Game On: Drucker Launches Exciting New Lab

The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito School of Management has announced a unique opportunity that enables a transdisciplinary student team to design and build an interactive game over the course of the spring 2017 semester.

To be completed over the course of six or more months, the project serves as the inaugural activity of the Claremont Game Lab, which is being developed to provide a unique learning environment in this fast-growing Creative Industries segment. Students will be mentored by employees from Pokemon and more.

“We are delighted to launch this innovative lab as it represents a unique opportunity for students to work with top game experts,” said Drucker School Dean Tom Horan.

Horan said the game lab will give students—students from all of The Claremont Colleges are eligible to apply for the lab—a special opportunity to develop and understand the skill sets necessary for careers in this expanding industry.

“As demonstrated by the huge success of Pokemon Go,” Horan added, “we are entering a new phase of this vibrant creative industry, and the lab will allow students to be at the cutting-edge of the art, science, and business of games.”

Project Team Skills: The student project team is envisioned to consist of graduate as well as undergraduate students across all 7 Claremont Colleges who have skills and/or strong interests in the following areas:

• Business/Management: start-up business planning, online/offline game monetization, team management
• Technical/Programming: Game programming (in LUA),Geo/Augmented Reality Games, 3D Modeling (on Roblox Platform)
• Creative: Storytelling Game Environment Creation, Music/Sound

Project Team Success: A background in the business, technical, and creative aspects of game development is preferred but not required. What is required is relevant technical, project, business skills and/or strong interests and potential to succeed in the assigned team role and a commitment to the success of the entire team in designing and building a functioning game. The project is demanding, in terms of time and commitment, but will be well worth the effort.

Students can elect to earn individual academic units for participating on the team. A general team stipend will be shared by all team members once the game has successfully launched on an online platform.

World-Class Mentorship: The project is being mentored by Drucker alumnus Rick Arons, who is Executive VP of The Pokemon Company International. Other mentors include George “Skaff” Elias and Randy Fleming. Skaff Elias was Senior VP at Wizards of The Coast, Brand Manager of Magic The Gathering, and is co-author of Characteristics of Games (MIT Press, 2012). Randy Fleming, PhD (Stanford) will provide Roblox programming support to students on the project. Drucker School Professor Hovig Tchalian will be the faculty manager of the project.