THE TOP 50 BEST GAME DESIGN SO YOU WANT UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS 5. HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE 15. LASALLE COLLEGE TO BE A GAME Grads Hired: 80% VANCOUVER Faculty: Noah Falstein (LucasArts) Faculty Has Studio Experience: 100% 6. DREXEL UNIVERSITY Fun Fact: More LaSalle students work DESIGNER? Faculty: Tony Rowe (The Force in Vancouver games industry than any Unleashed) other area school. Alumni: Glen Winters (Red Dead Redemption 2) 16. ABERTAY UNIVERSITY Alumni: Timea Tabori (Rockstar North) 7. MICHIGAN STATE Fun Fact: Home to the oldest games UNIVERSITY program in Europe. UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK 2018 Grads Hired: 90% SOUTHERN Fun Fact: The Inclusive Game 17. FERRIS STATE 1 2 UNIVERSITY Development Collaborative teaches UNIVERSITY CALIFORNIA about industry diversity challenges. 2018 Grads Hired: 70% Fun Fact: Developing a 40,000 square Total Courses: 227 Total Courses: 518 8. ROCHESTER INSTITUTE foot building for media arts and game 2018 Grads Hired: 80% 2018 Grads Hired: 31% OF TECHNOLOGY design and a VR/mocap lab. 2018 Grads Salary: $65,000 2018 Grads Salary: $48,000 2018Grads Hired: 90% Faculty: Mike Fischer (Square Faculty: Bennett Foddy (QWOP, 2018 Grads Salary: $70,000 18. LAGUNA COLLEGE OF Enix America) Getting Over It) ART AND DESIGN Fun Fact: USC Games Expo Fun Fact: The NYU Game Center 9. WORCESTER Faculty Has Studio Experience: 98% allows students and alumni to Incubator program (first of its POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Alumni: Ben Thompson (Hearthstone) showcase their games and kind) has helped more than 50 Faculty: Brian Moriarty (LucasFilm) network with industry graduates launch successful or 2018 Grads Hired: 86% 19. CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE professionals. award-winning games.Incubator Faculty: Nate Walpole (Halo 2, 3, 4) program (the first of its kind). 10. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH 2018 Grads Hired: 87% (after one Alumni: Nolan Bushnell (Atari) year) Take your big ideas and turn them into the Female Grads: 45%, tied for highest THE BEST GAME DESIGN skills and tools necessary to make great on the list. 20. SHAWNEE STATE UNIVERSITY games. There’s a school for almost anyone, 11. MIAMI UNIVERSITY Faculty Has Studio Experience: 88% PROGRAMS, RANKED BY and they’re eager to help you fulfill your Alumni: Chris Carney (Riot Games) Alumni: Sam Bushman (Wizards of the Fun Fact: The only undergraduate Coast) THE PRINCETON REVIEW dreams of being a game developer. program that has semester-long internships in San Francisco studios 21. UNIVERSITY OF every semester WISCONSIN - STOUT aking video games has never been Review has done all the heavy lifting of 2018 Grads Salary: $55,000 more accessible, but it still comes stacking them up against each other to see 12. BRADLEY UNIVERSITY Fun Fact: Students go to places like with plenty of challenges. You’ll which will fit you best. DIGIPEN 2018 Grads Hired: 75% Sweden and the Jim Henson Company M BECKER need to learn how to implement Whether you’re concerned about INSTITUTE OF Fun Fact: One of 10 schools selected to receive professional feedback. your grand ideas, how to tell your story graduation rates, what kinds of classes are 3 COLLEGE 4 this year to participate in the Xbox Live effectively, and for most of you, work well with available, who your professors will be, or even TECHNOLOGY Creators Education Program. 22. HOWEST UNIVERSITY others. Thankfully, no budding developer is just the demographic makeup of the school, OF APPLIED SCIENCES forced to go alone in this big, scary world of we’ve got you covered. So take a second to Total Courses: 125 Total Courses: 391 13. UNIVERSITY OF Alumni: Leslie Van den Broeck (Blizzard) programmers, artists, and designers. consider who you are, where you want to be, 2018 Grads Hired: 66% 2018 Grads Hired: 64% CENTRAL FLORIDA Faculty: Tristan Clarysse (Mass Effect) That’s where these amazing schools come and how you want to get there with our 2018 Grads Salary: $52,242 2018 Grads Salary: $72,143 Alumni: Justin Schram (Skyrim) in. The only thing better than having someone helpful guide. Faculty: Jonathan Rudder (The Lord of Faculty: Claude Comair Total Courses: 140 23. NORTH CAROLINA help you achieve your dreams is having that Want to know more? Check out The the Rings Online) (Nintendo) STATE UNIVERSITY person be someone who’s got all the expertise Princeton Review’s website for further Fun Fact: Has the largest game design Fun Fact: Was the first college in 14. COGSWELL 2018 Grads Salary: $85,000 and wisdom you’ll need to take your first information on game design program in the U.S., and launched an North America to offer a POLYTECHNICAL COLLEGE Fun Fact: Largest provider of college steps. More and more schools are offering programs: esports management program. bachelor’s degree dedicated to Faculty Has Studio Experience: 96% graduates to the North Carolina games game design programs, and The Princeton princetonreview.com/game-design video game development. Faculty: Stone Librande (Diablo III) industry, which includes Epic Games. TOP 50 GAME DESIGN UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS (CONT) 24. ABILENE CHRISTIAN 35. BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE Co-op College: UNIVERSITY 2018 Grads Salary: $60,000 Emphasis On: Virtual reality and mobile Faculty Has Studio Experience: 2018 Grads Hired: 71% 100% 25. FALMOUTH UNIVERSITY 36. RENSSELAER How schools are Faculty Has Studio Experience: 80% POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Alumni: Rex Crowle (LittleBigPlanet) Female Grads: 42% Alumni: Ben Esposito (Donut County) 26. UNIVERSITY OF HOMEWORK: preparing students to CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ 37. THE UNIVERSITY OF Alumni: Tim Schafer (Double Fine) TEXAS AT DALLAS 2018 Grads Salary: $64,000 Total Courses: 113 Battle Chef Brigade Female Grads: 42% make games as a team 27. SHERIDAN COLLEGE Combining completely Faculty Has Studio Experience: 88% 38. NORTHEASTERN 2018 Grads Hired: 72% UNIVERSITY different mechanics to make f you want to make it as a game Total Courses: 63 developer, odds are you’ll 28. KENNESAW STATE Faculty Has Studio Experience: 75% something unique I probably have to learn to work UNIVERSITY well with your peers. It can be 2018 Grads Salary: $56,000 39. MASSACHUSETTS daunting walking into a team project Faculty Has Studio Experience: 60% INSTITUTE OF having only worked on solo projects, or TECHNOLOGY Rather than make a needlessly complicated just not knowing your place. We talked to 29. NEW ENGLAND Alumni: Chris Weaver (Bethesda and “innovative” puzzler, Trinket Studios some of the top game design colleges to INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Softworks Founder) see what they’re doing to make sure Total Courses: 54 Games Companies Visiting School: wanted to combine separate gameplay students are ready for challenges of their Fun Fact: Earn a four-year degree in 200 mechanics (monster hunting, match 3 puzzles, own. three years via their accelerated program. 40. SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF RPG systems) into something fresh enough to Long-Term Lessons ART AND DESIGN feel like Iron Chef in a fantasy universe. “Thinking about the design and 30. FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY Total Courses: 74 production becomes particularly Faculty Has Studio Experience: 75% Faculty: Jack Mamais (Far Cry, Crysis) Balancing so many ideas resulted in lots of important,” says NYU Professor Eric Alumni: Shiyang Ao (Respawn revision, often wiping away years of work at a Zimmerman. “Defining clear roles for Entertainment) 41. TORONTO FILM SCHOOL everyone on the team, establishing a time. common vision and set of design 31. QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY 42. INDIANA UNIVERSITY principles, and agreeing on a shared set 2018 Grads Salary: $53,000 EXAMPLE: of values and work practices should be Fun Fact: By end of senior year, each 43. CLEVELAND INSTITUTE Battle Chef Brigade’s scope was revised many times, part of every team-based project.” student has helped make 10-18 games. OF ART Zimmerman added that the act of and for three whole years of development included a designing is essentially figuring out how 32. MARYLAND INSTITUTE 44. NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE pantry room for grabbing ingredients, plus extra stirring to solve a problem, such as which COLLEGE OF ART OF TECHNOLOGY mechanics. To keep things orderly, Trinket had to refocus features make sense in your game, or Alumni: Brian Martel (Gearbox on the game as a whole versus constantly overworking how to most effectively tell your story. At Software co-founder) 45. EASTERN KENTUCKY individual sections. This meant cutting the fat and and the NYU Game Center, students work 2018 Grads Salary: $65,000 UNIVERSITY together to design games both digital and spreading out stronger mechanics over more of the physical, sometimes for up to a full year, 33. VANCOUVER FILM 46. MARIST COLLEGE game. learning milestone-based development SCHOOL strategies that major studios often rely who they’d best mesh with, or who they similarly artistic and talented filmmakers, 2018 Grads Hired: 39% 47. RINGLING COLLEGE OF READING MATERIAL: on. might need to fill a gap in their audio designers, and even legal Faculty Has Studio Experience: ART AND DESIGN https://bit.ly/2tbuxzO development plan. Students learn values professionals. USC capitalized on this 100% Me, Myself, and like dependability, structure, wealth by creating tracks that could both 48. OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN Myers-Briggs psychological safety, accountability, and push students to collaborate with others 34. DEPAUL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY HOMEWORK: Turns out those personality type tests are more. outside their school building and give Faculty Has Studio Experience: 42% Play Battle Chef Brigade and note how it blends good for something. Southern Methodist them a leg up. These include a Minor in Fun Fact: The coming DePaul Game 49. UNIVERSITY OF mechanics that typically aren’t in the same game, and University uses Myers-Briggs and Bartle Cross-Campus Co-op Immersive Media, Minor in Game Studio will bring students from multiple MICHIGAN-DEARBORN how it toes the line of “feature creep.” How would you Tests to give each students a “gamer The USC student body is, to put it lightly, Entrepreneurship, or even a Minor in disciplines together to work together in type” descriptor.