A still from Flash Frozen an award-winning video game developed at Stout.

As the art program at UW-Stout prepares for its 50th anniversary celebration next year, it’s only appropriate to announce its newest degree: a bachelor of fine arts in game design and development. Set to begin in the fall semester of 2015, this degree will allow for an alternative to the current bachelor of science degree in game design. Offered since 2009, this degree has served as a mesh of computer science and art for interested students. Since receiving approval from the UW System Board of Regents recently, the university is prepared to make a change. The now expanded degree will allow for game design and development majors to learn more specifically about one or the other, instead of a broad scope of each. The new addition to the art program will allow for clearer collaboration between the two specialties as well. Since the original game design and development degree was implemented, the Blue Devils have seen a rise from 15 students to over 100 in those interested specifically in art. The new degree will cover a broad spectrum of game design, but will specifically work on refining students’ ability in conceptual art, storyboarding, character design, environment art, and 3D modeling, among other topics.