Teaching interdisciplinary teamwork through hands-on game development

Husky Game Development (HGD) is an innovative project-based course at Michigan Technological University that gives a diverse set of undergraduate students the opportunity to develop video games in a business-like setting. The course allows students to exercise their technical and artistic skills on a multi-semester project while also developing their teamwork, problem-solving, leadership, and communication skills. Many of our former students now have careers in the video game industry or in a computer science related field. The course is modeled after a business where the instructor assumes the role of chairman or advisor and the students elect their own management and form teams to work on projects. Although most of the students are pursuing computer science related degrees, HGD also attracts students interested in 2D art, 3D art, sound design, and electrical engineering. The diversity of students in HGD gives students the unique opportunity to learn how to work effectively with people who have different abilities, backgrounds, and interests. This paper focuses on the policies and techniques that we have successfully used to attract, organize, motivate, and evaluate the students in the course. We also provide analysis of enrollment in Husky Game Development from Fall 2011 through Spring 2014 and describe how the faculty advisor and student management share and delegate responsibilities. We hope that HGD can serve as one possible model for instructors at other institutions who desire to implement a similar course.