The Top Game Design Colleges in Pennsylvania - Bachelor's Degrees

Drexel University was the first university to require students to have micro-computers (1983), the first major university to have a fully wireless campus, provided the first mobile web portal for students, and developed the first university portal app across all five major platforms.

Drexel offers the Bachelor of Science in Game Design and Production. This degree teaches students storytelling, programming, and animation and graphics. All of these skills are necessary to game design careers.

Drexel students have won numerous awards such as first place in the Microsoft Imagine Cup, the Unity Awards, the GDC's Narrative Review Competition, and first place in the Adobe Achievement Awards.

The school has particular strengths in using games to facilitate learning and even offers a Learning in Game Based Environments Certificate.

Albright College offers a Game and Simulation Development program for undergraduate students.

This interdisciplinary program is a combination of the College's Digital Media and Computer Science programs.

Students learn game and simulation skills in these subjects:

• math
• music
• physics
• computer science
• digital media
• programming
• artificial intelligence
• game engine development
• software packages

In addition to the technical instruction, students also learn soft skills including critical and creative thinking skills, communication skills (written and oral), and social awareness.

Courses include:

• Introduction to Game Design
• Sound Design for Visual Media
• Computer Graphics Art and Design
• Game History and Development
• Graphics Programming

The Game and Simulation Development is available as a major, a co-major and a minor.

Pennsylvania College of Technology has the Bachelor of Science in Game and Simulation Programming degree.

Pennsylvania College of Technology is a Penn State affiliate.

This program teaches the skills to create computer games and simulations for a variety of purposes. Computer games and simulations are applicable to many industries, including:

• information technology
• education
• corporate training
• homeland security
• healthcare
• manufacturing
• entertainment

Courses include:

• Game Programming
• Computer Simulation Applications
• C++ Game Development
• Game and Simulation Capstone

Penn College graduates are 100% employed from 3 to 6 months after graduation.

University of Pittsburg offers a bachelor's in Digital Narrative and Design with a Game Design track, which is taken through their School of Computing and Information and the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.

This is a unique degree, teaching from two perspectives: the technical side of Information Science and Computer Science, along with the narrative side of Writing and Composition.

The on-campus degree combines instruction from the English department and School of Computing and Information (SCI). The English aspect of the instruction includes learning media studies, narrative and world-building. The SCI teaches students software development, human-computer-interface skills, and coding.

This multifaceted instruction approach develops the skills to build interactive narrative systems in these domains:

• games
• literature
• virtual reality environments
• other media

Students in the Game Design track learn the historical and modern cultural and social contexts of game production and advertising.

Carnegie Mellon University has long been known as one of America's leading schools in many disciplines.

The university's Integrative Design, Arts, and Technology (IDeATe) network allows students to complete a Game Design minor.

The interdisciplinary program features both practice and theory of game creation. Topics include interface design, visual asset creation, and character development.

This Game Design Minor is open to students who are enrolled in any major. Students will collaborate with the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU.