Cologne Game Lab
| Cologne Game Lab | |
|---|---|
|
|
| founding | 2010 |
| place | Cologne |
| state |
 North Rhine-Westphalia
|
| country |
 Germany
|
| management | Bjorn Bartholdy ; |
| Website | colognegamelab.de |
The Cologne Game Lab ( CGL ) was founded in 2010 by Björn Bartholdy and Gundolf S. Freyermuth and has been an institute of the Faculty of Cultural Studies at the TH Köln since 2013 . Cooperation partners are the International Film School Cologne , the City of Cologne and partners from industry and research.
The focus of the CGL is on education and training in the areas of games , game development and game design . Another focus is the research and development of non-linear narrative structures - from digital games to interactive film and TV concepts. The CGL offers a bachelor's degree and three master's degree programs in the field of digital games. The language of instruction is English. Nine professors currently teach around 300 students from over 30 nations.
Course offer
Since 2010, the CGL has been successfully running the master's degree in "Game Development & Research (MA)" and has also been offering the bachelor's degree in "Digital Games (BA)" since the 2014/2015 winter semester. Following the bachelor’s degree, the consecutive master’s degree "Digital Games (BA)" has also been offered since the 2017/18 winter semester. At the same time, the new master’s course "3D Animation for Film & Games" was offered for the first time, which is organized by the CGL in cooperation with the ifs international film school in Cologne.
The seven-semester Bachelor program "Digital Games" offers students three possible specializations: Game Design, Game Arts and Game Informatics, which are taught in theory and practice. Project-oriented learning and transdisciplinary collaborations are in the foreground both in the first year of study as well as in the consolidation and specialization phase. The course begins once a year in the winter semester. The language of instruction is English. The application phase begins on February 1st. A maximum of 35 students are admitted annually, who are selected in a two-stage application phase.
The four-semester non-consecutive master's degree in "Game Development and Research" is aimed primarily at designers, authors, filmmakers, directors and “creatives” from all areas. The focus of the course is on dealing with digital games as the new key medium between entertainment, education and art. In experimental practical projects, the possibilities of artistic expression in the field of tension between game mechanics and storytelling are explored and their effectiveness is analyzed. The course begins once a year in the winter semester. The language of instruction is English. The application phase begins on February 1st. A maximum of 20 participants are admitted annually, who are selected in a two-stage application phase.
The Master of Arts in "Digital Games" is a full-time course that is designed for three semesters. It offers students the opportunity to carry out an independent artistic or scientific project during their studies. The students have to choose their focus from three disciplines of game development: Game Arts, Game Design, Game Programming. In the first two semesters they attend courses according to their focus and also on media & game studies. In the third and final semester you can concentrate fully on your own project.
The four-semester master’s program in "3D Animation for Film & Games" is offered in cooperation with the CGL and the ifs international film school in Cologne. It offers students the opportunity to pursue their careers in the media industry while expanding their expertise in 3D animation in areas such as design, technology and dramaturgy in an academic setting. The main content of the course is the design and creation of various animation projects for film, digital games or immersive technologies. In addition, students are given the ability to critically question their artistic projects on the basis of theoretical principles.
Research projects
At the Cologne Game Lab, individual research projects are used to conduct practical research. Findings from social and human sciences as well as technological developments from the games sector are brought together in the research at the Cologne Game Lab in a hybrid approach. In this way, digital games are not designed and implemented on the basis of economic factors, but on the basis of scientific methods.
As part of the first research project, a digital educational game for school classes has been developed with the Cologne company RockAByte since November 2009 . The research team designs and programs a positional game for the Apple iPhone . In this mobile phone game , the researchers and programmers use a 3D simulation of Cologne around the year 50 AD, which was already developed as part of another research project at the Cologne International School of Design (KISD). The technical possibilities of computer-aided expansion of the perception of reality or of augmented reality are used to combine the real present and the virtual past within the game for the students. The research project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is initially planned for one year and is officially called "Mobile Gaming Middleware".
Events
Clash of Realities (CoR)
The Cologne Game Lab, together with the Institute for Media Research and Media Education of the TH Köln and Electronic Arts, organizes the annual Clash of Realities (CoR), a scientific conference about computer games and their social, media and aesthetic significance.
Global Game Jam (GGJ)
The Cologne Game Lab has been organizing an annual game jam called Global Game Jam (GGJ) since 2010 by making the rooms of the Cologne International School of Design (KISD) available for participating groups and coordinating the activities of the participants.
Web links
- colognegamelab.de - Official website Cologne Game Lab
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.colognegamelab.de/institute/people/
- ↑ http://www.colognegamelab.de/institute/people/
- ↑ Background to the application
- ↑ Background to the application
- ^ Cologne Game Lab. Retrieved October 11, 2018 .
- ^ Cologne Game Lab. Retrieved October 11, 2018 .
- ↑ Press release of the Cologne Game Lab ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
