Eastern Kentucky University is joining a number of other post-secondary schools to further video game development education.
EKU is a member of the Higher Education Video Games Alliance.
Eastern Computer Science Professor George Landon says through the partnership, standards and best practices for teaching video game development can more easily be formed. He says there are academic and cultural applications found in video games. "We can use them for teaching tools. We can use them for improving different aspects of society by helping to introduce new topics or trends through the compelling parts of a video game," said Landon.
EKU will open its gaming institute this fall.
Landon says the interdisciplinary institute on campus will focus on research, development, and publication of games using an in-house game development studio. "So, this may be related to faculty in other departments who are looking at how can they use games possibly to improve their research or to apply directly to the classroom or just they have an idea for a game they think might be really interesting," added Landon.
Landon says 70 students are currently enrolled in the video game development program at Eastern. He expects that number to continue to grow in the years ahead. ?
