Careers in game design
It takes a team to create a video game.
You can choose which role you’d like to play. Focus on creating the art, writing the story, building and programming the game, designing the sound or managing the process.
Possible careers
- Animator
- Programmer
- Software developer
- Sound designer
- Project manager
- Game designer
- Game artist
Where alumni have worked
- Bethesda
- Blizzard
- Disney
- EA
- Epic Games
- High Voltage
- iD
- Insomniac
- Maxis-Redwood City
- Microsoft
- Naughty Dog
- Nintendo
- Owlchemy
- Psyonix
- Raven
- Respawn
- Riot
- Rockstar
- Ubisoft
Alumni have worked on a variety of games
- Cozy Grove
- Fortnite
- Magic: the Gathering
- SMITE
- Pathfinder
- Starfinder
- LotR Journeys in Middle Earth
- Arkham Horror
- Realm Defense
- RWBY Grimm Eclipse Definitive Edition
- Undead Quest
- Yorescape
- Cozy Grove 2
- Wild Country
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic reboot
2,858U.S. video game company locations
$60,000median starting salary for Media School game design graduates
$97,000average video game design industry salary in 2016
To begin your career, consider these degrees or concentrations:
My time at IU firmly anchored my design knowledge while letting me be comfortable exploring different genres and platforms as the industry changes from year to year.
Jenna Hoffstein, MS’11, play designer at Hasbro and founder at Little Worlds Interactive
Helpful classes
Introduction to Games
Build a deep game literacy by breaking down games into their different components. Learn how to learn a new game quickly, teach complex games to others and recognize and excel at the many different games played in everyday life.
Game Art and Sound
Learn the concepts, techniques and tools for creating audio, visual and narrative assets used in computer games and digitally mediated environments. Create original sounds, write and edit computer code, and author multiform narratives while studying roles in emerging and complex systems.
Game Workshop I: Prototype
Develop and implement a game design project with a team. This is part one of the three-semester game workshop, which results in a completed video game created by student groups.
Hands-on experience
GameDev@IU
GameDev@IU is a student-run organization that promotes hands-on experience for students interested in game design. It hosts events such as workshops and game jams, and provides a platform for game development collaboration.
Learn more about GameDev@IU
Featured internship
