The Santa Cruz Sentinel and San Jose Mercury covered the announcement of our new degree:
SANTA CRUZ — UC Santa Cruz has established a new master’s degree program in games and playable media offered from the UCSC Silicon Valley site in Santa Clara.
The professional degree program will give students a strong background in advanced technologies used in the development of computer games and other interactive media.
The one-year program, administered by the Department of Computer Science in the Baskin School of Engineering at UCSC, is designed for students who already have a solid foundation in computer science and an understanding of computer games.
Jim Whitehead, professor and chair of computer science, said students in the program will learn all aspects of game development.
“Students will develop strong design skills as well as strong technical implementation skills,” Whitehead said. “They will learn to be independent game makers, and they can go on to work in the game industry or for the growing number of companies outside the game industry that are looking for people with the combination of technical and design skills needed to create compelling interactive experiences.”