The best game design programs, ranked by the Princeton Review 2022

In this rapidly changing world, we thankfully always have video games to comfort and challenge us. Who can forget discovering secret corners of Skellige, or triumphing over a towering boss in Dark Souls? Of course, it takes a lot of incredibly talented people to make games, and they all get their start somewhere.

That's why Princeton Review has worked to rank all the major videogame design college programs in North America and beyond. Whether you're a fresh-faced high school graduate or looking to change up your already-established career, you'll want to know what each school has to offer. Maybe it's inventive class styles, valuable internship programs, or even teachers who worked on your favorite games. It's tough to go alone, so take this guide as your ultimate tool to game design glory.

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

The top 50 best game design undergraduate programs

1. University of Southern California 

2021 Grads Hired: 90%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $65,000
Faculty: Richard Lemarchand (Uncharted), Danny Bilson (The Sims)
Graduates: Jenova Chen (Journey), Jeff Kaplan (Overwatch)

2. New York University

2021 Grads Hired: 52%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $62,049
Faculty: Winnie Song (Square Enix Montreal), Matt Boch (Rockband VR)
Graduates: Atlas Chen (thatgamecompany), Noelle Mazurek (Games for Change)

3. Clark University

2021 Grads Hired: 64%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $65,600
Faculty: Ezra Cove (Lord of the Rings Online)
Graduates: Stanley Pierre-Louis (ESA), Michael Abrash (Chief Scientist, Meta) 

4. Rochester Institute of Technology

2021 Grads Hired: 85%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $66,900
Graduates: Elan Lee (Xbox), Alex Kipman (Kinect, Hololens)
Fun Fact: The only school with a Geographic Information Systems minor, helping to create games that can save lives via urban planning and crisis response.

5. DigiPen Institute of Technology
Faculty: Claude Comair (Nintendo Software Technology co-founder)
Graduates: Kim Swift (Portal, Google Stadia), Adam Brennecke (Pillars of Eternity)

6. Michigan State University
2021 Grads Hired: 83%
Graduates: Brian May (creative director, EA), Steven Messinger (design director, Rockstar)

7. University of Utah
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $77,443
Graduates: Doug Bowser (COO, Nintendo of America), Nolan Bushnell (Atari)

8. Drexel University
Graduates: Gregory Lebanov (Chicory, Wandersong), Tom Fulp (Newgrounds)
Faculty: Tony Rowe (The Force Unleashed), Dr. Paul Diefenbach (OpenWorld)

9. Shawnee State University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $58,350
Graduates: Dan Clark (creative director, Epic Games), Kip Ricker (Apple Arcade)

10. Champlain College
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $57,500
Fun Fact: Features four new programs: Game Business and Publishing, Sound Design, Interaction Design, and App Development

11. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $82,000
Faculty: Mark Claypool (Google Stadia), Ed Gutierrez (Disney animation)

12. Breda University of Applied Sciences
2021 Grads Hired: 80%
Graduates: Perry Leijten (Team Asobi), Nathalie Jankie (level design, Remedy Entertainment)

13. University of Central Florida
Total courses: 168
Graduates: Alexia Mandeville (lead designer, Niantic), Melissa Yancey (technical artist, EA)

14. Vancouver Film School
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $60,000
Faculty: Glen Hamilton (development director, EA), Scott Henshaw (EA)

15.  University of Silicon Valley
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $63,000
Faculty: Evan Skolnick (writer, Days Gone, Star Wars), Phil Campbell (Tomb Raider)

16. La Salle College Vancouver
Total Courses: 187
Graduates: Greg Findlay (Tomb Raider), Mitchell Lagran (Age of Empires 4)

17. Abertay University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $51,100
Graduates: David Jones (creator, Grand Theft Auto), John Pile Jr. (software, Microsoft)

18. Laguna College of Art + Design
Faculty: Daniel Alpert (art director, Obsidian Entertainment), Thomas Olson (artist, Insomniac)

19. Bradley University
Graduates: Austin Wood (Amazon Games), Emily Berger (Blizzard), Joseph Lax (Sony Santa Monica)

20. Savannah College of Art and Design
2021 Grads Hired: 41%
Graduates: Chad Dezern (CCO, Insomniac Games), Harrison Pink (quest design, Diablo 4)

21. The University of Texas at Dallas
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $47,000
Fun Fact: Ranked #7 in the nation for college esports, and features a content creator program.

22. Quinnipiac University
2021 Grads Hired: 76%
Graduates: Zaria Brogdon (Production, Rockstar), Donovan Sepulveda (esports, Blizzard)

23. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $68,400
Graduates: Zach Barth (ZachTronics), Curtis R. Priem (NVIDIA)

24. Miami University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $50,912
Graduates: Chris Carney (Level Designer, Valorant), Stephanie Tsirlis (Producer, Riot)

25. Howest University of Applied Sciences
2021 Grads Hired: 80%
Faculty: Tristan Clarysse (lead artist, Larian), Samuel De Vos (environment artist, Ubisoft)

26. University of Wisconsin – Stout
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $42,100
Graduates: Mitchel Clayton (Environment Artist, Naughty Dog), Mic Rooney (Gameplay Programmer)

27. Northeastern University
Faculty: Dr. Celia Pearce (founder, IndieCade)
Graduates: Atlanta Chen (UI, PlayStation), Andrew Knollmayer (programmer, Rockstar)

28. Abilene Christian University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $68,000
Graduates: Morgan Davis (lead designer, Gearbox)

29. New England Institute of Technology
2021 Grads Hired: 31%
Faculty: William C. Culbertson (R&D, Hasbro), Jim McClure (environment artist, Sony Online Games)

30. Oklahoma Christian University
Graduates: Travis McIntosh (programming director, Naughty Dog), Alex Hallenbeck (environment artist, Call of Duty)

31. Hampshire College
Graduates: Noah Falstein (Chief Game Designer at Google), Josie Nutter (Bungie)

32. Falmouth University
Graduates: Rex Crowle (Media Molecule), Sophie Shepherd (Animator, Creative Assembly)

33. Kennesaw State University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $85,000 2021
Grads Hired: 60%

34. Marist College
Total Courses: 131
Graduates: Darren Sugg (creative director, Fortnite)

35. University of Michigan-Dearborn
2021 Grads Hired: 50% 2021
Grads Mean Salary: $70,000

36. New York Film Academy
2021 Grads Hired: 70%
Faculty: Craig Caton-Largent (co-founder, Digital Domain)

37. Bloomfield College
Faculty: Brian S. Chung, GJ Lee (Game Devs of Color Expo co-founders)
Graduates: Josiah Hunt (Sony Santa Monica), Corey Delorenzo (Level Designer, Sony Santa Monica)

38. Academy of Art University
Total Courses: 69
Graduates: Gary McGee (game designer, Sledgehammer), Coraly Rosario (UI designer, Niantic)

39. DePaul University
Graduates: Philip Tibitoski (Bugsnax), Mark Nauta (designer, XCOM)

40.  Cleveland Institute of Art
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $35,000

41. Stetson University
42. Dakota State University
43. Full Sail University
44. ArtCenter College of Design
45. University of the Incarnate Word
46. Oklahoma City University
47. New Jersey Institute of Technology
48. Cornell University
49. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
50. High Point University

The top 25 game design graduate programs

1. University of Central Florida

2021 Grads Hired: 87%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $73,100
Faculty: Benjamin Noel (VP, EA Tiburon), Thomas Carbone (director, Iron Galaxy)
Graduates: Billy Bramer (lead programmer, Epic Games), Dennis Branvall (design director, Star Wars Battlefront)

2. New York University

2021 Grads Hired: 72%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $73,263
Faculty: Winnie Song (Square Enix Montreal), Matt Boch (Rockband VR)
Graduates: Atlas Chen (thatgamecompany), Noelle Mazurek (Games for Change)

3. Southern Methodist University

Total Courses: 160
2021 Grads Hired: 87%
Faculty: Elizabeth Stringer (development director, Atari), Michael Porter (Sierra, Bungie) 

4. University of Southern California

2021 Grads Hired: 90%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $65,000
Graduates: Brandon Beck (CEO, Riot Games), Alex Beachum (Outer Wilds)

5. University of Utah
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $91,312
Graduates: Doug Bowser (COO, Nintendo Of America), Ed Catmull (Pixar co-founder)

6. Rochester Institute of Technology
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $77,100
2021 Grads Hired: 91%

7. Abertay University
2021 Grads Hired: 76%
Faculty: Martin Lynagh (producer, Media Molecule), Ruth Falconer (Women in Games)

8. DigiPen Institute of Technology
2021 Grads Hired: 68%
Graduates: Taralyn von der Linden (engineering lead, Destiny), Mike Grodin (senior artist, Nintendo)

9. Clark University
2021 Grads Hired: 38%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $65,500

10. Drexel University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $74,000
Graduates: Glen Winters (previz, Red Dead Redemption 2), Dan Fornace (Rivals of Aether)

11. Breda University of Applied Sciences
2021 Grads Hired: 50%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $42,000

12. Michigan State University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $63,000
Graduates: Ben Medler (head of data science, EA), Greg Cozma (associate UX director, Ubisoft)

13. The University of Texas at Dallas
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $78,300
Graduates: Jeff Senita (animator, id Software), Matt Charles (head of production, Gearbox Publishing)

14. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $82,000
Faculty: Keith Zizza (sound designer, BioShock Infinite), Ben Schneider (Lord of the Rings Online)

15. University of California Santa Cruz
2021 Grads Hired: 85%
Faculty: Michael John (creative director, EA), Robin Hunicke (CEO, Funomena)

16. Savannah College of Art and Design
2021 Grads Hired: 74%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $71,500

17. Northeastern University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $80,000
Graduates: Riddhe Pati (user research, Epic Games), Zhuo Chen (UI artist, Sony)

18. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $68,400
Graduates: Curtis R. Priem (Nvidia co-founder), Zach Barth (ZachTronics)

19. American University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: 80,000
2021 Grads Hired: 66%

20. Laguna College of Art + Design
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $54,000
2021 Grads Hired: 66%

21. University of Wisconsin–Stout
22. University of Malta
23. New York Film Academy
24.Bradley University
25. DePaul University
 

Did you know about these game design jobs?

So you want to go to college to learn game design, but maybe you're not sure what career path is right for you. Dive far enough into the world of game development and you'll realize there are countless types of jobs drawing upon infinite amounts of skills. It's hard to pick where you should focus, which is why we've laid out two lesser-known game design jobs, what they entail, and why the people working them have stuck with it.

Narrative Designer

“A game writer creates pieces of narrative that a game player assembles into their story of playing the game and then shares with others when he talks about how they played,” said Professor Stephen Jacobs, citing Red Storm Games writer Richard Dansky.

Rather than strictly working on the “story” of a game, a narrative designer may work to build background details, a meta-story, and world design. A narrative designer can also impact gameplay, such as when Professor Jacobs worked on “The Original Mobile Games,” a collaborative project that charted the history of the first handheld games from the 1800s to the early 1900s.

“Here we were telling the story of original, hand-held pocket games from the mid-1800s to early 1900s, and showing how the gameplay mechanics were the same between these older games and modern mobile games,” Jacobs said.

Don't think you can get away without a bit of programming, though. Being a narrative designer relies just as much on the “designer” part of the job title.

“As games become more complex, it is necessary for narrative designers to understand the whole process of development, so they know that a cutscene is not just writing the dialogue, but setting up what the player has to do, and requires to coordinate with the artists, sound designers, voice actors, localization,” says NYU's Professor Clara Fernández-Vara.

A narrative designer must also know their toolset enough to place quest assets and hook up scripts provided by engineers and system designers.

Narrative designers are also establishing how a player interacts with a game, providing them a role, and helping them understand complex systems, Fernández-Vara says.

What makes me proud is that my games appeal to people who may not think of themselves as “gamers”, but they indeed love video games and play them devotedly and with a critical eye,”  Fernández-Vara adds. “They just don’t identify with the stereotype of the gamer.”

Gameplay Engineer

The humble gameplay engineer might be one of the most deceptively interesting jobs in the industry. Rather than strictly working on lower-level engineering tasks like memory or physics, the gameplay engineer works closely with designers of all stripes to help their vision come to life. Or more simply, you're writing code that directly impacts gameplay, increasing playability.

“To be a great gameplay engineer, one must embrace computing in the context of game design,” says David Schwartz, director of Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Interactive Games and Media. “The student needs to learn introductory programming, data structures and algorithms, a variety of languages like C++ and C#, and enough computational techniques and concepts to interact with audio, graphics, physics, AI, interfaces, design, assets, and other aspects of a game.”

In some ways, the gameplay engineer is also responsible for how big the game in question can be, or how powerful a player can become. They often work on the math and coding behind player upgrades, notifications, or other in-game UI events. If you like the idea of engineering from a higher vantage point on a project, this might be for you.

“The greatest gift is seeing others actually playing and enjoying something that I have helped to create,” says Clark University Professor Amanda Theinert. “Especially knowing all the little things that went into that project behind the scenes that the end-user doesn’t even know about. Every project serves a unique set of challenges and that’s where creative problem solving comes in.”

Whatever role you choose to pursue in videogame design, collaboration is the heart of almost every successful game.

“Those skills include communicating your ideas clearly, through visualization as well as words; knowing how to observe and listen to what makes your game tick and how it affects your players; understanding how many different disciplines come together to create a game experience, from writing code to writing dialogue and crafting visual assets; and much more besides,” says NYU Department Chair Naomi Clark.

Perhaps the most common response from every person we spoke with: That they do what they do because they love making games, collaborating, and knowing that they're making an impact on players.

 Building a better college application letter 

Maybe everyone else has their college career figured out, but you're worried about the very first step: Writing a college admission application letter. We spoke with several educators and admissions workers about what they expect from new students, and what you need to do to impress them.

Make games, obviously!

Shocking, I know. Nothing illustrates you're serious about making games than actually doing it, even if it's a half-finished concept built in Unity or Twine. One important aspect is to make something that reflects who you are as a person.

“At the NYU Game Center we want to hear from students who bring something personal and meaningful to the games they make, whether because of life experiences they've had or a deep connection to certain forms of play and culture,” says NYU's Department Chair Naomi Clark.

Even if you haven't made a game already, show that you've done your research. What kinds of software, programs, or tools are developers using and what can you do with them?

“There are so many tools out there (GameMaker, Unity, Unreal) that give students enough of a variety of roles in designing and developing,” says David Schwartz, director of the School of Interactive Games and Media at Rochester Institute of Technology. “Give links to demos, videos, screencaptures, design documents, and/or code samples. Learn about what the faculty in the school do and show how you've learned enough to demonstrate that you're a great fit.”

Live a life outside of games

The perfect application also includes making games that have something to say. Show that you can tell a story, or design an experience that an average person would be compelled by. That is, after all, one of gaming's greatest strengths: That we get to “live” through them by play.

“We want to hear what kinds of games they want to make, how they want to change the world of games and the world through games,” says NYU Professor Clara Fernández-Vara. “The NYU Game Center is part of the Tisch School of the Arts, and as such, we are looking for artists who have curiosity, an urge to create, and are willing to tackle  social and cultural complexities through game design.”

Imagine you're a professor or dean at a game design school. So many schools these days throw students into teams that are structured like real-world studios: A programmer, an artist, a writer, a designer, etc. Consider what you bring to the table in a group scenario.

“We hope to work with students who'll explore what makes games meaningful and all the different ways that meaning can be expressed through play, since we're still just scratching the surface of those possibilities, and we love to find students who are eager to experiment and try new things to discover what's possible,” Clark says.

Above all else, be the student you want to be. Nothing excites a college more than having students who go on to do great things, and that starts with being passionate.

“A good application essay is a window into the personality and point of view of the student,” says Meredith Twombly, VP of Undergraduate Admissions at Clark University. “There is no such thing as the correct or incorrect thing to write about. We simply hope to hear the student’s thoughts on something that matters to them.”

Homework – Unpacking: Turning trinkets into storytelling

Unpacking is a game about, you guessed it, taking your stuff out of moving boxes and organizing it into a new home. The game charts different stages of a person's life, from youth to adulthood, as told through the items you drag out of boxes: A stuffed animal, a family picture, or maybe a knock-off GameCube. Two of the developers, creative director Wren Brier and technical director Tim Dawson, are a married couple who were inspired by the process of moving in together.

Example: So how can such a seemingly dull and daunting task translate into a chill game that tells a compelling story? One level asks you to move back into your parent's home after a bad breakup. How does the game communicate your breakup was less-than-great? The final item, a picture of you and an ex-boyfriend, cannot be placed anywhere other than a closet or drawer, suggesting some animosity or heartbreak.

Homework: Consider the emotional implications of a seemingly common or inconsequential item in your house. Whether it's a photograph, a plush toy, or kitchen utensils, anything can have some emotional weight to it given the right circumstances. When creating art assets for your game, what sorts of stories can you tell with just a handful of simple objects and where they're placed?

Homework: The Forgotten City – Cutting to the chase

If the last couple of years of games has taught us anything, it's that time loop mysteries are really hot right now. The Forgotten City throws you into a mysterious ancient Roman city that's living under the rule of some unseen force threatening to turn everybody into gold statues if even one person commits a sin. The catch is that someone has figured out how to create a time loop, thus allowing you to escape certain doom and continue on with your investigation, at the cost of having to reintroduce yourself to everyone in town. So how do you escape tedium when your game hinges on repeating the same day?

Example: The first person you meet in each loop in The Forgotten City is Galerius, a kind farmer with a heart of gold. Initially, he's just your tour guide, but eventually becomes something of a trusting errand boy when you've figured out certain mysteries. Rather than making you check tasks you've already completed off of a list, each loop lets you chat with Galerius and task him with quickly hitting up all the appropriate people. It's a bit silly, but it saves the player literal hours and sets you up for the canon ending.

Homework: Making your game's story repeat the same day is an interesting way of potentially scaling down development costs, but you still need to think of how the player will perceive things. In what ways can you “shorten” your game that doesn't invalidate your narrative, but save the player from needless repetition?