The Computer Games Design degree seeks students interested in studying both the sciences and the arts in a collaborative, problem-solving environment. For application information and deadlines, see the Admissions website. Please note that the Computer Game Design department requires all applicants to complete a writing sample portfolio in addition to the admission application. All of Mason’s tuition rates and fees can be found on our Student Accounts site. See the Cost tab below for a breakdown of tuition and fees. The cost for this program is $577.25 per credit hour for VA state residents or $1,554.75 per credit hour for Non-VA residents. Students study both the sciences and the arts, all in a revolving-role team-based, project-based new pedagogical environment. The required internship provides students with practical experience that enhances their employability post-graduation. Required courses include computer science, art and visual technology, music, the humanities, and computer game design. The BFA in Computer Game Design enables students to focus on the artistic components of computer game design while providing them with the technical skills prerequisite to the field. Mason has grown rapidly over the last half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls 35,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. George Mason University is Virginia's largest public research university. "Truly for us it has been an excellent industrial-academic partnership not just because of how interesting the students' jobs are during the summer, but because the Adobe researchers follow up and maintain a relationship with our students throughout the year." Wang's job was to help improve an algorithm the company developed.Īdobe gives Mason Engineering interns "very challenging research assignments," Simon says. One of Simon's PhD students, Haoliang Wang, worked on a project involving storing streaming videos in the Cloud during his internship with the company last summer.
The company also offers internships to Mason Engineering students. "Adobe plays a very active role in the standardization of some of the video streaming techniques."Īdobe has a long list of research questions it shares with Mason Engineering researchers to form collaborations, says computer science professor Robert Simon. "We have been trying to set up protocols and implement the new prototypes," he says.
His team looked into ways to utilize the new features offered by HTTP/2 for video streaming to mobile devices. Most internet content, including streaming video, is transmitted over HTTP/1.1, but HTTP/2 is gradually replacing HTTP 1.1 to improve user experience, Chen says. "We tried to make the media playback on the phone smoother while consuming less power," he says. Meanwhile, computer science professor Songqing Chen's research team investigated ways to improve streaming video on mobile phones. This technique could be useful to online stores and graphic artists who want to generate new images with different finishes or materials. "We are using machine-learning algorithms that allow you to take an image and apply a different material to it for a new look." For instance, the process makes it easier to turn a photo of a leather sofa into one covered in a plain or floral fabric.Ĭurrently companies have to take photos of every version of the sofa or use a more time-consuming process to create the different images, he says.
One of the latest: Associate professor of computer science Jyh-Ming Lien's team collaborated with Adobe researchers to develop a new photo-editing technique that allows people to modify their pictures to reflect different materials. Adobe has donated $120,000 to Mason Engineering. Professors in the Department of Computer Science are working with Adobe on cutting-edge projects, and some have already conducted projects the company funded. You may soon be able to make dramatic editing changes to photos with just a few clicks on your computer, and you might be able to get better streaming quality of videos on your smartphone thanks to preliminary research conducted at Mason Engineering and backed by Adobe Research. view moreĬredit: Courtesy of George Mason University Image: Songqing Chen is working on improving video streaming on smartphones.