Game Design Tips and Trends

Speaker Q&A: Evan Skolnick discusses the growth of writing roles in the games industry

By Evan Skolnick | February 20, 2018

This article first appeared on the Game Developers Conference website, with questions posed by the conference staff. As faculty lead for Cogswell’s Game Writing Concentration, Evan Skolnick will be offering a workshop, “Storytelling Fundamentals in a Day” at the conference along with appearing on a panel geared towards new game writers called “It’s Not in the Writer’s […]

Game Design Tips and Trends

Game Development Software and Tools I’m Thankful For

By Jerome Solomon | November 23, 2017

Video game development has grown considerably since the birth of video games over 30 years ago, and finding the right game development software and tools to assist in the creation of titles has become a necessity. Given the complexity of today’s game design jobs and the limited amount of time that game developers have to […]

Game Design Tips and Trends

Beginner’s Guide to Game Design: Learning the Terms and Lingo

By Jerome Solomon | September 7, 2017

Diving into video game design for the first time can be a nerve-wracking process. To beginners, industry-seasoned game design teams can sound like they’re speaking an entirely different language. Knowing game design terms and the names of development tools is one of the first critical steps to becoming a successful game designer — you’ve got […]

Game Design Tips and Trends

Tips on How to Find Inspiration for Your Video Game Design Ideas

By Isabell Fearnsby | July 20, 2017

There’s inspiration everywhere if you know how to look for it. This philosophy — that’s become my personal mantra — can be applied to all creative careers, including painters, sculptors, and yes, video game design professionals. If you’re hoping to call upon the artistry of the world around you in order to influence your game […]

Game Design Tips and Trends

Beginner’s Guide to Game Design: Three Best Game Engines to Learn Now

By Jerome Solomon | June 29, 2017

Game engines are key game development tools for professionals, making them a must-learn for beginners who are just starting out in game design and development. As the heroes of game development software, game engines manage multiple tasks, including rendering and lighting, artificial intelligence of non-player characters, audio and physics engines. Learning these game engines means […]

Game Design Tips and Trends

Introducing the Competitive Esports Program at Cogswell College

By John Duhring | May 4, 2017

Pulsing, multicolored neon lights illuminate faces gripped in dark concentration. The staccato of keyboard presses punctuate the din while stunted phrases are spoken in urgent monotone. Excitement crescendos as opposing teams dance frenetically in virtual combat. Opposing players flicker from existence as they anxiously wait to respawn while their compatriots claw towards the winning objective. […]

Game Design Tips and Trends

USING VIDEO GAME NARRATIVE TO EXPERIENCE A DIFFERENT AMERICA

By Evan Skolnick | April 20, 2017

With new media come creators offering new ways to experience America’s rich and sometimes brutal history. Former Wired Magazine “Angry Nerd” Chris Baker has plenty to say on the subject of how a video game narrative can help players experience a different America, evidenced by this video he recently created for COG’s game and literature […]

Game Design Tips and Trends

Beginner’s Guide to Video Game Design and Development: What Salary Can I Expect?

By Jerome Solomon | March 30, 2017

We’ve already dispelled the myth that creative careers don’t make much money by looking at animation salary. It should be no surprise that video game design and development salary can be just as financially rewarding. As with any industry, pay in game design and development jobs runs a wide range from entry-level jobs at the […]

Game Design Tips and Trends

How the rise of esports will affect the game industry

By Jerome Solomon | March 2, 2017

This post originally appeared on VentureBeat. It’s an esports world, and we’re just living in it. It might have seemed liked hyperbole to say this a few years ago, but it’s become impossible to ignore the mammoth impact esports have left on gaming. Game developers can’t shrug about esports now that finals of last year’s […]

Game Design Tips and Trends

Game Studio – An Unconventional Game Design and Development Course

By John Duhring | February 9, 2017

To the casual observer, Jerome Solomon’s Game Studio class – a game design and development course – at Cogswell might present an unremarkable first impression. When walking into the class, one sees 25 students at their workstations. An alert visitor might first note how the room is quiet and yet active at the same time. […]

Bobbi Makani

Bobbi leads Cogswell's Business degree programs. Her areas of expertise include social innovation, entrepreneurship, strategic business development, marketing, international business and quantitative methods. She has started and co-founded several ventures in the areas of food service, retail, and [...]

Brian Shepard

Dr. Brian Shepard, President and CAO, has more than thirty years of collegiate teaching and administration experience, including four years as the Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs and Professor of Audio Design Practice in the USC Iovine and Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the [...]

Christian Sasso

Chris is the founder of Heroic Arcade, a studio that won Best in Show at the Project Tango App Contest with WeR Cubed, an augmented reality 3D puzzle game playable on Google Tango devices. He is the former Senior Embedded Developer at Nest Labs and Senior Software Engineer at Cisco Systems. Chris [...]

Daniel Codella

In addition to being a former Cogswell student, Daniel is a writer and marketer with a passion for clever content. When he's not helping people and brands share their stories, he enjoys traveling, writing music, and playing Bocce ball. Twitter: [...]

Cogswell Guest

From time to time, Cogswell invites guests to post contributions to Perspectives. Their biographical information can be found on the contributed [...]

Isabell Fearnsby

As a professional oil painter and teacher, Isabell is known for her creative vision and love of collaboration. She is a natural teacher and enjoys fostering enthusiasm, curiosity and mastery of the subject matter in her students. She has over 20 years teaching experience in the US and abroad, is [...]

Jerome Solomon

Jerome Solomon is Dean of the College at Cogswell. Jerome has 17 years of industry experience in Hollywood. He worked at Industrial Light and Magic, DreamWorks Animation, Electronic Arts, and Rhythm & Hues Studios. During his career, he received film credits on Avatar, Madagascar, Shrek 2, [...]

John Duhring

John has been a founding team member at seven startups, generating successful exits to Borland, 5th Generation Systems, EMC and AOL. He has applied technology to learning at Prentice-Hall, Apple, Dow Jones and for Stanford’s Professional Publishing Courses. As the Director of Communications and [...]

Julius Dobos

Julius brings over two decades of professional experience as an award-winning composer of electronic and film music, sound synthesist, sound designer and audio engineer to Cogswell's Digital Audio Technology Department, as Distinguished Lecturer. At Cogswell, he teaches a wide range of audio- and [...]

Mira Nikolic

Mira brings 17+ years of feature animation industry experience and passion for teaching computer graphics to future technical directors and technical artists. She serves as Assistant Professor in the Digital Arts and Animation program at Cogswell College. She worked at Disney Feature Animation, [...]

Mohan Shah

As Professor and Program Director for Engineering, Mohan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Cogswell. He has more than 15 years of software industry experience leading software development and electrical engineering teams at Yodlee, Wells Fargo, CSI and NASA. Mohan is equally [...]

Monica Cappiello

Monica brings over 8 years of higher education experience to Cogswell, including roles such as Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Media. Prior to that, she worked over 8 years in multiple studios such as Red Giant, Mendez Foundation, Pixellex Studios and PBS. Several works have been awarded [...]

Nancy Harrison

Nancy began her career as an illustrator like many do - crayoning on walls. Back then it was considered a bad habit, now she gets paid for it. She has somehow managed to doodle her way into a great career. In addition to her role at Cogswell as Adjunct Professor, her work has been published in [...]

Reid Winfrey

Reid Winfrey, Associate Professor of Digital Arts and Animation at Cogswell. A graduate of the University of California at Davis and San Jose State University, he holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Printmaking and Pictorial Arts. He has presented at conferences and museums on topics ranging from [...]

Robert Steinberg

Robert Steinberg brings over 30 years of marketing and executive management experience to Cogswell’s Business Administration program. A former co-founder and President of a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) device and Defense systems company for over 18 years, he led the company to prominence [...]

Rosie Katz

Rosie Katz went to Cogswell College where she graduated with a B.A. in Computer Video Imaging with a Concentration in Character Animation. After spending a couple years as a Tools Tester at Electronic Arts, she began her design career working on such notable franchises as Dead Space and Call of [...]

Evan Skolnick

With over 25 years of combined story and game development experience at world-class entertainment companies such as Marvel, Activision, Telltale and Lucasfilm, Evan Skolnick brings a unique perspective to narrative experiences in the games we play. He has imparted core storytelling techniques and [...]

Soma Frazier

Soma Mei Sheng Frazier is an award-winning author and seasoned educator with seventeen years’ experience in the fields of English and Literary Arts. Soma's fiction debut, Collateral Damage: A Triptych, earned acclaim from Nikki Giovanni, Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, [...]

Tamryn Spruill

Tamryn Spruill takes the reigns as Editor-In-Chief at SB Nation’s Swish Appeal after rising through the ranks at Golden State of Mind: first, as a Contributing Writer/Editor, and then as Associate Editor of Editorial Content. She has been a fan of women’s basketball since the 1996 inception of [...]

Timothy Duncan

Dr. Timothy Duncan is an award-winning composer, performer and educator who is equally at home working with technology and with traditional media. He has composed and performed a body of new music compositions as well as created visual pieces and music for modern dance that have brought him [...]

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Game Design Tips and Trends