Curriculum for Game Business & Publishing

Your career in Game Business & Publishing starts on day one with Champlain’s Upside-Down Curriculum. Discover the difference and jumpstart your career.

Game Business & Publishing Curriculum

Start building the skills and knowledge that will serve you through your entire career.

Our faculty work closely with alumni and current game industry employers to make sure our curriculum teaches you all the relevant technical and interpersonal skills you’ll need—and it all starts in your very first semester.

The Upside-Down Curriculum allows you to build four full years of relevant experience through practical coursework, meaningful internships, and opportunities to study abroad (and even intern abroad!). You can opt to declare a minor, further personalizing your education to build precisely the future you envision.

Learning Outcomes for Game Business & Publishing

First Year
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
Second Year
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
- XXX Concentration Course 1
- XXX Concentration Course 2
- XXX Program Elective
- COR 203 Core Foundations: Making Meaning Through Culture
- COR 204 Theoretical Perspectives
Third Year
Fall Semester
- ECN 255 Managerial Economics
- XXX Concentration Course 3
- XXX Concentration Course 4
- COR 301 Core Foundations: Connecting Place and Identity
- COR 302 Field Methods
Spring Semester
- EGD 320 Game Studio II
- GBP 300 The Global Game Industry
- GBP 3XX Indie Game Business Development
- COR 303 Core Foundations: Connecting Past and Present
- COR 304 Digital Methods
Fourth Year
Fall Semester
- CCC 410EGD College Capstone in Game Development
- XXX Concentration Course 5
- SCI XXX Natural Science w/Lab
- XXX General Elective
Spring Semester
- EGD 420 Game Studio III
- XXX Program Elective 2
- XXX Program Elective 3
- XXX General Elective

Students will discover and develop the entrepreneurial mindset that is critical to succeed in today's dynamic business environment so that they will be able to imagine, create, identify, assess, and act on business opportunities in a variety of contexts and organizations. Through real-world examples and hand-ons activities, students will embrace an entrepreneurial and strength-based mindsets that will facilitate their understanding of the major functions of business and the relationships between them, as well as the importance of self-inquiry and teamwork.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Game History is an integrated, cross-disciplinary hands-on history class where students actively research the evolution and history of games through the lenses of design, art, technology, business, society and culture. Working with resources from the Game History Teaching Collection, and from the perspective of their discipline as a game developer, students will play, study and research historical to contemporary games. In this way, students will discover the nexus of relationships driving game development.

Prerequisites	Game Design, Game Art, Game Production Management or Game Programming students only. Or receive permission of the Dean.
Credits	3

In Introduction to the Game Industry, students will shift their perspectives from those of a consumer to those of a business professional. Students will learn about the current state of the games industry, including prominent technologies, genres, and business practices and also explore of how we got here. Given the rapid pace at which the game industry evolves, this course will also draw heavily on current events for critical discussion and analysis.

Prerequisites	GMBP Major or Permission of the Program Director
Credits	3

Why go to college? What does it mean to be educated? In this course you'll begin to answer these questions. We'll explore the academic expectations of higher education, college as a diverse community, and the significance of education around the world. By examining how these issues are negotiated and implemented at Champlain and elsewhere, you'll gain perspective on your own education and a deeper understanding of the ways that the college experience can be both liberating and transformative.

Prerequisites	Take Cor-102 concurrently.
Credits	3

Inquiry is about learning how to ask the right kinds of questions, and figuring out how to answer those questions through discussion and reflection. This course introduces you to the types of inquiry necessary to succeed at Champlain and beyond. You will explore the intersections of reading, writing, and thinking by focusing on a specific topic or theme. You will approach that focus through the interrogation of relevant texts and analysis that draws upon multiple analytical frameworks. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take COR-101 concurrently.
Credits	3

Students will learn the fundamental principles of financial transaction recording and how they impact financial statements; the relationship among the financial statements; and how to use accounting information in the managerial decision-making process. By applying these principles in real-world contexts, students will gain insight into how accounting information influences organization management in the decision making process.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Business decisions begin with a fundamental understanding of the marketplace. From target market to competition,globalization to industry analysis, businesses must evaluate the marketing, organizational management, and international implications of decision-making. Students explore the behavioral and business decision-making process for marketing and management as they are introduced to these strategic processes critical to business success. Students will learn how to build and function within successful teams as they engage with Vermont-based businesses to analyze and recommend solutions to real-world business challenges and opportunities.

Prerequisites	BUS-110 or permisison of Assistant Dean
Credits	3

Every professional needs to be able to communicate effectively and analyze the communication of others. In this course, you will enhance your own skills in these areas by learning successful strategies for overcoming communication barriers in interpersonal, small group, public speaking, and computer-mediated settings. You will also apply basic communication theories to improve your ability to get your message across, persuade others and improve work and personal relationships.

Prerequisites	You may not enroll in this course if you have already taken COM-130.
Credits	3

What makes an argument good or bad? What counts as evidence in our post-truth world? How can you understand and assess the truth value of a claim when you're not an expert? In this course you'll learn rhetorical strategies about how to examine arguments and types of evidence in different disciplines and fields of study. To help learn these strategies, you will do close readings of texts from a variety of disciplines in the liberal arts and sciences, popular culture, and social media.

Prerequisites	Take COR-104 concurrently.
Credits	3

This course introduces you to interdisciplinary inquiry using applied, project-based, and/or experiential methods. Regardless of the specific course focus, you'll have opportunities for making and doing interdisciplinary knowledge creation through a variety of approaches and activities. You will collaborate with other students, iterate on ideas, and work to develop a project. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take Cor-103 concurrently.
Credits	3

In the Creative Portfolio Tools course, students explore and develop a variety of portfolio tools to assist in a successful launch of their careers in the creative industry. These include websites, presenting portfolio, creating a personal image, business cards, cover letters and resumes, developing reels and other video based promotions, and using social media and networking. The course is modular and self paced, allowing students to work on materials specific to their area of employment, and their needs for gaining internships and/or employment.

Prerequisites
Credits	1

In the competitive and expanding game industry, it isn't enough just to make a great game - you need to have a plan on how to bring it to your players. In this course students will explore the development of an interactive product from the development of a concept to product launch and beyond. Emphasis will be placed on the intersection of business and publishing with product development including market research, strategic partnerships, go to market plans, monetization, and more.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

An overview of the entire legal system, with an emphasis on contract rights. The essential elements of a contract, the breach of contracts and the remedies for breach are discussed. Business and consumer laws, including white-collar crime, landlord-tenant rights, real property interests and administrative law are presented.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Teaches a statistical approach to decision making under uncertainty. Topics are descriptive statistics, probability distributions, inferential statistics, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, linear regression and correlation.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Science holds an elevated place in society. The knowledge and meaning that science makes are seen as having a particular and special value. This course explores knowledge and meaning making in order to allow a thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, science as a way of knowing, and then engages with the methods and theories of the sciences themselves, to understand the analytical, creative, and generative possibilities of science.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

While each section of COR 202 addresses a different problem, issue, or topic, they all focus on interdisciplinary research. You will collect, analyze, and assess information from different disciplines in order to recognize patterns, contextualize arguments and synthesize ideas while collaborating on a project. Emphasis will be placed on helping you translate and apply what you learn about interdisciplinary research to other professional contexts. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Culture impacts everything we do, experience, and learn, but what is culture? Where does it come from, how does it form, and why does it have such a wide and deep impact on people's lives? This course explores culture as a system of meaning and meaning-making in order to allow for a more thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, cultural texts and media using different methodological approaches.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

In this course, you will go in depth about a theoretical perspective that asks you to interrogate systems of power and power relationships. You will learn about the history of that perspective, including how it too was shaped by multiple contexts and compares with other viewpoints. You will use that perspective to analyze a specific topic, collection of texts, or cultural phenomena. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

This course covers the basic microeconomic theories within a business context as they apply to markets, analysis of cost, producer and consumer behaviors, industrial organization, strategic thinking, and pricing strategies. These economic concepts will be continually applied to current events, policy issues, and business situations.

Prerequisites	Take 30 credits
Credits	3

Where we are shapes how we understand ourselves and each other. In this course, we will dig into the relationship between place and identity. We will learn how to think spatially, recognizing how one's identity is situated within and constructed through movement through different spaces--be they natural and built environments, rural and urban, or actual and virtual. COR 301 will help us understand the complex meanings of identity in a world defined by movement and change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Field methods are a collection of practices used in the sciences, arts, and humanities to understand phenomena in situ or as it is happening in a specific time and place. In this course, we will apply one or more field methods to research a topic, theme, or question that varies by section. We will learn practices associated with research in the field including but not limited to participant observation, data collection, and experimentation in order to navigate an uncontrolled environment. We will also examine the power dynamics between the researcher, informant, and subject matter to help us understand how, if not practiced ethically, field methods can create or reinforce biases rather than helping us learn with and make sense of the world around us. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

In Game Studio II, students from all of the degrees of the Game Studio work together in large, multidisciplinary teams to rapidly conceptualize, pitch, plan and develop a 3D game. Students utilize the latest in game technology, while perfecting their collaborative, communication skills, and agile project management techniques.

Prerequisites	GDES.BS, GART.BS, GPRO.BS, GPMG.BS, GMSD.BS, GMBP.BS only. EGD-220, minimum grade of C. Game Design Students: EGD-300, minimum grade of C Game Art Students: EGD-235, minimum grade of C Game Programming: GPR-250, minimum grade of C Game Sound Design: SON-300, minimum grade of C Game Business & Publishing: GBP-200, minimum grade of C
Credits	3

Prerequisites
Credits	3

By learning from the past, we can make sense of the present and prepare for the future. In this course, we will learn how the 21st century has been and continues to be shaped by past social practices, ethical frameworks, power relations, and discourses. COR 303 is a course about how we know what we know about the past, and the ways different narratives about the past shape the present. Making connections between past and present will help us better understand how to live and make decisions in a globalized world defined by constant change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Digital methods are widely used forms of inquiry that employ technological tools to interrogate research questions important to the humanities and sciences (including the social sciences). Some examples include digital archiving, data mining, and story mapping. In this course, we will use one or more digital methods or tools to research a topic, theme or question that varies by section, with the express purpose of critiquing and reflecting on its application. This includes an examination of the values, flaws, and impacts of the methods or tools we are using, paying particular attention to their ethical implications and power dynamics. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

The college capstone in Game Development is an opportunity for students in the Game Studio to pursue a self-directed experience in a collaborative Game Development environment that intentionally integrates their liberal learning in the Core curriculum with their degree learning. Students spend the semester working in teams conceptualizing and building a proof of concept that they may choose to pitch to a faculty panel for selection for production in the second semester.

Prerequisites	GDES, GMRT, GPRO, GMSD, GPMG, GMBP, and INAR only. All must complete COR 301, COR 302, COR 303, COR 304. EGD 320, C or better.
Credits	5

In EGD 420, Game Studio III, seniors successful in pitching their games during the college capstone in the Fall semester continue into full production. Forming large production teams, games are taken to the perfect polished state of gold master, ready for publication. Academic emphasis for the class is focused on working successfully in a professional studio environment, preparing for entrance into the job market, and taking personal craft to the next level.

Prerequisites	CCC-410EGD with a minimum grade of C or better. GDES, GMRT, GMSD, GPMG, GPRO, GMBP, and INAR only.
Credits	5

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Curriculum for Game Business & Publishing

Game Business & Publishing Curriculum