According to ZipRecruiter, the median salary for a game developer is slightly over $108,000. Entry-level salaries often start around $60,000, with significant room for growth. The Game Development Major is intended to prepare students for a role in Game Development, with specific expertise in working with the Unity Engine.
This Game Development major was developed with significant input from Unity, the IGDA, and multiple studio heads to provide students with the best possible chance of capitalizing on the growth of Unity development roles. This program will prepare students to perform well in a variety of roles within the games industry.
We interviewed multiple studio heads, game development professionals, and academics to identify the key needs in a comprehensive Game Development education. In doing so, we identified the following academic priorities:
Our Game Development major is intended to provide students with the skills they need to successfully work in the games industry as a programmer, designer, or producer. It deliberately focuses on providing students with a broad base of experience, in order to allow them to find success either at larger firms or with smaller developers: the latter of which is of tremendous contemporary relevance, as the majority of new jobs in game development are at small-to-medium sized studios.
There has been a dramatic spike in game development in the last 5 years, due to the rise in popularity of mobile gaming, and the proliferation of off-the-shelf game engines such as Unity. Platforms like Unity allow small studios to compete successfully with massive corporations and have resulted in a boom of successful small-to-medium-sized development firms which have produced wildly successful titles such as Minecraft, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Stardew Valley, The Bridge, Rocket League, and more. These studios often also work to produce assets for larger corporations on a contract basis, or re-build existing games for new platforms.
The Unity Engine is central to this program. Students will complete 15 credit hours of work in Unity, learning key principles of game design, systems design, and ultimately building their own fully functioning game as part of their capstone project. Along the way, they will learn how to use GitHub and how to program in Python and C# - all incredibly valuable languages in both the games industry and the larger technology space. Students will also build strong skills in application development, user experience design, web design, and project management, allowing them to pursue other careers in technology should they choose to do so.
Upon completion of their degree program, students will possess the necessary skills to obtain the *Unity Certified Associate: Programmer* certification, a highly desirable entry-level professional credential. Additionally, students will have completed the bulk of the requirements and learning objectives required for the Unity Certified Associate: Game Developer exam, with many students who take advantage of opportunities such as game jams and internships being fully prepared.
All students majoring in Game Development through the LCMC will be provided a free student membership to the IGDA - the largest professional association serving game developers. This membership provides access to numerous benefits, including networking opportunities and exclusive events, discounts on major industry events as well as services and products, mentorship opportunities, educational resources, and access to IGDA Chapter and Special Interest Group communities.
Fereshteh Forough, CEO - Code To Inspire - Fereshteh is the CEO and founder of Code To Inspire, a not-for-profit coding school for girls in Afghanistan. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Unity Global Education. Her expertise in teaching coding and game development to students with no prior experience directly shaped the philosophy of the Game Development courses.