BRACKIN'S COURSES:
SPRING 2014:
TRANSMEDIA WORLDS (GRADUATE)
LABventures NARRATIVE VIDEO LAB (UNDERGRADUATE)
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROLE PLAYING GAME (UNDERGRADUATE)
FALL 2013:
INTERACTIVE STORY: MECHANICS OF STORY (GRADUATE)
ARGLAB 3.0 (GRADUATE)
GAME STUDIES (UNDERGRADUATE)
OLDER COURSES TAUGHT: (These Blogs are Inactive)
WORLD BUILDING METHODS
INTERACTIVE STORY II: TRANSMEDIA STORY
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE MMORPG
STORYTELLING FOR NEW MEDIA
COMPUTER GAME DESIGN
TRANSMEDIA WORLDS (GRADUATE)
LABventures NARRATIVE VIDEO LAB (UNDERGRADUATE)
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROLE PLAYING GAME (UNDERGRADUATE)
FALL 2013:
INTERACTIVE STORY: MECHANICS OF STORY (GRADUATE)
ARGLAB 3.0 (GRADUATE)
GAME STUDIES (UNDERGRADUATE)
OLDER COURSES TAUGHT: (These Blogs are Inactive)
WORLD BUILDING METHODS
INTERACTIVE STORY II: TRANSMEDIA STORY
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE MMORPG
STORYTELLING FOR NEW MEDIA
COMPUTER GAME DESIGN
FULL LIST OF COURSES
Curriculum creation and instruction of the following graduate classes:
ATEC/EMAC 6V81/7V82, Alternate Reality Game Lab - Advanced Projects in Interactive Media Alternate Reality Gaming - Students will be testing the known boundaries of "Interactive Online Entertainment" and "Chaotic Fiction" by actually going "behind the curtain" as a team of actual "Puppet Masters" while taking a personal role on the team to assist in writing, creating, and running a working Alternate Reality Game. (S2009, S2010, S2013)
ATEC 6342/6351/6384, The Mechanics of Story - Students will examine the range of media available for storytelling. Students will learn to think critically about various storytelling issues and gain exposure to seminal examples of various writers and researchers in the field. Students will also learn how to critique and analyze new media forms, and how to present this critical review in ways that are appropriate to the ever-evolving genre. Students will engage in discussion and debate with each other and with developers in the field where appropriate through a class blog. Finally, students will create original IP in various classic and new media formats to demonstrate a fluency and proficiency in the above concepts. (S2011, F2011, S2012, F2013, F2014)
ATEC 6356, Interactive Narrative / Transmedia Worlds - Students will rethink the ancient art of narrative for a two way world - innovators and story mechanics that are changing how we play, communicate, and think. From marketing to experimental forms, interactive narrative is as surprising as it is inevitable and we are the witnesses to the emergence of this new form of storytelling in which the audience becomes the player and if pushed far enough, author in their own right. (F2012, S2013, S2014)
ATEC 6384, The Psychology of MMOs - Students will explore the psychology of player behavior and motivation in massively multiplayer online games, with a special focus on Star Wars: The Old Republic, then researching MMO games, researching MMO game topics, and playing in the SW:TOR world extensively with the expressed purpose of writing towards publishing a chapter in a hypothetical MMO textbook. Topics may include: individual behavior and motivation; group dynamics, virtual communities; role-playing; griefing and online harassment; ethics; identity, anonymity, and pseudonimity; virtual politics; and the structure of MMOGs in relation to virtual spaces, economies, communication, and game design. (SR2012)
Curriculum creation and instruction of the following undergraduate courses:
ATEC/EMAC 4326, Emergent Media Production: History and Development of Alternate Reality Games - Students will research, follow, and analyze past and current ARG games and engage in the first steps in creating an online fictional self within the context of an interactive online environment through tools such as ARGn.com, Unfiction.com, Despoiler.org, and the ARGology.org project, as an interactive part of mapping the genre as it discovers itself. (F2008)
ATEC/EMAC 4346, Story-telling for New Media - Students will examine the range of new media available for story-telling in modern delivery platforms with focus on the digital and the emerging. Students will learn to think critically about new media storytelling issues and gain exposure to various writers and researchers in the field. Students will also learn how to critique and analyze these new media forms, and how to present this critical review in ways that are appropriate to the evolving genre. Students will engage in discussion and debate with each other and with developers in the field where appropriate through a class wiki. Finally, students will act in groups to reinterpret select works into new media formats to demonstrate a fluency and proficiency in the above concepts. (F2009, S2010, F2010, F2011,)
ATEC 4373, History and Design of the Role Playing Game - Students will learn to think critically about RPG games and RPG gaming issues and gain exposure to the major writers and researchers in the genre. Students will familiarize themselves with RPG elements and will learn how to critique historical and contemporary RPG games and the ideas of others. Students will learn how to design and develop an original game mechanic and how to present that idea in a concise, coherent format. (F2009, S2011, S2012, S2013, S2014)
ATEC 3352, Computer Game Design - Students will learn to think critically about video games and gaming issues and gain exposure to the major writers and researchers in the field. Students will also learn how to design and develop an original game concept and how to present that idea in a concise, coherent format, as well as how to critique the ideas of others. Students will engage in debate with each other and engage in deep research from developers in the current field as appropriate. (S2009, F2009, S2010, F2010 (x2), S2011, F2011 (x2), S2012, F2012)
ATEC 3353, Game Studies - Students will learn to think critically about video games and gaming issues and gain exposure to major writers and researchers in the field. Assignments include a magazine style review, professional academic paper with abstract, and a fully realized, researched, and peer-reviewed textbook Chapter. (F2012, S2013, F2013)
ATEC 4370, Narrative Video Lab / "LABventures Project" - Viral Video and social media sites like YouTube have changed when, where, and why we watch the stories that we watch. No longer is content restrained to big media or high-quality "valid" sources, but rather to varyingdegrees of am-pro (amateur professional) content providers like the "Yogscast," "Rooster Teeth," or "Pewdiepie" who have literally made a businessout of highly "authentic" narrative video formats like "Let's Play," "Let's Build," & "Machinima" while leveraging less obvious elements like "meta-story," "Persona Story," "Developer Story," and "Player Story" through tools like video games and interactive worlds such as Halo or Minecraft. This course is an in-depth exploration of these and other related elements within the context of an assignment based lab atmosphere.
Continuous facilitation of various undergraduate and graduate level independent studies and Capstone projects:
ATEC 8303, 4V71, and 2V71, Independent Study in Art and Technology - Independent study in Art and Technology under a faculty member's direction. Signature of instructor on proposed project outline required. May be repeated for credit (9 hours maximum). Prerequisites: Upper-division standing and completion of all lower-division requirements in ATEC and instructor consent required.
EMAC 8303, 4V71, and 2V71,, Independent Study in Emerging Media and Communications - Independent study in Emerging Media and Communications under a faculty member's direction. Signature of instructor on proposed project outline required. May be repeated for credit (9 hours maximum). Prerequisites: Upper-division standing and completion of all lower-division requirements in ATEC and instructor consent required.
ATEC 4V80, Capstone Project - Culminating independent study under a faculty member's direction in Arts and Technology. Students will engage in the creation of an advanced creative and/or research project exploring the interaction of the arts with digital technology. Restricted to students majoring in Arts and Technology who are within one semester of graduation. Signature of instructor on proposed project outline required. Prerequisite: Instructor consent required.
ATEC/EMAC 6V81/7V82, Alternate Reality Game Lab - Advanced Projects in Interactive Media Alternate Reality Gaming - Students will be testing the known boundaries of "Interactive Online Entertainment" and "Chaotic Fiction" by actually going "behind the curtain" as a team of actual "Puppet Masters" while taking a personal role on the team to assist in writing, creating, and running a working Alternate Reality Game. (S2009, S2010, S2013)
ATEC 6342/6351/6384, The Mechanics of Story - Students will examine the range of media available for storytelling. Students will learn to think critically about various storytelling issues and gain exposure to seminal examples of various writers and researchers in the field. Students will also learn how to critique and analyze new media forms, and how to present this critical review in ways that are appropriate to the ever-evolving genre. Students will engage in discussion and debate with each other and with developers in the field where appropriate through a class blog. Finally, students will create original IP in various classic and new media formats to demonstrate a fluency and proficiency in the above concepts. (S2011, F2011, S2012, F2013, F2014)
ATEC 6356, Interactive Narrative / Transmedia Worlds - Students will rethink the ancient art of narrative for a two way world - innovators and story mechanics that are changing how we play, communicate, and think. From marketing to experimental forms, interactive narrative is as surprising as it is inevitable and we are the witnesses to the emergence of this new form of storytelling in which the audience becomes the player and if pushed far enough, author in their own right. (F2012, S2013, S2014)
ATEC 6384, The Psychology of MMOs - Students will explore the psychology of player behavior and motivation in massively multiplayer online games, with a special focus on Star Wars: The Old Republic, then researching MMO games, researching MMO game topics, and playing in the SW:TOR world extensively with the expressed purpose of writing towards publishing a chapter in a hypothetical MMO textbook. Topics may include: individual behavior and motivation; group dynamics, virtual communities; role-playing; griefing and online harassment; ethics; identity, anonymity, and pseudonimity; virtual politics; and the structure of MMOGs in relation to virtual spaces, economies, communication, and game design. (SR2012)
Curriculum creation and instruction of the following undergraduate courses:
ATEC/EMAC 4326, Emergent Media Production: History and Development of Alternate Reality Games - Students will research, follow, and analyze past and current ARG games and engage in the first steps in creating an online fictional self within the context of an interactive online environment through tools such as ARGn.com, Unfiction.com, Despoiler.org, and the ARGology.org project, as an interactive part of mapping the genre as it discovers itself. (F2008)
ATEC/EMAC 4346, Story-telling for New Media - Students will examine the range of new media available for story-telling in modern delivery platforms with focus on the digital and the emerging. Students will learn to think critically about new media storytelling issues and gain exposure to various writers and researchers in the field. Students will also learn how to critique and analyze these new media forms, and how to present this critical review in ways that are appropriate to the evolving genre. Students will engage in discussion and debate with each other and with developers in the field where appropriate through a class wiki. Finally, students will act in groups to reinterpret select works into new media formats to demonstrate a fluency and proficiency in the above concepts. (F2009, S2010, F2010, F2011,)
ATEC 4373, History and Design of the Role Playing Game - Students will learn to think critically about RPG games and RPG gaming issues and gain exposure to the major writers and researchers in the genre. Students will familiarize themselves with RPG elements and will learn how to critique historical and contemporary RPG games and the ideas of others. Students will learn how to design and develop an original game mechanic and how to present that idea in a concise, coherent format. (F2009, S2011, S2012, S2013, S2014)
ATEC 3352, Computer Game Design - Students will learn to think critically about video games and gaming issues and gain exposure to the major writers and researchers in the field. Students will also learn how to design and develop an original game concept and how to present that idea in a concise, coherent format, as well as how to critique the ideas of others. Students will engage in debate with each other and engage in deep research from developers in the current field as appropriate. (S2009, F2009, S2010, F2010 (x2), S2011, F2011 (x2), S2012, F2012)
ATEC 3353, Game Studies - Students will learn to think critically about video games and gaming issues and gain exposure to major writers and researchers in the field. Assignments include a magazine style review, professional academic paper with abstract, and a fully realized, researched, and peer-reviewed textbook Chapter. (F2012, S2013, F2013)
ATEC 4370, Narrative Video Lab / "LABventures Project" - Viral Video and social media sites like YouTube have changed when, where, and why we watch the stories that we watch. No longer is content restrained to big media or high-quality "valid" sources, but rather to varyingdegrees of am-pro (amateur professional) content providers like the "Yogscast," "Rooster Teeth," or "Pewdiepie" who have literally made a businessout of highly "authentic" narrative video formats like "Let's Play," "Let's Build," & "Machinima" while leveraging less obvious elements like "meta-story," "Persona Story," "Developer Story," and "Player Story" through tools like video games and interactive worlds such as Halo or Minecraft. This course is an in-depth exploration of these and other related elements within the context of an assignment based lab atmosphere.
Continuous facilitation of various undergraduate and graduate level independent studies and Capstone projects:
ATEC 8303, 4V71, and 2V71, Independent Study in Art and Technology - Independent study in Art and Technology under a faculty member's direction. Signature of instructor on proposed project outline required. May be repeated for credit (9 hours maximum). Prerequisites: Upper-division standing and completion of all lower-division requirements in ATEC and instructor consent required.
EMAC 8303, 4V71, and 2V71,, Independent Study in Emerging Media and Communications - Independent study in Emerging Media and Communications under a faculty member's direction. Signature of instructor on proposed project outline required. May be repeated for credit (9 hours maximum). Prerequisites: Upper-division standing and completion of all lower-division requirements in ATEC and instructor consent required.
ATEC 4V80, Capstone Project - Culminating independent study under a faculty member's direction in Arts and Technology. Students will engage in the creation of an advanced creative and/or research project exploring the interaction of the arts with digital technology. Restricted to students majoring in Arts and Technology who are within one semester of graduation. Signature of instructor on proposed project outline required. Prerequisite: Instructor consent required.