Bachelor of Science in Entertainment Design - Game Design Track

You’re part of a generation raised on gaming: collecting home consoles, collaborating in MMORPGs, playing smartphone strategy games, watching and competing in eSports, riding the waves of augmented reality and virtual reality. At some point in your life, you might have looked around to see dozens of other aspirational game designers among your friends and peers. Here you are, actually pursuing that dream—and preparing to entertain the gamers of the future.

Program Overview

ArtCenter’s game design major, a track within the Bachelor of Science in Entertainment Design degree, equips you for the fierce consumer competition and fast-paced development environment of today’s gaming industry. When you emerge from the program, you’ll stand out to potential employers with an interdisciplinary skill set, firm grounding in industry-standard game production practices, and demonstrable game development and problem solving experience that illustrates your capacity as a creative developer and as a leader. Whether your goal is to work for a AAA game studio or an indie game developer, you’ll possess the skills necessary to stand out and thrive.

What You’ll Learn

ArtCenter’s video game design major firmly grounds you in where games have been, what they’re capable of today, and where they’re going to be in the future—with your help. In the program, you will tackle all aspects of video game design with training in the production process, programming, user experience, and design languages. With a focus on hands-on experience, our curriculum provides ample opportunity to practice navigating artistic expression, worldbuilding and original art. With an emphasis on career readiness, you will also have opportunities to identify and work within gaming business models (e.g., premium, free-to-play, season passes) and study the economics and service potential of games. You’ll even get a chance to tackle real-world challenges to solve clients’ complex design problems.

Key Courses

• Game Dev 1-4
• Games for Themed Entertainment
• Level Design 1, 2
• Game Concept Development
• Advanced Game Project 1, 2

Teamwork and Collaboration

At ArtCenter, we know that industry pipelines are all about collaboration. Game Design students will work on multiple video game projects and collaborate with Animation, Concept Design, and Illustration students. These collaborative projects emulate the real-world studio experience and provide excellent portfolio and resume material.

Careers in Game Design

A game design bachelor’s degree equips you to thrive in dynamic, leading edge, and experimental game development studios. The portfolio and expertise you develop at ArtCenter will position you for success with both AAA and indie game studios. You’ll be ready to collaborate on everything from text-based point-and-clicks to open-world soon-to-be-classic-RPGs in roles like:

• Game Designer
• Game Developer
• Level Designer
• Narrative Designer
• Game Director
• Game Developer
• System designer

Earn Your Bachelor’s in Game Design at ArtCenter

The game design major empowers you to thrive in a highly coveted, highly collaborative career. You’ll stand out to potential employers with a suite of interdisciplinary skills, entertainment industry expertise, and demonstrable game development experience that illustrates your capacity as a creative and as a leader.