About Game Art
Creating the visual assets and worlds of interactive experiences. Courses carry the GDES subject code and are offered through the College of Arts, Design & Communication. Numbers below 300 are introductory, 300–499 advanced undergraduate, and 500 and above graduate. Prerequisites are enforced at registration.
How the sequence works
Of the 8 GDES courses listed, 2 are introductory (numbers under 300), 2 are advanced undergraduate (300–499). 1 course has no prerequisite and is a reasonable first step. Later courses assume the earlier ones, so read prerequisites before you plan a term — they are enforced at registration and an override from the Game Art department is the only way around them.
GDES 1500 — Introduction to Game Art 3 cr
Pipelines, engines, real-time constraints, and building a simple asset end to end.
Prerequisite: none.
GDES 2100 — 3D Asset Creation 3 cr
Hard-surface and organic modeling, high-to-low bake, and clean topology.
Prerequisite: GDES 1500.
GDES 2300 — Texturing and Materials 3 cr
PBR texturing, trim sheets, and authoring materials to a performance budget.
Prerequisite: GDES 2100.
GDES 2500 — Environment Art 3 cr
Modular kits, set dressing, and building a playable environment in an engine.
Prerequisite: GDES 2300.
GDES 3100 — Character Art 3 cr
Sculpting, retopology, and preparing a game-ready character.
Prerequisite: GDES 2300.
GDES 3300 — Technical Art 3 cr
Shaders, VFX, optimization, and building tools that support the art team.
Prerequisite: GDES 2500.
GDES 3500 — Lighting for Games 3 cr
Real-time lighting, mood, performance, and cinematics.
Prerequisite: GDES 2500.
GDES 4900 — Game Art Portfolio 3 cr
A focused, polished portfolio and a contribution to a studio project.
Prerequisite: senior standing.
Planning and advising
Your degree audit shows exactly how GDES courses apply to your requirements; this list only shows what is offered. If you are choosing between two courses, deciding when to take a heavy one, or wondering whether a course will run next term, your academic adviser can tell you. Course availability by term is set close to registration and is not guaranteed by anything on this page.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every course, prerequisite, credit value, and department on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real curriculum or a course you can enroll in.