Game Design and Production BS

Degree Awarded: Bachelor of Science (BS)
Minimum Required Credits: 120                           
Co-op Option(s): Two Co-op, One Co-op, No Co-op                                                       
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 11.0899
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 27-1014, 25-1199

About the Program

Drexel’s Game Design & Production (GDAP) BS program has earned a top-ten position for over 2 decades (on average across multiple national rankings, including the Princeton Review). GDAP provides students with a broad foundation in digital design, interactive media, and collaborative production. Students begin experimenting with a wide range of creative and technical skills—developing core design principles, communication and problem-solving abilities, and fluency in 2D/3D asset creation, coding fundamentals, and media theory. This offers an overview of the entire game development process and how diverse elements interact to create complete experiences.

Building on this foundation, students tailor their education through intermediate and advanced electives, multidisciplinary team roles, and minors supporting their emerging interests. Graduates leave with adaptable, tool-agnostic competencies grounded in the core processes behind digital development, with experience in teamwork, multicultural communication, and iterative development through feedback from faculty and peers. They demonstrate these abilities through a polished portfolio of individual projects, interdisciplinary collaborations, and co-op experiences.

Learning Experiences

GDAP students learn directly from faculty with professional backgrounds ranging from AAA studios and indie teams to film, healthcare, education, aerospace simulation, themed entertainment, and digital-twin development.

Early coursework builds individual strengths. Students then transition into multiple team-based projects spanning small creative groups to larger production teams, often collaborating with peers across the university. Media theory and global historical studies help students consider projects within aesthetic, technological, and cultural contexts.

Because digital creation evolves rapidly—and tools in use today may be automated or replaced—courses adapt to industry trends, with special-topic classes addressing emerging technologies. Students gain experience with industry-standard tools while cultivating transferable skills suited to any software environment, including proprietary systems.

While most courses are taught face-to-face, virtual offerings led by experts nationwide expand students’ professional networks and expose them to hybrid and remote studio workflows.

Post-Graduate Pathways

GDAP graduates pursue careers across game development, digital content creation, film, healthcare, marketing, communication, education, aerospace training and simulation, themed entertainment, and digital-twin applications.

As part of a department with MS and PhD programs, undergraduates also gain insight into research and advanced study options that connect creative practice with evolving academic inquiry.

The Drexel Advantage

Drexel’s experiential learning model threads professional development throughout the program. Students strengthen networks and applied skills in the classroom and through one or more six-month co-op experiences. The program supports an inclusive creative community that empowers students to create works reflecting diverse human experiences. GDAP’s emphasis on project-based, cross-disciplinary teamwork prepares graduates for success in AAA studios, mid-sized companies, indie teams, and entrepreneurial ventures, supported by Drexel’s Entrepreneurial Game Studio, the Close School of Entrepreneurship, and the Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship.

Additional Information

For more information about this program, please contact the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design.

Admission Requirements  

Same as Drexel Admissions-Required Portfolio.

Degree Requirements  

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 A complete list of eligible introductory Core Competency courses can be found here.

Program Learning Outcomes  

1. Generalist Foundation: Upon graduation, students will be able to define and illustrate a broad set of foundational game development skills in individual and team-based projects.     
2. Specialist Focus: Upon graduation, students will be able to explain and develop advanced proficiency in a specific area of game development in their portfolios, including examples developed through the participation in a capstone project.     
3. Tool Agnostic: Upon graduation, students will be able to experiment and practice core game development skills in more than one example of a type of tool in a variety of skill areas, such as different commercial tools for 2d art, 3d modeling, animation, or game engine development.     
4. Production Processes: Upon graduation, students will be able to outline, describe, and apply the overall game development process, methods, and interactions between skills, and how contemporary industry standards impact their specialist discipline.    
5. Teamwork: Upon graduation, students will be able to evaluate and exemplify best practices in multi-cultural and multidisciplinary teamwork in complex team-based projects, including the ability to communicate, give, and receive constructive feedback.    
6. Cultural Context: Upon graduation, students will be able to critically examine games, technologies, and problems, applying theoretical and historical studies to assess them within a variety of spaces, including aesthetic, technological, and cultural contexts.    
7. Flexible Application: Upon graduation, students will be able to relate and apply their game development skills to a wide variety of applications in multiple professional settings, including entertainment, training, simulation, marketing, and education.