Game Designer. It's unquestionably a dream job. You get to flex your creative muscles, work on the cutting edge of technology, and create engaging experiences that excite players on a daily basis.

But it's also a very broad field that includes everything from coding to storytelling, system design to audience management.

As an aspiring game designer, you have a variety of disciplines to choose from and master as you begin your journey toward your first shipping title.

Whether you are a recent high school graduate or considering a career change, The Princeton Review is your guide to the vast array of game design courses offered by the best institutions of higher learning in North America and Europe.

Here you will find an overview of alumni and graduate programs, information on staff and facilities, key statistics on employment rates and salaries, plus details on notable graduates.

It also presents the problems, dilemmas, and challenges facing modern game designers and how some of the most successful big titles have tackled them.

While we don't have all the answers (that's what college is for), our goal is to help you make successful initial choices as you embark on your game design journey.

For more information about the Game Design Program, visit princetonreview.com/game-design.

Hiring for the Class of 2023: 20 Average salary for 2023 graduates: $76,400 Faculty Eric Zimmerman (Founder, Game Lab), Dr. Clara Fernandez-Valla (Author of Fiction Control, Game Analysis) Alumni Carol Martz (PixelPop Festival, Insatiable Cycle), Robert Meyer (God of War: Ragnarok) https://gamecenter.nyu.edu/

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 85 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $75,000 Faculty TreaAndrea Russworm (author of Gaming Representation: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games), Marianne Krawcyzk (writer, God of War I, II & III) Alumni Laird Malamed (COO, Oculus VR), Jenova Chen (creator of "Journey") https://games.usc.edu/facilities

Number of 2023 graduates hired: 65 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $65,600 Faculty Ezra Cove (3D art for Lord of the Rings Online), Terasa Ulm (VR/AR/XR, interactive fine art, virtual avatars, interactive theater) Alumni Stanley Pierre-Louis (CEO/President, Entertainment Software Association), Gary Goldberg (President/Founder, Fablevision Studios) https://www.clarku.edu/schools/becker-school-of-design-and-technology/

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 62 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $82,305 Faculty Michael Young, Ph.D., Chair, Games Department; Joe Burns, Senior Technical Director, Disney & Epic Games Alumni Doug Bowser (COO, Nintendo of America), Nolan Bushnell (Founder, Atari) https://games.utah.edu/

Number of FY2023 graduates hired: 52 Average salary of FY2023 graduates: $57,409 Faculty Dr. Maria Harrington, Associate Professor, Aesthetic Computing Alumni Richard Ugarte, Senior Producer, Epic Games; Ana Beltran, Disney Live Entertainment https://communication.ucf.edu/games-and-interactive-media/

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 86 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $73,500 Faculty David I. Schwartz, Director and Instructor, Game Design and Development Alumni Elan Lee (founder and creator of Exploding Kittens), Misko Hevery (Google) https://www.rit.edu/computing/school-interactive-games-and-media

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 54 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $81,337 Faculty Claude Comea (Co-founder, Nintendo Software Technology; 19 U.S. patents for game design) Alumni Kim Swift (Xbox Game Studios), Matt Rosen (audio programmer, Baldur's Gate 3) https://www.digipen.edu/academics/game-design-and-development-degrees

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 67 Average salary of 2023 graduates: $63,000 Faculty Tony Lowe (Senior Game Designer, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, The Force Unleashed), Dan Rose (Wanda and the Colossus, Lord of the Rings Online), Dr. Youngmoo Kim, Ph.D., MIT, Founder, ExCITe Center, Drexel University Alumni Girish Balakrishnan (Director of Virtual Production, Netflix), Glenn Winters (Rockstar Games, Red Dead Redemption 2) https://drexel.edu/westphal/academics/undergraduate/GDAP/

Number of 2023 graduates hired: 80 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $58,000 Faculty Ricardo Guimaraes (Blizzard Entertainment, Ubisof, Eidos, Critical Studios, Wizards of the Coast), Cory Heald (Underbite Games, Disney, Zynga) Alumni Scott Brody (Heart Shaped Games, Microsoft Game Studios), Geoff Johns (Mad Ghost Productions, DC Entertainment). https://gamedev.msu.edu/

Number of FY2023 graduates hired: 84 Average salary of 2023 graduates: $80,000 Faculty Celia Pearce, IndieCade; Casper Harteveld, Serious Games, StudyCrafter, DARPA award winner Alumni Zuo Chen (Ubisoft, AMD), Rachel Ellis (Blizzard Entertainment) https://games.northeastern.edu/

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 75 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $45,000 Faculty Prof. Ruth Falconer (Complex Systems and Mathematics), Andrew McDonald LEGO, King, Mindshape) Alumni David Jones (DMA Design, creator of Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings), David Hind (Rockstar Games) https://www.abertay.ac.uk/course-search/undergraduate/game-design-and-production/

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 48 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $64,114 Faculty Edmar Mendizabal (NVIDIA, Ubisoft), Nathan Walpole (Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, Elder Scrolls) Alumni John Nagle (JPMorgan Chase & Co), Brenton Woodrow (Bungie) https://gamestudio.champlain.edu/

Graduates hired in 2023 15 Average salary of 2023 graduates: $65,000 Faculty Rasmus Dahl Tindborg (Cry Entertainment), Derek Tam (Microsoft, Electronic Arts) Alumni Armand Troisi (MY.GAMES, Ubisoft), Elliot Hudson (Game Director, Blackbird Interactive) https://vfs.edu/programs/game-design

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 65 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $82,000 Faculty Ed Gutierrez (Disney/Pixar), Jillian Smith (Indiecade Award winner, HEVGA Fellow) Alumni Michael Gessner (Riot Games), Beth Beinke (Respawn Entertainment, Zynga) https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/interactive-media-game-development/prospective-students

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 44 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $62,500 Faculty Cyril Guichard (Electrotank, MetaQuest Games Shocktroops), Aram Cookson (Epic Games) Alumni Harrison Pink (Diablo IV, Blizzard Entertainment), Zach Parrish (Netflix, Academy Award-winning, Walt Disney) https://www.scad.edu/academics/programs/interactive-design-and-game-development

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 70 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $66,000 Faculty Javier Perez (Sony PlayStation), Donald Ott (Amazon Games, founder of 3dmotive) Alumni Gabriel Gonzalez (Blizzard Entertainment), Alexander Gonzalez (Ubisoft) https://www.lcad.edu/courses/game-art-program/

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 57 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $42,627 Faculty Prof. Tanya Krzywinska (Games Studies, Digital Economy), Prof. Terry Greer (MicroRose, Blitz Games) Alumni Rex Crowie (Media Molecule, Form Sword, Return to Monkey Island), Andrei Pantilie (Ubisoft) https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/games-academy

New graduates hired in 2023 54 Average salary of 2023 graduates: $46,000 Faculty Lynette Fernandez (Double Down Interactive), David Abzug (Deep Silver/Bolition) Alumni Austin Holt (Amazon Games), Emily Berger (Blizzard Entertainment) www.bradley.edu/im

Graduates hired in 2023 20 Average salary of 2023 graduates: $98,950 Faculty Bryon Caldwell (Transformers: Rise of the Beast, Star Wars: Visions, Rocket League, League of Legends), Nelson Lim (Fortnite, Warcraft Pacific Rim, Transformers: Age of Extinction) Graduates Veena Sommareddy (Neuro Rehab VR), Steven Billingslea (900lbs of Creative) https://www.atec-animgames.com/

New graduates hired in 2023 25 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $60,476 Faculty Jason Hinders, Gorilla Systems Corporation; Rodney Moyet, Activision Graduates Alejandro Garcia-Tunon (Ghostpunch Games), Kelly Allen (id Software) https://www.fullsail. edu/degrees/game-development-bachelor

Hiring of 2023 graduates: 18 Average salary for new graduates in 2023: $65,000 Faculty Elena Bertozzi, Ardea Arts; Peter Zoppi, Treyarch, AAA Game Development Alumni Zaria Brogdon (Rockstar Games), Diego Holguin (MIT Lincoln Lab) https://games.qu.edu/student-work.asp

Number of graduates hired in 2023 6 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $70,000 Faculty Greg Lyons (3D Art, Technical Art, Motion Capture), Dr. James Hudson (Computer Graphics, Software Engineering) Alumni Dan Clark (Epic Games), Sam Bushman (Wizards of the Coast) https://www.shawnee.edu/game-design-programs

Number of FY2023 graduates hired: 41 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $52,000 Faculty Ivaldo de Sosa (Ph.D. in Philosophy - Ph.D. in Mathematics, Certificate in Machine Learning and Neural Networks), John Appleby (M.S. in Game Design) Alumni Greg Findlay (Eidos-Montreal: Rise of the Tomb Raider, Thief), Dustin Stevenson (FIFA, LBC Studios) https://www.lasallecollegevancouver.com/game-design

Number of graduates hired in 2023 37 Average salary of new graduates in 2023: $80,539 Faculty Maurice Suckling (BAFTA award winner), Victoria Ransom (Wildfire Interactive, Google) Alumni Karthik Bala (Activision, Veran Studios), Ben Esposito (Donut County, Glitch City) https://hass.rpi.edu/gsas/games-and-simulation-arts-and-sciences

Number of graduates hired in 2023: 64 Average salary for FY2023 graduates: $50,000 Faculty Jim McClure (38 Studios, Idol Minds, Sony Online Games), Professor Scott Lambert (Seeds for Change) Alumni Daniel Raba (Diablo 2 Resurrected, Vicarious Visions), Morganne Crosby (AppNeta, FireForge, WB Turbine) https://www.neit.edu/academics/video-game-development-design