three of the first four programming courses to be in C++ and created game-oriented examples and exercises. The game focus helps motivate students, getting them excited about programming. For Fall 2008, results showed a 28% increase in the number of students with letter grade A in the games-oriented CS- 101 Introduction to the Fundamentals of Programming and for Spring 2009 a 49% increase (http:// gamepipe.usc.edu/~zyda/GamePipe/ Ghyam-Final-MS-Study-2009.pdf). Further analysis of the results is underway to determine whether they reflect superior skills, superior understanding of programming, superior motivation, or some other cause;

Replaced EE with CS. We replaced four electrical-engineering courses on circuit design with computer-sci-ence-focused EE-352 Computer Organization & Architecture and parallel-programming-focused EE-452 Game Hardware Architecture. The removed courses represent an older style of computer-science-degree program. We felt it more important that students learn how computer architectures affect programming rather than how to make such architectures. We also felt that parallel programming was highly relevant to both the multithreaded nature of modern game development and multicore processors;

Added EE. We added EE-450 Introduction to Computer Networks as a degree requirement. Networking is offered as an elective in the regular computer science curriculum. Because games need networking, all our students take it;

Cut compiler courses. We eliminated the two compiler courses taken by regular computer science students. ACM eliminated compilers as a requirement from the CS core in 1979. The USC Computer Science Department uses the two courses as large program-ming-project capstone courses, so we felt we would rather have our students build games. The replacement for the games curriculum is the two-semester CS-491A/B Final Game Projects course. An interesting result is that the Computer Science Department is weighing whether to allow general computer science students to take the Final Game Projects course instead of the compiler sequence; and

We felt that parallel
programming was
highly relevant to
the multithreaded
nature of modern
game development
and multicore
processors.

No foreign languages. General education requirements for the bachelor’s degree in computer science (games) are approximately the same as for USC’s regular computer science degree. The degree lacks a four-course foreign-language requirement as in all other USC College degrees, an accident of planning rather than a recommendation.

When we began planning the degree, the dean of engineering said, “I don’t want a weak degree.” So we made these changes to the computer science component of the program and are confident we offer an academically strong and industry-viable undergraduate degree.

For the games-side of the bachelor’s degree, we replaced 42 units of electives from the general computer science degree with a full course in game development. Hence, the degree looks more like a double major than a specialization. We also have a set of courses on game engineering, game design, and game cross-disciplinary.

Game engineering covers video-game programming, parallel programming on consoles and graphics processing units, and programming game engines, all of which are straightforward software-development courses and all important for game development.

For game design, we send our students to a three-course Game Design Workshop sequence in the USC School of Cinematic Arts Interactive Media Program. Engineers are immersed in gameplay design as taught by master game designers. The first course in the sequence—CTIN-488 Game Design Workshop—teaches students how to prototype gameplay using cardboard and hand-drawn art; they basically build board games. We get an interesting response from the engineers we send there. Some rave about it, saying it’s the best thing they’ve ever taken. Some hate it, feeling frustrated they cannot immediately code-up a game. Some hate the first few weeks but in the end come back and say it was a great course. Ultimately, the students who understand the importance of the course and express satisfaction end up with great internships/jobs in the game industry. It’s where we see the future