Games aren’t made in single-player mode. Learn the production pipeline in the Game Studio Experience.
The Game Studio Experience is a learning environment modeled after real, industry leading game studios, answering the question, “What can we make together?”
We take skills learned in Champlain’s seven individual gaming majors and bring new concepts to life, creating fully functional games as a team. Let’s say you decide to be a Game Art major; get ready to work alongside a designer, programmer, sound designer, production manager and a publisher to create a portfolio piece that is unique to your studio group.
You’ll start taking major-specific classes in your first semester, collaborate with other game majors on real-world projects, build playable games, and graduate Champlain Ready.
Not only will you be ready to work in the games industry, but you can take your agile development skills just about anywhere. From mobile and software development to medical simulations and beyond, you’ll graduate with future-focused skills.
Over the four years working with your peers and faculty members, you’ll develop an understanding of the game pipeline from concept to finished product and gain teamwork experience many professionals don’t cultivate until they have been working in the industry for years.
Our industry-expert faculty will guide you through the rigorous courses that will shape you into a polished game industry professional. There are two main factors that land our graduates the most highly prized jobs in the industry: the right education (soft and hard skills) and a strong portfolio. Champlain’s Game Studio delivers both.
Game Studio at a Glance
Choose Your Character
Follow your passions by choosing one of seven available Game Development majors offered at Champlain: Game Art, Game Business and Publishing, Game Design, Game Production Management, Game Programming, Game Sound Design, or Interactive Narrative for Game & Digital Media. Specialize in different aspects of video game development as you hone your craft and practice your skills.
Squad Up
Collaborate with other game disciplines to produce games from concept to finished product for your portfolio. You’ll put your expertise to work in a group environment along with specialists from other game majors just like in a professional game studio.
Score Big
On your first day of work, you’ll already understand how various game disciplines work together to produce a game. Game studios LOVE this about our Champlain grads! Our alumni work at AAA studios worldwide, such as Ubisoft, Insomniac, Riot, Blizzard, and Sony Bend Studios, to name just a few.
Just a few of the studios where you’ll find champlain alumni
More Game Industry Degree Options From One of the Top Game Development Programs
Boasting more degree programs in game development than any other college in the country, Champlain College’s renowned Game Studio consistently ranks among the top game development programs, and many of its graduates go on to land coveted positions at AAA studios.
How are we different?
Multiple Team-Based Experiences
Unlike our competitors, you’ll take part in interdisciplinary, team-based projects more than three years in a row. Most schools wait until senior year to have students work on team-based projects, which means their students integrate into industry teams more slowly than Champlain’s students. This is the reason so many developers have cited us as one of the best game programs in the world.
Own Your Own IP
Unlike most programs, we don’t just study theory. We teach you to make everything needed to succeed on the job. Even better, you get to own and retain ownership of all your own IP (intellectual property) created in the program, from characters to entire games! We are the only program in the country that empowers you to own everything you make from day one.
Faculty are Industry Experts
Champlain game professors are game industry experts who bring real-world expertise to the classroom every day. They’ll give you insights and connections into the industry that you can’t get from a textbook. Invested in your success, they’ll share personal experiences and knowledge you can use on your career path.
Bragging Rights
The Game Studio at Champlain College consistently ranks in the top schools for game design by The Princeton Review—coming in at #12 in 2024.
of classes are taught by game industry experts, who have been or remain highly active professionals in the industry.
Champlain College was named a “Most Innovative School” by U.S. News & World Report in its “America’s Best Colleges” 2024 rankings.
Sign Up To Get a Poster + Helpful Info
We’ll send you info about our game majors plus a poster designed by our students when you fill out this form!
It’s Game Time
The Game Studio Senior Show is the culminating event of the dedicated, year-long, team-based work of our students. Faculty advance only the best teams and games from the first semester into full production in the second semester. Eliminated team members join the newly greenlit projects.
Each Spring, those teams take the stage to present their fully playable games to friends, family, faculty, and recruiters in attendance from studios all over the world. Some graduates even receive job offers the very next day following the show!
Learn About Senior ShowGame Studio Gallery
Thing & Fist
Thing & Fist is a top-down brawler where two players battle their way through the city of St. Avalon as they work to pull off the heist of the century.
Mid-Death Crisis
Mid-Death Crisis is a strategic, turn-based couch co-op game designed for three players who take command of skeletal minions serving a once-powerful lich now plagued by sorrow.
Riptide
Riptide is a spaceship combat game with an emphasis on powerful customizations and utility. Accomplish your mission by loading up and taking out the enemy.
SYNC
Launch the SYNC protocol, where you are the ultimate weapon. Your job is to commandeer different robotic synth’s abilities in a high-octane, first-person frenzy.
Molementum
Molementum is a 3D party action game where you play as a mole criminal with up to three friends and engage in various acts of competitive mischief.
Beyond the Classroom
See what opportunities students have in and outside of the classroom. Expand your network and take part in events and organizations found virtually, locally in Burlington, or on our international Montreal campus.
Learn About Hands-On Opportunities
Esports for Everyone
Champlain College Esports (CCE) is a multifaceted community that hosts competitive varsity team matches, club team events, and casual game meet-ups. They offer opportunities for competitive players, casual gamers, and those looking to get involved in staff production by offering options in broadcast, branding and strategy, team management, and more.
Enter the Esports ArenaYou’ve Got Options
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Burlington CampusThere’s something for everyone on and around our Champlain campus. See why Burlington, Vermont, is considered by Travel + Leisure as one of the “Best College Towns and Cities in the U.S.”
Explore Our Home in Burlington -
Montreal CampusMontreal, Canada, is home to some of the top game development studios in the world. Study abroad at our international campus and gain experience to last a lifetime. Compete in the Ubisoft Contest to see why our teams of undergraduates have won awards time and again – even against the top graduate programs in Quebec!
Go Where the Games Are -
Summer Game AcademyLooking to get a jump start on your education? Champlain offers several summer programs for high school students that will help build your portfolio and prepare you for the Game Studio experience.
Join Us this Summer
What I love most about working with Champlain students is that they are prepared to hit the ground running when it comes to developing games. Any student coming out of their program has the tools to make an immediate positive impact to a game development studio.
More Inside Studio Experiences
Game Studio Majors
In any of our seven Game Development majors, you'll build relevant skills in your chosen area, so that by graduation you'll be ready to hit the ground running with the professional experience needed to work in a studio.
Hands on Opportunities in the Game Studio
There are plenty of events and opportunities both in and out of the classroom to help build skills beyond your major classes. Here, you can form community networks of friends and future coworkers.
Game Studio Faculty
Learn from the very best in Champlain’s Game Studio Experience, collaborating with faculty practitioners with years of practical experience in a complex industry.
Game Studio Portfolio
Explore our curated collection of student work featuring character sketches, environment renderings, design mock-ups, sizzle reels, and more.
Game Senior Show
The Game Studio’s Senior Show demonstrates what it means to be Champlain Ready. Every year, the show highlights the collaborative work of the studio's graduating class, which presents eight fully functional games.