The Game Design Major, Explained

About these guides

What the Game Design Major Guides Cover

A game design major teaches you to plan, prototype and finish games. It is not only a design degree: most programs also ask for programming, art and a sequence of team projects, and the balance between them differs a lot from school to school. These guides are written for high school students and their families choosing a first degree, for college students deciding on a major, and for career changers weighing a certificate or a second bachelor's.

Each guide answers one question with real evidence. The classes guide quotes 76 course titles from 6 program catalogs. The career guide uses federal wage and employment figures. The comparison and certificate guides use the same federal program data as our rankings, which cover 354 programs at 271 schools in 43 states and DC. Nothing here is a sales pitch for a school; where a program comes up, it is because its catalog or its numbers show something useful. Each guide ends with a short FAQ and a list of its sources, so you can check every figure against the original page, and each says when its facts were last checked.

Start here

Start Here: Three Game Design Guides to Read First

If you only read three guides, read these, in this order. Together they take you from what the job is, to what you would study, to whether the cost and the job market make sense for you.

1. What Is Game Design?Read this first if you aren't sure what a designer does all day.
2. Game Design ClassesRead this before you compare programs, so you know what a strong course list looks like.
3. Is Game Design a Good Career?Read this before you borrow for a degree, so the cost and the job market are in front of you.

Guides

Game Design Degree Basics

Start with what the major is and what you study. These two guides explain the job a game designer does and the courses a bachelor's program asks you to take, from real catalogs.

Guides

Choosing a Game Design Program

Then decide which kind of program fits. Design and development are different degrees with different coursework, and a certificate can be enough if you already hold a degree in another field.

Guides

Game Design Careers and Portfolios

Finally, look past graduation. Studios hire on the work you can show, so the portfolio guide matters as much as the degree, and the career guide weighs the pay and the competition honestly.

The numbers

Key Game Design Figures Behind the Guides

A few numbers come up across several guides. Federal data counts 116 game design programs, at 108 schools, and 354 once game programming, simulation and animation are included. Of the game design programs, 67 are bachelor's degrees, 43 are associate degrees and 6 are master's degrees.

On pay, the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't count game designers on their own. It files them with web and digital interface designers, whose national median wage was $104,000 in May 2025. Game programmers are counted with software developers, at a median of $135,980. The gap between those two figures is one of the main things to weigh when you choose between a design track and a programming track, and the career guide and the design versus development guide both go into it.

Those are national medians for whole occupations, most of whose workers are not in games. Treat them as a guide to the range, not as a promise of what a game studio will pay a new graduate. Design teams are also smaller than programming or art teams, so the career guide covers the long first job search as well as the pay.

Rankings

Using These Guides With the Game Design Rankings

The guides help you decide what kind of program you want; the rankings help you compare the colleges that offer it. Our flagship best game design schools ranking scores 89 colleges with a bachelor's in game design, game programming or simulation on three federal figures: completion, net price and program size. Scores are absolute, not graded on a curve, and the national median score is 59.5.

A sensible path is to read the classes guide, shortlist programs whose course lists match what you want to make, then check those programs in the ranking for cost and completion. If you lean toward code, the game development degrees ranking covers the programming side; if cost comes first, the most affordable game design schools ranking puts net price ahead of everything else. Every state also has its own page, starting from game design schools by state.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is a Game Design Major?

A game design major is a college program that teaches you to plan and build games: rules and systems, levels, prototypes, playtesting and the engines studios use. Most bachelor's programs mix design courses with programming, art and a run of team projects that end in a finished game. Federal data counts 116 game design programs, and 354 across game design, game programming, simulation and animation. Read what game design is.

Which Guide Should I Read First?

Start with the guide to what game design is, then the classes guide, then the career guide. That order takes you from the job, to what you study for it, to whether the cost and the job market make sense for you. If you already know you want a degree, the classes guide and the portfolio guide are the two that change how you choose a program and how you apply. See the three guides to start with.

Is a Game Design Major Hard?

A game design major is demanding in a different way from most majors, because you are graded on games you finish as well as on exams. Most programs ask for some programming and math, and the team projects in the later years take long hours near deadlines. The classes guide shows the actual courses at 6 programs, so you can see how technical each one gets before you apply. See the course lists.

Do I Need a Portfolio to Get Into a Game Design Major?

Some programs ask for a portfolio when you apply and many ask for one before you join the major's upper-level courses, so it helps to start one early. A portfolio for admission can be small: a few playable prototypes, level designs or paper games with notes on what you changed after playtesting. Studios look at the same kind of work when you apply for jobs, which is why the portfolio guide matters before and after the degree. Read the portfolio guide.

How Do These Guides Connect to the Rankings?

The guides explain the major and the rankings compare the programs that teach it. Our flagship ranking scores 89 colleges with a bachelor's in game design, game programming or simulation on completion, net price and program size, and the national median score is 59.5. Read a guide to decide what kind of program you want, then use the ranking to compare the colleges that offer it. See how to use them together.

Sources

1. 1 NCES, IPEDS Completions 2022 to 2024 and Completions by Distance Education 2024 Every program in the ranking, the field code it is filed under, its graduates each year, and whether the school reports it can be completed by distance education. 354 programs in four fields. Accessed October 13, 2026.
2. 2 BLS, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 National median wages for web and digital interface designers (where game designers are counted) and software developers. Accessed October 13, 2026.