Stephen Jacobs Headshot

Stephen Jacobs

Professor

School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

585-475-4692
Office Location

Stephen Jacobs

Professor

School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Education

BA, MA, New School for Social Research

585-475-4692

Areas of Expertise

Select Scholarship

Full Patent
Sugarman, Laurence I., Brian L. Garrison, and Stephen Jacobs. "System and Method for Feedback of Dynamically Weighted Values." U.S. Patent 10,085,690. 2 Oct. 2018.
Invited Paper
Jacobs, Stephen. "The Shivah: Kosher Edition. A Review." Gamevironments 7. (2017). Web.
Published Game, Application or Software
Jacobs, Stephen. Mordechai Marches to Manchuria. Software. RIT MAGIC Center. 2017.
Invited Keynote/Presentation
Jacobs, Stephen and Walter Bender. "Education Program Roundtable." PyCon 2013. PyCon. Santa Clara, CA. 14 Mar. 2013. Conference Presentation.
Rice, Robert, Stephen Jacobs, and Laurence Sugarman. "Creating Mindgamers." Games for Health Europe. Games for Health Europe. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, NL. 5 Nov. 2012. Conference Presentation.
Jacobs, Stephen, Christopher Casscioli, and MIchael Soupios. "Gaming the Campus." Meaningful Play. Meaningful Play. East Lansing, MI. 20 Oct. 2012. Conference Presentation.
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Published Conference Proceedings
Jacobs, Stephen, Robert Rice, and Laurence Sugarman. "Creating MindGamersTM: Building Communication, Design and Development Process with Clinicians, Game Faculty and Students." Proceedings of the Meaningful Play, October 18-20, 2012, East Lansing MIchigan. Ed. Brian Winn. East Lansing, MI: DiGRA, 2012. Web.
Jacobs, Stephen, C. Kussmaul, and M. Sabin. "Free and Open Source Software in Computing Education." Proceedings of the ACM SIGITE 2011. Ed. Bryan Goda, Edward Sobiesk, and Randy Connolly. West Point, NY: ACM, 2011. Web.
Jacobs, Stephen. "Work in Progress - Games For Life Workshop: Outreach To Middle and High School Age Girl Scouts." Proceedings of the IEEE Frontiers in Education. Ed. Jennifer Karlin et al. Rapid CIty, SD: IEEE, 2011. Web.
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Book Chapter
Barnes, Susan and Stephen Jacobs. "Chapter 4: Structure of Networking Communities." Socializing the Classroom: Social Networks and Online Learning. Pittsburgh, PA: Lexington Books, 2012. 35-53. Print.
Jacobs, Stephen. "The Neverhood." Well Played 3.0. Pittsburgh, PA: ETC Press, 2012. 41-50. Print.
Jacobs, Stephen. "The Neverhood." Well Played 3.0. Ed. Drew Davidson. Pittsburg, PA: ETC Press, 2011. 42-50. Print.
Journal Editor
Jacobs, Stephen, ed. Journal of Game Design and Development Education. Rochester, NY: RIT Scholarly Press, 2011. Print.

Currently Teaching

IGME-350
3 Credits
This course will immerse students in the international games industry via a study-abroad experience in a location that will vary. The course will hold several meetings on campus before departure, but then the bulk of the course will center on a two-plus-week intensive experience abroad. While abroad, RIT students will spend half the course on the campus of a host university where they will participate in classes and/or other academic offerings, participate in a weekend game jam at the host university, and visit local and regional sites with cultural, historical, and/or game industry significance. Students will spend the rest of the course in a major city center of game development visiting game studios, governmental offices related to the games industry, and/or cultural and historical sites. This course has been offered for both Germany (the largest European games market) and Japan. Other offerings in other countries may emerge over time and the country visited varies for year to year. International travel is required.
IGME-582
3 Credits
This course provides students with exposure to the design, creation and production of Open Source Software projects. Students will be introduced to the historic intersections of technology and intellectual property rights and will become familiar with Open Source development processes, tools and practices. They will become contributing members of humanitarian software, game and interactive media development communities. Students will actively document their efforts on Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software community hubs.
IGME-590
3 Credits
This is intended to allow for special one-time offerings of undergraduate topics or to allow faculty to pilot new undergraduate offerings. Specific course details (such as the course topics, format, resource needs, and credit hours) will be determined by the faculty member(s) who propose a given special-topics offering.
IGME-599
1 - 6 Credits
The student will work independently under the supervision of a faculty advisor on a topic not covered in other courses.
IGME-602
3 Credits
This course presents students with core theories of game design, informed by research results from media theory, narrative methods and models, theories of ideation, and the nature of games, play and fun. Specific emphasis is placed on the examination of historical successes and failures, along with presentation of ethical and cultural issues related to the design of interactive software. Students will engage in formal critique and analysis of media designs and their formal elements.

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