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GDIAC's Partners at Cornell University

The GDIAC community comprises a variety of other organizations and academic fields across Cornell, including the Department of Computer Science, the Information Science Program, the Cornell Theory Center and SciCentr.org, Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) and Academic Media and Technology Services (ATMS), and the Engineering Communications Program.

Partnerships across the university provide GDIAC with a wealth of opportunities and a diversity of perspectives that contribute to its role on campus as a leader in innovative education and industry partnership.

  • Computing and Information Science (CIS)
    CIS is a college-level faculty unity that supports and administers GDIAC. In addition to leading scientific research in computing and information science, CIS explores the use and meaning of computing and information technologies in fields across the humanities and the natural and social sciences.
  • Department of Computer Science
    Many of GDIAC's collaborators reside in the Department of Computer Science. Game development is a computer-science driven practice and game industry professionals are adamant about the central role CS must play in all future game design curricula.
  • Program of Information Science
    The field of Information Science and its specialization in human-computer interaction (HCI) plays an integral role in the theorization of the theory of game design and the newly emerging field of game studies.
  • Digital Gaming Alliance (DGA)
    The DGA is a coalition of student organizations at Cornell interested in promoting a community of gamers and game developers. DGA has its own elected officers and a full calendar of events.
  • Cornell Library Cooperative Learning Computer Lab (CL3)
    The CL3 is the interdisciplinary computer lab designed in cooperation with the GDIAC team that serves as the classroom for GDIAC's game design courses.
  • Engineering Communications Program
    Students in the College of Engineering at Cornell University must satisfy a technical writing requirement. CIS 300, the core GDIAC course, was designed in concert with Engineering Communications and satisfies the College of Engineering technical writing requirement.

Cornell Game Organizations and Clubs

  • Ithaca Pinball Club
    Ithaca Pinball is the club for pinball gamers in Ithaca to gather and play pinball!
  • Cornell Digital Gaming Alliance (DGA)
    The Digital Gaming Alliance (DGA) is a student run outgrowth of the Game Development Initiative at Cornell (GDIAC) designed to organize and build upon the burgeoning field of digital gaming at Cornell University.

Game Development

There are a lot of websites to look to for help with game development. Here are a few of places we thought were very helpful:

  • Official GameX
    The game engine developed by Rama Hoetzlein that is used in GDIAC's introductory course.
  • Cornell GameX Mirror
    An open-source graphics engine for novice, intermediate and professional game developers.
  • The International Game Developers Association (IGDA)
    A professional organization that supports and advocates on behal of game developers.
  • Gamasutra
    One of the most popular sites for game developers, containing a wealth of information on all aspects of the game industry.
  • gamedev.net
    A site with many resources for game developers.
  • The Designer's Notebook
    A collection of columns on game design by the well-known designer Ernest Adams.

Game Studies

Game Studies is a newly emerging field that explores gaming from social science and humanist perspectives. It asks questions about games within the contexts of culture, art, narrative, education and the media using approaches that span the disciplines. If you're interested in that kind of thing...

  • Grand Text Auto is a group blog about machine narrative, games, poetry and art out of Georgia Tech.
  • TerraNova is a "collaborative weblog experiment" by academics and computer journalists deconstructing the notion and experience of virtual worlds.
  • Social Impact Games provides a catalogic list and links to Serious Games.
  • Ludology.org is a blog on VideoGame Theory.
  • Game Research is a site on "the art, science and business of computer games" including short articles on history, genres, aesthetics, etc.
  • Water Cooler Games is "a forum for the uses of videogames in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment." It advocates for new genres of games, such as advergaming, newsgaming, political games, simulations and edutainment.
  • The Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Laboratory has a Games and Professional Practice Simulations (GAPPS) Initiative that seeks to improve US education using digital gaming technologies.

Academic and Industry Organizations

  • DiGRA: Digital Games Research Association
    DiGRA is the association for academics and professionals who research digital games and associated phenomena. It encourages high-quality research on games, and promotes collaboration and dissemination of work by its members.
  • IGDA: International Game Developers Association
    IGDA is a non-profit professional society that is committed to advancing the careers and enhancing the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community.
  • IAGER: International Association for Game Education and Research
    IAGER is nonprofit member association dedicated to promoting and improving games education through curriculum development, educational research, and shared resources.