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From the Academic Year 2020/2021 intake onward, the Bachelor of Arts in Game Design degree program will be renamed as Bachelor of Arts in User Experience and Game Design.

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?

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.

This program combines the theory and practice of game design and user experience with coursework in the humanities, social sciences, art, and the fundamentals of mathematics and computer science.

Topics Covered

Students in the BA in Game Design program will focus on the following subjects:

  • Game design and development, including game mechanics and history, design documentation, scripting and programming, 2D and 3D level design, character design, playtesting, interface design, product management, and team game project implementation.
  • The humanities and arts, including writing, psychology, film, audio, architecture, drawing, and 2D and 3D art, with the option to study advanced topics in these areas.
  • Foundational math and science courses, including the fundamentals of scripting languages, mathematics, and physics.

Student Projects

Multidisciplinary team projects make up a core component of the BA in Game Design curriculum. As a student in the program, you will work with your classmates on a series of original game and interactive media projects that will allow you to gain firsthand experience in contributing your design expertise while working as part of a larger creative team. These projects serve as a primary avenue for exploring your interests in game mechanics and systems, compelling narratives, and seamless user experiences. These are just a few examples of game projects that BA in Game Design students have worked on.

Career Outlook

As a graduate of the BA in Game Design program, you will have the skills and collaborative experience to pursue any number of professional design roles within game development, enterprise software, and beyond.

Potential Careers

Game Designer

Game design is a broad term that can encompass many unique job types. In general, a game designer works to create and refine the interrelated systems that make up a game-playing experience, from the mechanics of combat in a fighting game to the complex menu navigation in an online RPG. They often work closely with engineers and people from other disciplines to implement and fine-tune their design concepts.

Level Designer

A level designer is typically responsible for designing the individual missions or stages, including the spatial arrangement of a game’s maps and locations. In addition to relying on their well-honed intuitive senses, level designers must also rigorously test and iterate on their designs by incorporating user feedback.

UX Designer

The work of the user experience (UX) designer can be seen across many industries, from games to business to museums and more. A UX designer seeks to make a product or experience more satisfactory and accessible for the end user, whether the end result is an intuitive mobile phone app or a more streamlined in-store checkout system. To get there, the designer will rely on a large set of tools and responsibilities, including user research, paper prototyping, wireframing, and usability testing.

Entry-Level Job Titles

  • Game Designer

  • User Interface Designer

  • User Experience Designer

  • Game Scripter

  • Technical Designer

  • System Designer

  • Level Designer

  • Content Designer

  • Encounter Designer

  • Quest Designer

Senior-Level Job Titles

  • Lead Designer

  • Creative Director

  • Director

Other/Related Job Titles

  • Producer

  • Program Manager

  • Writer

  • Technical Writer

  • Editor

  • Artist

  • Technical Artist

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