Game Design & Production BS

Degree Awarded: Bachelor of Science (BS)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 191.0
Co-op Options: Three Co-op (Five years); One Co-op (Four years)
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 two decades (on average across multiple national rankings, including the Princeton Review), and provides students with a broad foundation in digital design and content creation skills in team project environments. In Drexel’s generalist-to-specialist approach, students experience a wide variety of roles in bringing a game all the way through production – from pie-in-the-sky idea to playable reality. Through this process of discovery, students learn about themselves and the skill focuses that they want to pursue, minors and electives they want to study, and how to create a game as part of a team throughout the program.

Drexel’s Game Design & Production program is committed to making the game development environment, and by extension the industry at large, a supportive and welcoming community for all voices. The democratization of game making tools enables anyone to tell their story in this immersive and interactive medium. We in the program are excited to guide and support the next generation of storytellers as they create new works that entertain and reflect upon the full spectrum of the human experience.

The major supports careers in every industry that utilizes real-time interactive digital experiences. Our graduates have measurable value to the entertainment sector of computer, mixed-reality, mobile, and console games industries. Beyond entertainment, our graduates are needed in countless industries, anywhere in the world, that utilize interactive digital environments for simulation, training, marketing, communication, or education. 

Our focus on project-based teamwork prepares students for cross-disciplinary work in any scale at any size of company. From big-budget AAA blockbuster game studios with team sizes in the hundreds with specialist technicians and artists, to small- and medium-sized companies where developers have broad skill bases, to small independent studios – including those founded by our entrepreneurial students. Drexel Dragons can be specialists with a strong foundation that allows them to adapt, to be flexible bridge-builders and liaisons across art and technical teams, and rugged entrepreneurs running their own start-up.

Digital content creation is a dynamically evolving industry. Certain processes and jobs that exist today may be automated within five years, with the recent developments in imitative artificial intelligence tools being the latest example. Companies small to large will use established and newly developed commercially available tools, but also build and maintain proprietary in-house tools and pipelines. 

Courses in Drexel’s program evolve in response to, and in anticipation of, industry trends and on-demand special topic courses are taught to rapidly respond to student and industry developments. Familiarity with the latest industry standard for tools is important but student skills must be transferrable and tool-agnostic – to adapt to a 3D modeling tool like Blender, 3DS Max, Maya, or proprietary in-house tools that are only accessible within the company that develops them. Drexel’s program encourages students to become adept at the core processes of digital creation, not just a single piece of software. 

Our courses are predominantly offered face-to-face on campus, but we also feature virtual courses taught by a diverse range of experts from across the nation, exposing students to a wider network of active professionals and to the evolving climate of industry work as a significant number of studios have permanently moved to be partially or completely remote, even prior to 2020.

Students start building game assets and games in their first terms as freshmen and continue to create team-based game projects both small and large throughout their plan of study. Interdisciplinary teamwork is a core skill developed in teams of two to over eighteen, often spanning multiple programs including Computer Science, Music Industry, Animation & VFX, Digital Media & Virtual Production, User Experience & Interaction Design, and more. Every project enables students to experiment and refine their experience in the numerous roles required to produce a finished game.

Drexel University offers multiple opportunities to support the entrepreneurial minded student, from Drexel’s on-campus indie game incubator, the Entrepreneurial Game Studio, to the Close School of Entrepreneurship and the Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship.

Career building begins inside the classroom with team projects and networking, and outside the classroom with six or more months of co-op experiences.

To complement the creative focus of the Game Design & Production major, a minor in Computer Science is popular, and in many cases an ideal supplement for our students. The CS minor increases programming knowledge while maintaining a creative design and production focus in the Game Design & Production major. There are more than 120 minors available at Drexel and many are easy to achieve within our plan of study using free electives. It is important for students to make their minor a personal choice to reflect their specific focus and further personalize their Drexel education experience.

Additional Information

To find out more about this major, visit the Westphal College’s Game Design & Production Major page.

Co-op/Career Opportunities

Drexel students have broad training in all areas of game design and production, and our students have career opportunities in both entertainment gaming and broader simulation/training industries, and anywhere interactive gaming technology is applied - a growing segment in all industries.

Co-op Experiences

Building a career often begins with a few key contacts - especially through alums already working professionally - and the co-op program gives Drexel students the chance to meet professionals, make their skills known, and build their personal network. 

In addition to small and large entertainment companies, students have opportunities to explore how game design is applicable to many local and international industries ranging from aerospace to pharmaceuticals to home and yacht design. 

Recent co-op opportunities include game and digital media jobs in Philadelphia region companies like Art Sphere, Big Moxi Games, Comcast, DVNC Tech, eNable Games, Entrepreneurial Game Studio, GLIDE Lab, Gossamer Games, iD Tech Game Design & Development Academy, IDEA, Night Kitchen Interactive, Penn Medicine, PHL Collective, QuadraTron Games, Skyless Game Studios, Tipping Point Media, and Virtual Health.

Students also secured game and digital media co-ops at national and international companies, like Activision in Los Angeles, Amazon Robotics remotely, EA Games remotely, Infinity Ward remotely, Rockstar Games in San Diego, Treyarch remotely, Twisted Ark in Helsinki, and Inter Media Japan in Tokyo.

Career Experiences

Our network of successful game development alum work in leading entertainment companies including 343 Industries, Activision, Avalanche, Blizzard, Disney, EA Games, Epic Games, Filament Games, Firaxis Games, Gearbox Software, Ghost Story Games, Industrial Light & Magic, Infinity Ward, Insomniac, Irrational Games, Level Ex, Magic Fuel Games, Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Xbox, Midway, Mojang, NCsoft, NeatherRealm Studios, Nexon, Oculus VR, Raven Software, Riot Games, Rockstar Games, Rovio, Running With Scissors, Schell Games, Sony SCEA, Spry Fox, The Coalition, Turn 10 Studios, Volition, ZeniMax Online, and Zynga.

Other students chose small-to-mid-size studios or launch their own digital media enterprises, like Tom Fulp (BS '02), founder of Newgrounds.com, or indie game companies, like Dan Fornace (BS '11), creator of Rivals of Aether, Greg Lobanov (BS '14), creator of Wandersong & Chicory, or Tom Sharpe (BS '16), director of Gossamer Games and their award-winning title, Sole. Students also chose to work outside of entertainment by applying their game production skills to training, simulation, marketing, or education endeavors with companies including Amazon Robotics, BRDG Studios, Comcast Labs, Fred Rogers Productions, Lockheed Martin, Tipping Point Media, and Vanguard.

Jobs titles include Art Director, Art Producer, Animator, Associate Producer, Character Animator, Cinematic Lead, Cinematics Animator, Community Manager, Digital Project Coordinator, Director of Virtual Production, Facial Capture Artist, Game Designer, Lead Cinematic Animator, Lead Technical Director, Lead Virtual Production Manager, Localization Producer, Marketing Manager, Motion Capture Technician, Previsualization Supervisor, Production Coordinator, Program Manager, Programmer, Senior Animator, Senior Artist, Senior Community Manager, Simulation Developer, Technical Artist, and Virtual Production Engineer and Manager.

Visit the Drexel Steinbright Career Development Center page for more detailed information on co-op and post-graduate opportunities.

Dual Accelerated Degrees

BS/MS in Digital Media

The accelerated degree programs enable academically qualified students to earn both a bachelor's and a master's degree in five years instead of six — graduating sooner than they would in traditional programs. In addition, the graduate-level courses students take in their junior and senior years are included in their undergraduate tuition, which saves almost a year's worth of their MS tuition.

Current Drexel students in the 4-year/1-Co-Op program may apply for an accelerated degree programs after completing 70.0 credits, but no more than 120.0 credits. Many of our accelerated students have gone on to careers at leading companies including Disney, Dreamworks, Industrial Light & Magic, Microsoft Studios, NCSoft, Netflix, and Pixar.