MajorsMajor
Game design: what you'd study and do
From public data · Every number cited
The short answer
Game design is the study of how games work and how they're made: the rules, levels and rewards that make a game fun, plus the art, story and programming that bring it to life. Students make games, often in teams. It leads to jobs like game designer, artist and game programmer, though studios also hire from computer science, art and many other majors.
Try the job first
These lessons let you do a real task from the work. Those marked “Asks if you liked it” let you say so afterwards, and your answers collect in one place.
- Who works at a game studio13 minFreeAsks if you liked it
- How an app makes money14 minFree
- How a game update ships14 min(members-only)(included in your membership)
See what you've answered so far in Your major match.
What you'd study
Every college's program is a little different. These are the kinds of classes most of them have.
How games work
Every college's program is different. The US government's description of the major lists the theory of games, turn-based and real-time games, visual and interactive design, story, animation, simulation and programming.
Programming and art
Most programs mix both. At the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), for one, the game design degree builds on a core of computing classes and game programming, with electives in design, production, game engines, graphics, animation, mobile, web and audio. Other programs lean more toward art and story.
Learning by doing
Expect to make games, and to finish with a collection of them to show employers. RIT's students must also complete two blocks of co-op, paid work in the industry, before they graduate.
Jobs it leads to
Median pay means half the people in the job earn more and half earn less. Pay also changes with the place, the employer and experience.
Video game designers
A day at work
You decide what the player does and whether it's fun and fair: levels, missions, puzzles, rules, rewards and prices. You write it all down for the artists and engineers, review the game as it's built, and change the numbers after watching people play. O*NET's most important task for this job is balancing and adjusting the gameplay. BLS doesn't count game designers on their own: it counts them with web and digital interface designers, so the pay and growth here are that whole group's.
- Median pay
- $104,000
/year - Expected job growth
- 6%
The usual start
Usually a bachelor's degree. BLS says education for digital designers ranges from a high school diploma to a bachelor's degree.
Numbers from bls.gov ·2025
Special effects artists and animators
A day at work
You make characters, places and effects, and make them move. In a game studio you work from the designer's notes, take feedback from the art director, and hand finished files to the engineers who put them in the game. The job is also done in film, TV and ads, and BLS counts them all together. It expects about 4,200 openings a year
, but little or no change in the number of jobs from 2025 to 2035, and 63% of these artists work for themselves. - Median pay
- $102,030
/year - Expected job growth
- 0%
The usual start
Usually a bachelor's degree in computer graphics, animation, fine arts or something close (BLS).
Numbers from bls.gov ·2025
Software developers (game programmers)
A day at work
You write the code that makes the game run on every phone, console or computer it supports, build the tools the other teams use, and fix the bugs the testers find. Game programmers are counted with all software developers, most of whom don't work on games, so the pay and growth here are for the whole job.
- Median pay
- $135,980
/year - Expected job growth
- 10%
The usual start
Usually a bachelor's degree in computer and information technology or a related field (BLS). Studios also hire programmers who studied computer science.
Numbers from bls.gov ·2025
How to read the growth numbers
BLS expects all US jobs together to grow 3.5%
The pay on each card is the median: half of the workers earn more and half earn less. Pay changes a lot by place, company and experience.
Pay isn't everything
Game work is team work. Almost every piece of your day comes from someone or goes to someone: the producer's plan, the designer's notes, the art director's feedback, the engineer who puts your work in the game, the tester who finds what broke.
It can also be unsteady. Of the people who answered GDC's 2026 survey of game makers, 28%
Among animators in all fields who answered O*NET's work survey, 60%
People who tend to enjoy it like making things with others, taking feedback, and fixing the same piece again until it feels right.
After graduating
The College Scorecard, from the US Department of Education, shows what graduates of each college's programs earned a few years later. Read it with its own warnings: it counts only students who got federal grants or loans, it leaves out graduates who didn't work that year or went back to school, and pay soon after college may not show pay later on. Results vary a lot from college to college.
We don't know of an official national pay figure for game design majors alone, so we don't show one. You can look up any college at collegescorecard.ed.gov.
You don't need this major to work here
Studios hire from many majors: engineers often study computer science, and artists often study art or animation. BLS says education for digital designers ranges from a high school diploma to a bachelor's degree. Whatever you study, the games and art you've made yourself show what you can do.
Related majors
Also related: Animation or fine arts, Interactive media or digital design, Software engineering.
Common questions
- Do I have to be good at programming?
It depends on the program and the job. RIT's game design degree is built on computing classes; other programs lean toward art and story. Designers work closely with programmers either way, so knowing some code helps.
- Is the game industry a steady place to work?
Not always. Of the people who answered GDC's 2026 survey, 28%
gdconf.com ·2026 had been laid off in the past two years. Plenty of people make games for many years; it's worth asking a studio how it handled its last deadline and its last slow year. - Can I work in games without this major?
Yes. Studios hire engineers, artists, testers, producers, marketers and more, from many majors. What you've made yourself often matters as much as the name of your degree.
- Which college is best for game design?
We don't rank colleges. Programs differ a lot in how much programming, art and story they teach, and the College Scorecard lets you look up any college.
- What do these jobs pay?
BLS's median for special effects artists and animators was $102,030
/year bls.gov ·2025 in May 2025, and $135,980 /year bls.gov ·2025 for software developers. Game designers are counted with web and digital interface designers, whose median was $104,000 /year bls.gov ·2025. Half earn more and half earn less, and pay changes a lot by place, company and experience.