Princeton Review ranked the program at Quinnipiac No. 18 in the country, based on a survey of administrators at 150 institutions offering game design studies. More than 40 data points from the survey were analyzed to create the list.

“Students can customize the skills they wish to acquire because of our flexible track-based curriculum and ease of cross-disciplinary enrollments,” said Elena Bertozzi, professor and director of the game design and development program at Quinnipiac. “They develop industry-like experience managing teams, code and projects. We have a very strong community.”

The program has been working diligently to ensure graduates are prepared for changing industry demands while remaining flexible to the needs of each student, she added.

Learn more about the game design and development program

The department has expanded its faculty and built new labs so students can learn high-level skills using the same hardware and software they will find in the workplace.

The success of the program is evident, with alumni working at Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive, the Boston Museum of Science, and Lincoln Labs.

“All game design and development students graduate with the foundational skills needed to make games and other interactive media products,” Bertozzi said. “We ensure that students know how to brainstorm, plan, build, and assess games by putting them in game labs their sophomore year where the students work on individual games, and then form teams to make larger projects. Each following year, the students customize their learning plan by selecting the classes to build the skills they are most passionate about and then bring those to the game labs and make better games. By the time they graduate, each student has a solid portfolio of work to launch their career.”

The department will host its annual game showcase from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 4 in the Piazza. All members of the university community are welcome to attend.