PC Gamer - The Princeton Review

Great
Games
You Can Make
The Best
Game Design
Undergraduate
Programs
There are a lot of different ways to
evaluate game design schools, so we’ll
look at a couple key metrics for each.
1. UNIVERSITY OF
UTAH
Grads Salary: $67k
The best way to get that experience, meet the friends
that’ll work alongside you to make your project awesome,
and connect with the mentors that can pass on their experience and wisdom is to get a degree in game design from a
university. But there are a ton of universities out there, and
not all of them are taking game design seriously yet.
Thankfully, The Princeton Review has been carefully monitoring and reviewing all of the game design
programs in North America for years—applying their
famous analysis of universities to the unique intricacies
With big-name game engines like Unity
and Unreal opening up access to their
incredible tools for free, it’s never been
easier to make your own games. But
it’s not as easy as having a great idea
(although you’ll want one of those
too). You need a wide range of design
skills and experience, along with some
friendly artists and engineers.
of the still-evolving game design field.
We’ve compiled their lists of the best undergraduate
and graduate game design schools over the next few
pages, and included some stats and fun facts about
each. All of the stats are for graduates in 2015, and we’ll
break down why each of those stats are key to understanding the value of a game design program.
Want to know more? Check out The Princeton
Review’s website for more info: www.princetonreview.
com/college-rankings/game-design
5. BECKER COLLEGE
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
Game Courses: 189
6. THE ART INSTITUTE
OF VANCOUVER
20. SHAWNEE
STATE UNIVERSITY
Grads Salary: $60k
Grads Hired: 80%
Fun Fact: Hampshire was a pioneer
of Game Design programs, offering
courses and degrees in the field of
making awesome videogames in
1980—the earliest of any school on
this list, and decades before most
others.
21. UNIVERSITY OF
WISCONSIN-STOUT
8. MICHIGAN
STATE UNIVERSITY
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 125
Game Courses: 83
Grads Hired: 75%
Grads With Shipped Game: 100%
23. UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ
9. DREXEL UNIVERSITY
Grads Salary: $75k
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
Grads Salary: $55k
Grads With Shipped Game: 100%
Grads With Shipped Game: 100%
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
22. ABERTAY UNIVERSITY
24. SAVANNAH COLLEGE
OF ART AND DESIGN
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 31
Game Courses: 81
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
Game Courses: 177
25. MASSACHUSETTS
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 10
Game Courses: 71
Fun fact: Last year, more than 200
game dev companies went to MIT
to give lectures, collaborate on
projects, or recruit students for jobs.
That's more than any other school
on this list!
Faculty: Joe Barns (Epic Mickey, NFL
Blitz 2000, Mortal Kombat)
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 50
11. THE UNIVERSITY
OF TEXAS AT DALLAS
Faculty: Richard Lemarchand
(Uncharted 1, 2, and 3)
Grads Salary: $65k
Game Courses: 204
Cool Tech: Provides direct publishing
for faculty and students to
commercially release their games
under the USC Publishing Games label
(the first of its kind).
12. NORTHEASTERN
UNIVERSITY
Grads Salary: $82k
Grads With Shipped Game: 33%
13. CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 198
14. VANCOUVER FILM SCHOOL
Grads With Shipped Game: 66%
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
15. BRADLEY UNIVERSITY
Grads Salary: $47k
Grads With Shipped Game: 55%
Grads Salary: $63k
Grads Salary: $66k
16. FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY
Grads with Game Plan: 97%
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 322
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 75
Grads Hired: 70%
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 45
Faculty: Claude Comair (Mario vs.
Donkey Kong, Ridge Racer DS)
17. LAWRENCE
TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Cool Tech: Launched a New Media Lab Cool Tech: Has arrangements with
that has all the cutting edge tech for
Microsoft and Nintendo to get special
creating software and hardware, so
dev equipment in all of their labs.
designers are never limited.
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 13
Game Courses: 41
10. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
Faculty: Gordon Goodman
19. COGSWELL COLLEGE
7. HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 37
4. DIGIPEN INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY
Grads Salary: $75k
Grads Hired: 35%
Grads Salary: $60k
Grads Hired: 50%
Grads Salary: N/A
3. ROCHESTER
INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
18. RENSSELAER
POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 157
Game Courses: 185
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
Cool Tech: Has tons of labs with
everything game designers need, from
motion capture to 3D printing to a
Treadport VR.
WE BELIEVE IN YOU!
THE PRINCETON REVIEW RANKS
THE BEST GAME DESIGN
PROGRAMS IN NORTH AMERICA
TO HELP YOU DO IT.
2. UNIVERSITY
OF SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
TOP 50 GAME DESIGN UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS (CON'T)
Grads Hired: 75%
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
What Makes a Game
Design Program Good?
TOP 50 GAME DESIGN UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS (CON'T)
36. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGANDEARBORN
Grads Salary: $65k
Grads Hired: 75%
37. KENNESAW STATE
UNIVERSITY
26. FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY
Grads Salary: $45k
Grads Hired: 35%
Fun Fact: Full Sail has more game
design alumni than any other
school on this list. Over 1,800 game
designers have graduated from
its program, including Oculus Rift
consultant Danny Bulla!
27. ABILENE CHRISTIAN
UNIVERSITY
Grads Salary: $60k
Grads Hired: 100%
Grads Hired: 60%
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 20
Grads Hired: 80%
Game Courses: 12
39. QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
Game Courses: 26
Fun Fact: Quinnipiac is a leader
in researching games for health
and education. Bill Gates' charity
awarded them a grant for their
HIV-AIDs prevention app called Hot,
Horny, and Healthy.
28. MARIST COLLEGE
Grads Salary: N/A
Game Courses: 28
Grads Hired: 50%
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 5
Grads With Shipped Game: 100%
Grads with Game Plan: 38%
32. NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
Grads With Shipped Game: 23%
Grads with Game Plan: 23%
33. NORTH CAROLINA STATE
UNIVERSITY
Grads Salary: $68k
Game Courses: 15
League of
Legends
The designers at Riot Games love to talk about how
they make sure every champion has “counterplay” built
into them. By that, they mean that the opponent has
an opportunity to see what their opponent is doing and
then take meaningful actions to react.
30. MIAMI UNIVERSITY
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 24
Game Courses: 65
HOMEWORK:
Learn the importance of
“counterplay” in PvP design
29. OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN
UNIVERSITY
31. ACADEMY OF ART
UNIVERSITY
THE PRINCETON REVIEW EXPLAINS THEIR JUDGING PROCESS
38. TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
40. NEW ENGLAND INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY
Grads With Shipped Game: 5%
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 24
41. UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA, IRVINE
42. SACRED HEART
UNIVERSITY
43. CORNELL UNIVERSITY
44. WESTERN UNIVERSITY
34. RINGLING COLLEGE OF ART
& DESIGN
45. CASE WESTERN RESERVE
UNIVERSITY
Grads Salary: $60k
Grads Hired: 92%
46. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
UNIVERSITY - CARBONDALE
35. DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
47. PURDUE UNIVERSITY
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 89
Fun Fact: DePaul has one of the
largest rosters of game design
faculty, with 37 game design gurus
teaching their 36 courses.
48. THE UNIVERSITY OF TULSA
49. THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE
UNIVERSITY
50. EASTERN
KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY
EXAMPLE: Nami’s ultimate Tidal Wave is a massive,
long-range AoE knock-up ability, but it travels
extremely slow so that players can move out of the way
if they’re paying attention.
READING MATERIAL:
bit.ly/LoLCounterplay —
Tom Cadwell’s slideshow
from his GDC presentation
“Counterplay and Teamplay.”
HOMEWORK: Play a game of
LoL and look at how you’re
able to counter opposing
champion’s abilities. Then
play another game and look
for abilities that you can’t
counter, and think about
why those exceptions
exist.
PC Gamer has been reviewing
games for decades, but reviewing
college programs that teach devs
how to make games is an entirely
different beast. So we sat down
with the brains behind The Princeton
Review’s annual rankings list to find
out what potential students should
be looking for in schools.
Academics
1 The
Princeton Review
breaks up their analysis into 4 buckets:
academics, faculty, technology, and
career. The first thing they look at is
academics. What sorts of courses do
they teach? What real-world skills
are students learning, and what
methods are used to teach them?
The best schools are leading the
charge here with next-gen technology and hands-on development
processes that mimic what game
devs do in the real world.
Technology
3 The
games industry is a
fast-moving place, and the best
game design programs stay on the
bleeding-edge of technology to
make sure their students are learning the tools they’ll need to lead the
industry after graduating. VR, green
screens, motion capture, and 3D
printing labs are all common among
the top schools.
Faculty
2 The
Princeton Review also
looks at how many faculty the game
design program has, what experience they’ve had making successful
games, and how trained they are—
even measuring PhD rates. Proven
developers with a track record of
making incredible games command
the respect of students and help
guide the curriculum.
Career
4 The
proof is in the pudding,
as they say. (Which is a pretty weird
phrase when you think about it.)
But, in this case, the pudding is
hiring rates. The Princeton Review
takes very careful stock of what
happens to each school’s students
after they graduate. How many get
hired? What’s their average salary?
Do many game studios want them,
or just a few?
Perhaps even more relevant, The Princeton Review also looks at how many students have already shipped a game by the time they
graduate. A high percentage shows that the school is helping students build portfolios and gain meaningful experience for their resumes.
For more info on The Princeton Review’s methods, visit www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/game-design
Top 25 Game Design
Graduate Programs
TOP 25 GAME DESIGN GRADUATE PROGRAMS (CON'T)
Some of the schools listed here might surprise you. The Princeton Review has
analyzed every aspect of these schools' programs to identify where you have
the best chance of succeeding.
HOMEWORK:
Darkest
Dungeon
5. DIGIPEN INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
1. UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL
FLORIDA
2. S
OUTHERN METHODIST
UNIVERSITY
Grads Salary: $75k
Grads With Shipped Game: 93%
6. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Grads Hired: 73%
Game Courses: 128
Grads Salary: $63k
Grads Salary: $61k
Grads Hired: 93%
Grads Hired: 87%
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 130
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 250
Faculty: Ben Noel (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Star Wars: The Force
Unleashed)
Faculty: Dr. Matthew Streit (Halo: Reach, Saints Row The Third, South Park: The
Stick of Truth)
Grads Salary: $75k
Grads Hired: 80%
Cool Tech: An epic studio houses many different stages that are also used for
movies and commercials, which offer students paid internships.
Cool Tech: Every student gets an Alienware laptop and backpack loaded with
every piece of professional software needed to make games—and they keep it
after graduating!
8. DREXEL UNIVERSITY
7. ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
Grads With Shipped Game: 100%
Grads Hired: 82%
9. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
AT DALLAS
Grads Salary: $65k
Game Courses: 49
10. MICHIGAN STATE
UNIVERSITY
Grads With Shipped Game: 100%
Grads Hired: 70%
11. UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ
3. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
Grads Salary: $87k
Grads Hired: 96%
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 37
Faculty: Joe Barns (Epic Mickey, NFL Blitz 2000, Mortal Kombat)
Cool Tech: Has an industry-leading scanning lab that lets devs capture full 3D
CGI models and textures of real people and objects.
4. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Grads Salary: N/A
Grads Hired: 90%
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 50
Faculty: Richard Lemarchand (Uncharted 1, 2, and 3)
Cool Tech: Successful student teams are given financial, legal, and office
support to start their own companies through USC Games Bridge.
Grads Salary: $85k
Grads With Shipped Game: 70%
12. ABERTAY UNIVERSITY
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 125
Game Courses: 83
14. TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
Grads Salary: $78k
Grads Hired: 100%
15. DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
Grads with Game Plan: 100%
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 29
16. UNIVERSITY OF
WISCONSIN-STOUT
Grads Hired: N/A
Game Courses: 10
17. FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY
Grads With Shipped Game: 29%
Grads Hired: 38%
18. MASSACHUSETTS
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 10
Game Courses: 71
19. UNIVERSITY OF
PENNSYLVANIA
Grads Salary: $75k
Grads Hired: 35%
20. THE OHIO STATE
UNIVERSITY - COLUMBUS
Grads Salary: $90k
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 20
21. SACRED HEART
UNIVERSITY
22. AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
23. UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI
13. SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF
ART AND DESIGN
24. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
AT CHICAGO
Studios That’ve Hired Grads: 12
Game Courses: 75
25. ST. MARY’S UNIVERSITY
Learn how harsh punishments can increase fun
There are good and bad ways to make a game
challenging. The recent Kickstarter hit, Darkest
Dungeon, is a great example of how to do it right. Like
roguelikes, DD uses permadeath and crippling ailments
to make individual units disposable. That lets you to
progress your permanent camp and facilities, even
when you fail during an individual mission.
EXAMPLE: Early on, the most efficient way to play is to
simply grind through willing adventurers to earn money
and callously discard them after they’re injured, instead
of upgrading and healing them.
READING MATERIAL: bit.ly/DDCorpse — Look at how the
devs respond to players’ outcry when they introduce
mechanics deemed too
punishing.
HOMEWORK: Play a onehour session of Darkest
Dungeon and keep
track of everything
you do that would
be considered a
“failure” in other
games. Note
whether
or not you
feel bad
about that
moment, like you
would in another
genre, and why
you feel that way.