to make things, they make things. Whether those things are games, interactive fiction, virtual environments, art installations, collaborative performances, or forms of new media that haven't been invented yet we expect our students to be at the forefront of exploring worlds that we can currently only imagine.
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Last modified: January 10, 2012 16:15:37