Design is all around us. It shapes our experience with everything we use, interact with, or play. What makes those interactions fun, useful, or engaging? How can we design systems to allow users to get the most fun, the most enjoyment, the greatest payoff? How do we provide the best value for the user’s investment of time and energy?
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The Bachelor of Arts in Game Design helps you create compelling interactive systems — from sophisticated user interfaces to polished games and applications. In addition to extensive design coursework, you’ll delve deep into psychology, communications, and user experience with an eye for crafting powerful experiences.
Who Should Pursue This Degree?
Do you find yourself not only enjoying games but thinking deeply about them as you play? Are you the kind of person who feels compelled to ask, ‘How would I make this even better?’ The BA in Game Design program is for creative-minded students who are deeply curious to understand the behavior and psychology behind games and eager to learn the skills and methods for designing fun and engaging interactive systems. Throughout the program, students spend a significant amount of time prototyping, testing, and rapidly developing many different game ideas, all while studying a diverse range of topics. If you like the idea of constantly putting yourself in the player’s shoes and skillfully blending the mechanical, spatial, and narrative aspects of the game experience, then the BA in Game Design program may be a good fit for you.
As a student in this program, you will:
Academic Roadmap
Similar to a video game skill tree, the BA in Game Design program lets you specialize in the areas that match your strengths and interests. Check out our “DigiPen Game Design Disciplines, Explained” series to get a rundown on each of our six concentrations:
In the first two years, you’ll take introductory courses in all six aspects of design. By the start of your junior year, having learned about each track, you’ll select two specialization tracks in which to pursue your advanced design studies. Throughout the program, you’ll also take coursework in cognitive psychology, scripting languages, economics, and communications, as well as a sampling of courses involving math, art, music, and computer science as they relate to the work of professional designers. On top of this, you’ll collaborate with your peers — and across disciplines — on a series of semester- and year-long game projects.
Before entering your specialized design tracks at the start of your junior year, applications to your desired tracks must be submitted. Applications are based on your work from the introductory design and game classes you took in your first two years. All design students will be accepted into two design tracks, although admission to your preferred tracks is not guaranteed.
Admissions Requirements
The BA in Game Design program is ideal for students with a strong foundation in writing, communications, and psychology. In addition to all the standard admissions requirements for undergraduate students, your application to the BA in Game Design program must also include a design portfolio that demonstrates your prior creative work and the processes used to make it.
Topics Covered
Students in the BA in Game Design program will focus on the following subjects:
