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Degrees
Are There Really Video Game Design Colleges?
It still comes to a surprise to many people, but students can attend video game design colleges devoted exclusively to teaching the art of video game design. The rise of video game design schools parallels the rise in popularity of video games. They aren’t just for teenage boys anymore—everyone plays video games, from children to adults.
While traditional colleges still are hesitant to offer video game design degrees, more and more of them are getting on board. The Georgia Institute of Technology recently began offering a PhD in video game studies. So it is now possible to become a doctor of video games. That is a handy fact to know, in case your family is groaning at the thought of you looking into video game design schools!
While you'll find a host of video game design schools on the internet, you may have to hunt a bit further to find video game design programs at traditional schools. If you are heading off to college at the state university but can’t seem to find any video game design degrees noted in their curriculum, here are a few ways they might be listed:
- Game and simulation arts
- Interactive media
- Digital arts
- Digital media
- Video game studies
Familiarity with these alternative terms may help you ferret out video game design colleges. Your next question may well be: what will I study at video game design colleges? On a theoretical level, you may analyze the playing of video games, and attempt to understand if and how players learn through playing them. You’ll discover a lot of ongoing research about video games and learning principles.
On the creative side, there is much to learn also. Video game design colleges teach fundamentals of drawing and animation. But that is only for starters. There is the technical aspect to consider, also. So besides classes in drawing and graphic design, you’ll need to learn plenty about software and game interface design. Your studies might even include courses in physics and mechanical engineering. After all, you need to understand how your game characters move and act.
You can see how complex a subject video game design truly has become, and why it is possible to offer a PhD in the field. While there are still some video game designers who have reached success in the field without benefit of video game design degrees, their numbers are thin. As technology continues to increase, the field has simply become too complex for the casual artist to become successful in it. You’re going to need a solid education to get a job in the competitive world of video game design, so why not start looking at video game design colleges? And if Mom complains, just point out to her that you’ll be taking physics, too. That should make her happy!
