5. ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 2019 Grads Hired: 97%2019 Grads Salary: $64,500

6. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH2019 Grads Salary: $72,662Graduates: Doug Bowser (COO, Nintendo of America) and Nolan Bushnell (founder, Atari).

7. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY2019 Grads Hired: 80%Fun Fact: MSU offers a west coast game industry field trip experience each year, offering networking and learning opportunities.

8. BRADLEY UNIVERSITYFaculty: Mark Hamer (art director, Telltale Games and Double Fine).Fun Fact: Game development teams at Bradley are close to 50% male, 50% female.

9. SHAWNEE STATE UNIVERSITY2019 Grads Hired: 80%Faculty Who Worked at a Game Company: 100%

10. VANCOUVER FILM SCHOOLGraduates: Armando Troisi (narrative director, Ubisoft).Fun Fact: Focuses on coding, game art, and level design.

11. DREXEL UNIVERSITYTotal Courses: 85Graduates: Anna Nguyen (Schell Games, NetherRealm), Glen Winters (Rockstar Games).

12. WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTEFaculty: Brian Moriarty (GDC co-founder, LucasArts), Keith Zizza (BioShock Infinite).Fun Fact: One of the first game design schools in the U.S., offers apprenticeship-style classes every term.

13. ABERTAY UNIVERSITYGraduates: David Jones (creator of Grand Theft Auto), Liam Wong (art director, Ubisoft).Fun Fact: Home of Europe’s oldest game development degree program.

14. UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDATotal Courses: 138Graduates: Richard Ugarte (Epic Games), Alexa Madeville (Facebook Games), Melissa Yancey (EA).

15. HAMPSHIRE COLLEGEFaculty: Chris Perry (Pixar), Rob Daviau (designer of Risk Legacy).2019 Grads Hired: 60%

16. CHAMPLAIN COLLEGETotal Courses: 1192019 Grades Hired: 75%

17. RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE2019 Grads Hired: 71%Faculty: Maurice Suckling (Driver series, Borderlands).

18. COGSWELL POLYTECHNIC COLLEGEFaculty Who Worked at Game Company: 96%Faculty: Jerome Solomon (ILM, LucasArts, EA), Stone Librande (Riot, Blizzard).

19. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLASTotal Courses: 208Faculty Who Worked at Game Company: 80%

20. BREDA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES2019 Grades Hired: 75%Faculty: David Wessman (Star Wars: X-Wing, Chronicles of Riddick), Chris Rothwell (Grand Theft Auto).

21. HOWEST UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES2019 Grads Hired: 70%Faculty: Alex van den Abeele and Kevin Hoefman (Larian Studios).

22. LASALLE COLLEGE VANCOUVERFaculty Who Worked at Game Company: 100%Faculty: Jarett Metcalfe (EA), Alijah Lad (Capcom).

Total Courses: 2302019 Grads Hired: 90% 2019 Grads Salary: $65,000 Faculty: Marianne Krawcyzk (writer, God of War series) Graduates: George Lucas (creator of Star Wars) and Jenova Chen (Journey director).

Total Courses: 1322019 Grads Hired: 67% 2019 Grads Salary: $56,978 Faculty: Jonathan Rudder (The Lord of the Rings Online).Fun Fact: Becker College also features an esports management program..

Total Courses: 539 2019 Grads Hired: 39% 2019 Grads Salary: $48,000 Faculty: Dr. Bennett Foddy (Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy).Fun Fact: The NYU Game Center Incubator helps students turn projects into fully funded and published games,

Total Courses: 4092019 Grads Hired: 69% 2019 Grads Salary: $75,425Faculty: Claude Comair (Co-founder, Nintendo Software Technology).Fun Fact: Graduates include Kim Swift (Portal), Adam Brennecke (Obsidian Entertainment), Jon Schecter (EA).

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THE BEST GAME DESIGN PROGRAMS,

RANKED BY THE PRINCETON REVIEW.

THE BEST SCHOOLS FOR ASPIRING GAME DEVELOPERS

Whether you’re taking your first steps or refining your skills, there’s a game design program for anyone. Check out the 50 best undergraduate and 25 best graduate programs out there.

THE TOP 50 BEST GAME DESIGNUNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS

Almost anyone who has ever played a game has wondered what it would be like to make their own, but childhood dreams don’t need to stay dreams. With a lot of hard work, and some guidance, you can help create new worlds that change the way we play forever. First things first, though, you’ll need a good education to get there.

That’s where these awesome game design college programs come in. The Princeton Review has done all the heavy lifting of determining and ranking the best undergraduate and graduate game design programs across North America and Europe. Wondering which school has the best teachers, the most prestigious graduates, or

maybe the best classrooms and resources? We’ve got you covered on all that and more.

So take a moment to think about what kind of game developer you want to be. One who works with the broad strokes of design, or maybe the fine details in programming and coding? Maybe you want to do business with the biggest brands, break free into the indie scene, or perhaps even the rapidly growing world of esports. Either way, your first steps are often the most important ones, so read up to learn a thing or two before adventuring out.

Want to know more? Check out The Princeton Review’s website for further information on game design programs: princetonreview.com/game-design

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When you think about getting a career in game design, it’s easy to fall into the same old ideas: Game designer, animator, programmer, level designer. These are all great options to choose from, but it doesn’t do justice to the ridiculously wide variety of other kinds of jobs there are in the game and tech industries. Knowing there was more to explore, we spoke with faculty from some of the best game design schools out there: Vancouver Film School, the University of Utah, and more. We asked them what the most interesting but lesser-known jobs are in the industry, what you need to know to pursue them, and why they’re so important.

THE COOLE ST VIDEO GAME JOBS YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF

HOMEWORK:

AfterpartyUsing your first draft wiselyNight School Studio, the team behind the critically acclaimed Oxenfree, was hoping to repeat their success with their follow-up, Afterparty, a similarly story-driven game about escaping Hell by drinking Satan under the table. Fun stuff, sure, but it came with some challenges for Night School’s artists.

EXAMPLE: Night School’s lead engineer was tasked with creating an art production pipeline that aligned with the studio’s original concept art, but results were mixed. The original art was, of course, 2D, but turning it all into 3D wasn’t proving evocative enough. So what’s a developer to do? Night School ended up mapping their actual concept art onto transparent cards, adding some 3D elements to them, and pushing some parts into the foreground and background to help things pop. Thus, Afterparty gained the painterly style its designers originally dreamt up without losing anything in the transition to a final game.

HOMEWORK: Like Night School, you’ll often be working as a small team. How can you reduce the time it takes to produce the assets you need while staying true to your vision? Sometimes the answer is staring you in the face, and sometimes your first draft is the best fit, give or take some minor adjustments.mix seemingly incompatible mechanics to evoke something exciting while still focusing on the whole experience?

READING MATERIAL: b l o g . n i g h t s c h o o l s t u d i o . c o m

What should you study: Programming, level design, production.Why is it important: If you’ve ever heard one of those horror stories about a faulty game engine making a studio’s development process a nightmare and thought you could fix that, this is the job for you. “There’s always a tension in game companies between having user friendly tools that anyone can use, and having tools that do exactly what a designer/content creators want them to do. A technical designer thinks like a designer but has the same level of skill as a programmer, letting them use more complex and powerful tools to create game content.” - Christopher Mitchell, Head of the School of Creative Technologies, Vancouver Film School.

23. LAGUNA COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN2019 Grads Hired: 87%Fun Fact: 57% of Laguna game design students are female

24. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - STOUT2019 Grads Salary: $55,000Graduates: Mitch Clayton (Naughty Dog), Margret Rigotti (Dreamworks Animation).

25. FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY2019 Grads Hired: 72%Fun Fact: FSU is opening a 40,000-square-foot “Center for Virtual Learning” in Fall 2020.

26. MIAMI UNIVERSITY2019 Grads Hired: 70%Graduates: Michael Frazzini (VP, Amazon Games), Chris Carney (level designer, Riot Games).

27. SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGNTotal Courses: 75Faculty: Jack Mamais (lead designer, Far Cry and Crysis), Michelle Menard (Civilization, Firaxis, Farmville).

28. ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITYTotal Courses: 120Graduates: Garry McGee (level designer, Sledgehammer), Crysta Frost (technical artist, 2K).

29. NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY2019 Grads Salary: $76,400Faculty Who Worked at a Game Company: 90%

30. BLOOMFIELD COLLEGEFaculty: GJ Lee (Game Devs of Color Expo), Dennis Carr (IGF Nominee).Faculty Who Have Worked at a Game Company: 100%

31. QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITYTotal Graduates: 157Fun Fact: QU in LA Program Offers Internship Opportunities at EA, Facebook, Blizzard.

32. MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ARTTotal Courses: 61Graduates: Brian Martel (Gearbox co-founder), Greg Foertsch (Art Director, Firaxis).

33. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTINGraduates: Warren Spector (Deus Ex, Thief, System Shock), Richard Garriott (Ultima).2019 Grads Hired: 29%

34. MARIST COLLEGETotal Courses: 109Graduates: Darren Sugg (creative director, Fortnite).

35. ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY2019 Grads Hired: 60%Fun Fact: The Digital Entertainment Tech degree focuses on VR and mobile development.

36. NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY2019 Grads Hired: 40%Fun Fact: The largest provider of graduates to NC game industry, including Epic Games and Ubisoft’s Red Storm.

37. OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY2019 Grads Hired: 60%Graduates: Alex Waldo (storyboard artist, Tomb Raider), Travis McIntosh (programming, Naughty Dog).

38. SHERIDAN COLLEGEFaculty: Max Piesner (writer, Ubisoft and Silicon Knights), Jeff Pidsadny (level design, Rockstar).2019 Grads Hired: 93%

39. FALMOUTH UNIVERSITYGraduates: Rex Crowle (creative director, Media Molecule).Faculty Who Have Worked at a Game Company: 71%

40. ARTCENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGNTotal Courses: 130Fun Fact: Offers a “DesignMatter” class focused on a socially meaningful project.

41. INDIANA UNIVERSITY42. NEW ENGLAND INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY43. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA44. KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY45. DEPAUL UNIVERSITY46. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-DEARBORN47. NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY48. FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY49. CORNELL UNIVERSITY50. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

TOP 50 GAME DESIGN UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS (CONT)

GAMES USER RESEARCHERRWhat is it: You’re responsible for running all sorts of psychological tests on people playing a game, which in turn helps a studio learn how their players think, and how to better build every aspect of their game. The University of Utah even has the Games User Research Lab, where researchers use eye and face-tracking technology to record every emotional response to a game.What should you study: Psychology, of course, but also elements of social sciences, media studies, and user interface design.Why is it important: “Through rigorous testing through all stages of game development, we can improve the usability, accessibility, and fun of the games we make. This testing is important not just because it makes games better but also because it uses data to build business confidence and stability in the games industry. ” - Assistant Professor Ashley Brown, University of Utah.

TECHNICAL DESIGNERWhat is it: You’re a bridge between programming and designing. Your job is to help create a toolset for the other developers that’s easy enough for almost anyone to use, but also flexible enough for a designer’s vision to be achieved. Simple, huh?

RIGGERWhat is it: You build the skeletons and musculature of moving and living things in a game. “It’s a process that requires creativity, precision and an ability to think about all the many permutations a skeleton will have to undergo over the life of the character in-game, accounting for problems that don’t even exist yet.” - Christopher Mitchell, Head of the School of Creative Technologies, Vancouver Film School.What should you study: Animation, anatomy, physiology.Why is it important: Besides being a very in-demand job, but like Vancouver Film School’s Christopher Mitchell says, you’re figuring out problems most other designers won’t even know to look out for. An animator’s job is practically impossible if they don’t have a reliable, versatile “actor” to bring to life, and they need someone to build them and support them.

HOMEWORK:

Neo CabBuilding a foundation for meaningful charactersYou can make a game that’s incredibly fun to play, but it won’t mean much in the end without characters who aren’t giving us players something to latch onto. The developers at Chance Agency knew this going into Neo Cab, a narrative adventure about the last human cab driver in a futuristic capitalist dystopia.

EXAMPLE: Chance Agency had the difficult task of designing a wide variety of characters who felt like real passengers going about their day, with their own interests and arcs. To achieve this colorful, diverse cast, writing lead/story editor Paula Rogers utilized a lot of the same techniques you’d see in general design projects: A thesis, mood boards, a full design brief, and a lot of personal love. With Neo Cab’s overarching theme being “stay human,” Chance Agency had to ask themselves how each specific character would interpret that line, and what drives, fears, or dialogue it might result in.

HOMEWORK: As a student, you’re probably pretty used to writing out a thesis or two. You probably start each game design project with an overall theme. When building your characters, think about how each of them would interpret that theme, and how every aspect of their lives might be colored by it, from clothes to body type to personality.resounding thematic vibe.

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All-Time Grads: 7372019 Grads Shipped Game: 100%2019 Grads Hired: 87%Fun Fact: Hosts the “Press Play Conference,” which last year focused on accessibility in gaming. Students also take improv acting classes.

All-Time Grads: 4452019 Grads Shipped Game: 74%Total Courses: 441Fun Fact: Students end up designing games for institutions like ESPN and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

All-Time grads: 4212019 Grads Shipped Game: 100%2019 Grads Hired: 82%Fun Fact: The original student version of Outer Wilds was born from USC’s graduate program.

All-Time Grads: 8202019 Grads Shipped Game: 100%2019 Grads Salary: $69,000Notable Graduates: Susan Arnold (level design, Treyarch), Anthony Biancardi (technical director, Ubisoft).

5. UNIVERSITY OF UTAHAll-Time Grads: 3322019 Grads Shipped Game: 100%2019 Grads Hired: 92.4%2019 Grads Salary: $96,337

6. DIGIPEN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYStudios That Have Hired Graduates: 75 (Nintendo, Microsoft, Activision, Google, and more).Fun Fact: Offers wide variety of volunteer opportunities at GDC, DOTA II’s International, Valve, Microsoft, Indiecade, PAX, and even grade school game design camps.

7. ABERTAY UNIVERSITY2019 Grads Shipped Game: 100%2019 Grads Hired: 88%

8. WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE2019 Grads Hired: 100%2019 Grads Salary: $71,333

9. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITYFun Fact: 52% of 2019 students were women.2019 Grads Salary: $63,000.

10. BECKER COLLEGEFaculty Who Have Worked at Game Studio: 100%Fun Fact: Human-Computer Interaction Lab allows students to experiment with VR/AR/Mixed Reality. Becker also offers 4+1 option to finish undegrad and grad in five years.

11. LAGUNA COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN2019 Grads Hired: 100%Graduates: Cory Loftis (art director, Disney Animation), Nicole Tan (level architect, Arkane).

12. ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY2019 Grads Salary: $74,000Fun Fact: New multi-million dollar expansions allow for collaboration between cybersecurity and game design students.

13. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLASFun Fact: 56% of students are women.Fun Fact: Strong focus on serious and educational games, mobile, social media, VR/AR, mocap.

14. DREXEL UNIVERSITYAll-Time Grads: 118Fun Fact: Co-op program gets students to work full-time in industry for 6-18 months.

15. AMERICAN UNIVERSITY2019 Grads Salary: $80,000Fun Fact: Strong focus on games for change, not just at game studios, but government agencies and educational institutions.

16. UNIVERSITY OF MALTA2019 Grads Hired: 100%Graduates: David Chircop (Cyberpunk 2077), Stylianos Avramidis (Sony, Creative Assembly).

17. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA CRUZFaculty: Robin Hunicke (Journey, Wattam) Jim Whitehead (lead researcher, procedural generation).Fun Fact: Top school in the world for published technical research in games.

18. SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGNFaculty: Jack Mamais (Far Cry, Crysis), Michelle Menard (Farmville, Civilization Series)Graduates: Chad Dezern (CCO, Insomniac), Matt Ward (Cinematics Director, Bungie).

19. BREDA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCESFaculty: David Weissman (X-Wing), Mata Haggis (Burnout Paradise).Graduates: Jendrik Ilner (3D programmer, Ubisoft), Diede Apers (engineer, Frostbite).

20. FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY2019 Grads Salary: $45,000Fun Fact: Full Sail degree programs are set at acclerated pace, letting you finish in less time than usual programs allow.

21. DEPAUL UNIVERSITY22. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–STOUT23. RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE24. UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI25. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

TOP 25 BEST GAME DESIGN GRADUATE PROGRAMS (CONT)

THE TOP 25 BEST GAME DESIGNGRADUATE PROGRAMS

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