Do you dream about computers, gaming, and competitive tournaments?
Maybe you’re not as obsessed with playing the games as you are devising new challenges and adventures for others to tackle. If so, the colleges listed below can teach, inspire, and cultivate the skills you’ll need to become a computer game designer.
In these programs, you’ll tackle instruction on gaming tools and technologies, animation, game theory and design, and programming. Keep reading to see if an online bachelor’s degree in game design might just be the challenge you need to kickstart an inspiring career.
What Is an Online Bachelor’s Degree in Game Design?
With most online bachelor’s degree programs in game design, you’ll study for four years and earn about 120 credits before graduating. Typically, a game design bachelor’s degree integrates design principles, proficiencies, and techniques that are required to create the game documentation, mechanics, and functioning prototypes for original game projects.
These programs can allow students to specialize in different gaming fields and sharpen their existing gaming expertise for a career in game design, programming, and scripting. With a game design bachelor’s degree, you will practice play-testing, interactive storytelling, and learn the critical approach to meeting the demands of the gaming community.
How Much Can You Earn With an Online Bachelor’s Degree in Game Design?
Game design is a developing career that is becoming more and more in demand. However, it typically falls under the statistical category of information technology, which includes computer programmers, graphic designers, animation creators, and multimedia artists, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
With a bachelor’s degree in game design, workers can apply for jobs like computer and information systems developer, computer programmer, computer art director, animator, or multimedia artist. These positions typically start earning about $40,000 a year but range all the way up to $86,000 for careers in the video or motion picture industries, and $107,000 for software development.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, multimedia artists and animators earned a median salary of $75,270 annually, while software developers and IT programmers made a median salary of $107,510, in 2019.
What Is Required For an Online Bachelor’s Degree in Game Design?
To earn an online bachelor’s degree in game design, you’ll typically need a high school diploma or similar accredited certification. Since studies in gaming degrees prepare students to interact in the real world with artists and programmers, working in a project-based group setting will be essential.
Most on-campus and online bachelor’s programs require about 120 credit hours and take about four years to complete. Online programs offer flexibility for shortening or extending the program timeframe for working professionals and part-time students.
What Are the Best Online Bachelor’s Degree in Game Design?
OSR uses six data points: three school-wide and three program-specific. For school-wide, OSR uses Student Satisfaction, Admission Rates, and the number of programs the school offers online. For program-specific, OSR checks the Median Debt of graduates from that program, how many degrees are offered within that program’s umbrella department, and what percentage of students at that school graduated from that department.
The six statistics are displayed by each school. The sliding bar under each statistic represents how that school compares to other US institutions. “Not reported” means a school did not release that information to the US Department of Education. A more detailed description of the OSR process can be found on the methodology page.
