UMBC CMSC Game Development Track
The computer games industry has become big business. The Entertainment Software Association
reports that the computer games industry made $25.1 billion in revenue in 2010. With over 20
active studios, the Baltimore/DC metropolitan areas are a hotbed of game development. According
to Game Developer magazine’s annual salary survey, programmers in the games industry had an
average annual salary of $80,325 in 2010 and artists averaged $70,785. UMBC students have gone
on to work in leading companies such as Big Huge Games, Breakaway Games, Day One Studios,
Epic Games, Firaxis, Mythic Entertainment, ZeniMax online studios and Zynga, as well as associated companies like AMD and Emergent.
Based on employer feedback, UMBC has created a game development track as an option for
students pursuing a B.S. degree in Computer Science, and a concentration in animation and interactive media for students pursuing a B.A. degree in Visual Arts.
We believe that the track in CMSC will prepare a Computer Science major for technical positions
in the game industry. At the same time, it emphasizes fundamentals that will be equally valuable in
other types of positions. To satisfy the CMSC track, students should complete all of the regular
CMSC B.S. requirements, plus the following (we’ve indicated which of these courses are planned
in the next semester or two).
Non-Computer Science courses must include
• PHYS 121: Introductory Physics I (Spring 2012, Fall 2012)
• ART 380: History and Theory of Games (Spring 2012, Fall 2012)
CMSC 400-level electives must include
• CMSC 435: Computer Graphics (Spring 2012, Fall 2012)
• CMSC 471: Artificial Intelligence (Fall 2012)
• CMSC 493: Games Group Project (Spring 2012)
CMSC 400-level electives must also include two of the following
• CMSC 437: Graphical User Interface Programming
• CMSC 445: Software Engineering (Spring 2012)
• CMSC 455: Numerical Computation
• CMSC 461: Databases (Spring 2012)
• CMSC 479: Introduction to Robotics (Spring 2012)
• CMSC 481: Networks (Spring 2011)
• CMSC 483: Parallel Processing (Spring 2012)
• others as pre-approved by the program director (see gaim.umbc.edu/cmsc for a list)
• additional courses may be accepted if pre-approved with a written justification
In addition, in Spring 2012 we are offering a special topics course that can count toward your
CMSC 400-level electives:
• CMSC 491: Special Topics in Computer Science: Graphics for Games
Check the web site http://gaim.umbc.edu/ for more information, or contact the track director,
Professor Marc Olano ([email protected])
November 2011
CMSC
Requirement
UMBC CMSC BS Game Development Track
CMSC 201
CS 1
additional
GFR/GEP
courses
CMSC 411
Comp Arch
MATH 151
Calc 1
2 additional
Science
courses
CMSC 202
CS 2
ART 380
Hist/Theory
of Games
Games Track
Requirement
CMSC 203
Discrete
CMSC 304
Ethics
CMSC 331
Prog. Lang
CMSC 313
Comp Org
CMSC 341
Data Struct
2 additional
CMSC 4xx
from list
CMSC 421
OS
CMSC 345
Soft. Eng.
CMSC 471
AI
CMSC 493
Game Proj
MATH 221
Linear Alg.
MATH 152
Calc 2
PHYS 121
Physics 1
STAT 355
Intro Stat
CMSC 435
Graphics
CMSC 441
Algorithms