Game Programming Major

Create successful games, build your portfolio, and learn programming within a creative gaming culture when you major in Game Programming at Champlain College.

two students collaborating on a game design project in front of a computer screen

Learn to Build Worlds

Develop the programming skills that bring your creative vision to life.

Program Type: Major

School/Division: Division of Information Technology & Sciences

Recommended Experiences: Internships; On-Campus Employment Opportunities; Study Abroad

Let us help you find...: Game Studio Experience; Internships; Current Students College Catalog; Study Abroad; Admissions

Learn by doing, surrounded by like minds.

Turn your ideas ideas into digital reality. Level up your technical abilities and start building your network at a major incubator for the gaming industry. Studying Game Programming at Champlain will develop your technical skills and your creativity in a team-based environment, giving you a chance to build the skills employers value.

As a Game Programming student, you will gain cutting-edge computer science skills and experience while also diving headfirst into how to program great games and work as part of a game development team. By graduation, your skills and experience will make you an outstanding candidate for a position as a programmer in the game industry-or you can take your skills into other computer science and programming-related career paths.

What Is Game Programming?

Game Programmers write the code that takes game art and conceptual ideas and makes them into complex characters or a full-blown world. In the Game Programming major, you’ll explore artificial intelligence behaviors, game physics, game architecture, and working with and rendering 2D and 3D graphics. You’ll work with other game disciplines in a studio environment to combine your skills and create engaging, immersive games using the same methodology as the studios do.

Why Study Game Programming at Champlain?

Champlain’s Bachelor of Science degree in Game Programming – one of the first bachelor’s degrees of its kind in the nation – puts the intellectual challenge of software creation in the context of game development to produce a highly versatile, in-demand skill set. You’ll gain the technical skills and professional experience to produce games that will enchant and engage audiences.

Our Upside-Down Curriculum gets you into Game Programming courses in your first semester. Through real work experience, you’ll build an impressive portfolio of individual and collaborative work and create a remarkable résumé.

excited students play video games together

Different by Design

Hands-On Learning

Students will spend most of their time in class and at home actually working on projects and doing the work. Students won’t have to sit through hours of lectures before starting the work; instead they learn by completing projects and working on real games and software.

Perfect Blend of Creative and Technical

We combine technical skills with creativity. Other programs favor either the creative side or the technical skills involved with game programming, but Champlain combines these two aspects of the major into a complete degree that teaches students both sides of game programming.

The Game Studio Experience

The Game Studio style of learning ensures that students know how to work well in teams just like the ones in professional studios. This cooperative experience sets Champlain graduates above others when competing for jobs.

Learn About the Game Studio Experience

Facts & Stats

The Best

The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2024 named Champlain College among the 300 “best and most interesting” colleges in the U.S., Canada, and United Kingdom.

#12

Champlain College was ranked a top school for game design in The Princeton Review’s 2024 rankings.

The Most

Champlain was named a “Most Innovative School” by U.S. News & World Report in its “America’s Best Colleges” 2024 ranking of universities in the North.

Just a few of the studios where you’ll find champlain alumni

What Sets Us Apart

a team of game studio students presenting their game project to a full audience in an auditorium

champlain college game studio students posing for a photo with the GDC sign at the game developers conference

The Game Studio Experience

The unique Game Studio Experience at Champlain College gives you start-to-finish game-building experience in a professional environment. You’ll collaborate with your peers in each of our game majors to create playable games in a studio that parallels the processes of the industry.

Explore The Game Studio Experience

Annual Game Studio Senior Show

You will have the opportunity to present the game you create with your Game Studio team—as well as your own demo reel—to recruiters from all over the United States and Canada. Recruiters often come to the Senior Show to scout new talent, from companies like: Insomniac, Activision, Ubisoft and more!

Explore The Game Senior Show

Game Developers Conference

Champlain College sends a cohort to the world’s largest game developers conference each year in San Francisco for professional development and networking. The Career Coach facilitates exclusive networking meetings for Champlain students with top recruiters from some of the largest game developers.

Sample Courses in the Game Programming Major

The Game Programming major is an intense and challenging degree built on a foundation of math, programming skills and software engineering practices. With this base, students can then explore the sub-systems that add graphics, physics, and artificial intelligence into modern game engines.

First Year

EGD 101 Introduction to Game Development

GPR 100 Introduction to Game Programming

Second Year

GPR 200 Introduction to Modern Graphics Programming

GPR 250 Game Architecture

Third Year

GPR 340 Artificial Intelligence for Games

GPR 300 Intermediate Graphics & Animation Programming

Fourth Year

EGD 420 Game Studio III

GPR 430 Networking for Online Games

See the Learning Outcomes for the Game Programming major

View Full Curriculum

Introduction to Game Development introduces students to the full game development process from conceptualization to publishing, and to the language common to game development environments. Students learn about the different roles on a game development team, with emphasis placed on teamwork, group problem-solving, and effective communication. Students also create a series of rapid game prototypes.

Prerequisites	GDES.BS, GART.BS, GPRO.BS, GPMG.BS, GMSD.BS students only
Credits	3

Students will be introduced to and familiarized with their roles as Game Programmers. The course explores the various disciplines and vocations within game programming, provides an overview of the skills that make a game programmer successful, and presents both industry and academic contexts for their duties. Through hands-on projects using modern game technology, students will gain practical experience in their craft.

Prerequisites	Game Programming major or by permission of program director (Game Programming)
Credits	3

This course takes a shaders-first dive into modern computer graphics programming. Students are introduced to vertex and fragment shaders, 2D and 3D coordinate spaces, drawing primitives, lighting and shading, data flow and manipulation, and modern GPU capabilities. Linear algebra and 3D math concepts will be refreshed and/or introduced for applicable topics.

Prerequisites	Complete CSI-240 with a minimum grade of C or better.
Credits	3

Game Architecture explores components and subsystems of electronic games and their associated architectures. Topics include game state representation, time management, the main game loop and game subsystems. Game design and planning from first concept to start of development are explored in detail. In addition to game architecture, we will also look into the issues of game design, team building, and management. The focus will be on those implementations that work well, and will include situations to avoid and how to fix errors.

Prerequisites	Complete CSI-240 with a minimum grade of C.
Credits	3

This course provides a technical introduction to the core concepts of artificial intelligence (AI). Students will be introduced to the history of AI, agents (agent architecture and multi-agent behavior), search (search space, uninformed and informed search, constraint satisfaction, game playing), knowledge representation (logical encoding of domain knowledge, logical reasoning systems), planning (search over plan space, partial-order planning, practical planning), uncertainty and probability, learning (inductive learning, linear separators, decision trees, boosting, reinforcement learning), and perception and cognition (natural language, machine vision, robotics).

Prerequisites	Complete GPR-200, GPR-250.
Credits	3

Students will gain a profound appreciation for the graphics pipeline by implementing 3D rendering tools, post-processing algorithms and industry-standard shaders. The animation side introduces mesh manipulation techniques, such as morphing and skeletal animation, using modern GPU-based algorithms. Linear algebra and 3D math concepts will be refreshed and/or introduced for applicable topics.

Prerequisites	GPR-200 AND (GPR-250, OR Game Art & Animation major with 60+ credits)
Credits	3

In EGD 420, Game Studio III, seniors successful in pitching their games during the college capstone in the Fall semester continue into full production. Forming large production teams, games are taken to the perfect polished state of gold master, ready for publication. Academic emphasis for the class is focused on working successfully in a professional studio environment, preparing for entrance into the job market, and taking personal craft to the next level.

Prerequisites	CCC-410EGD with a minimum grade of C or better. GDES, GMRT, GMSD, GPMG, GPRO, GMBP, and INAR only.
Credits	5

Students learn the architectural, design and implementation strategies used to develop online games. They develop and stress test reliable and efficient protocols to address network latency (game lag), security and scalability requirements. Students will utilize distributed object caching along with these protocols to implement registration, authentication, server discovery and game lobby systems.

Prerequisites	Complete GPR-200, GPR-250.
Credits	3

You might also be interested in these…

Based on your interest in the Game Programming major, we thought you also might like to check out these other academic programs and opportunities.

Majors
- Applied Mathematics Major
  
  Use math to tell stories, crack real-world issues, explore diverse applications, and gain problem-solving skills for future success in many industries.
- Game Design Major
  
  As a Game Design major at Champlain College, you’ll start building worlds on day one, preparing for a burgeoning industry. And you’ll understand the strategies, narratives and motivators that compel people to play.
- Computer Science & Innovation Major
  
  Help create the digital future. Free your creativity, do real work right away, and fuel your passion for technology and innovation.
- Interaction Design Major
  
  Tomorrow’s technology requires good design to be usable. Specialize in user experience (UX) or user interface (UI) design at Champlain, and create new intersections between human minds and digital spaces.
Minors
- Computer Science Minor
  
  Analyze problems, develop software systems, and use a variety of tools to evaluate computer programs and bring your innovations to realization in the Computer Science minor.
- Interactive Narrative Minor
  
  Discover different types of narratives that are immersive, non-linear, and engage our audience in a wholly new and unique way. Learn to design these narratives and create all new experiences.
- UI Design & Implementation Minor
  
  Bridge the gap between design and software development. Create dynamic designs and implement them with code for mobile apps, web apps, and other forms of electronic media.
- Mathematics Minor
  
  Acquire a solid foundation in mathematics theory, techniques, and applications that will inform work in your chosen career, and boost your résumé to help you get there.
- Data Analytics Minor
  
  The collection and analysis of data is one of the largest markets in the world. Learn how to analyze, manipulate, and integrate this data successfully and become part of the data-driven marketplace.
Areas of Study
- Game Design & Development
  
  Turn concepts into digital reality. Explore our seven gaming majors to determine which path matches your interests.
- Creative Arts & Communication
  
  With many majors to choose from, you decide how to bring your ideas to life and communicate them to the world.
- Cybersecurity, Computer Science & Digital Technology
  
  Solve everyday problems to build a better future with one of these tech-centered majors.

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Game Programming Admissions Requirements

Harnessing the power of today’s computers, consoles, and portable devices to make game images come alive—and knowing how to bring new possibilities to the next generation of games—is the fundamental passion of game programmers.

If you share this passion, start your application to Champlain College, which Princeton Review has repeatedly highlighted as one of the best places in the country to study game development.

Suggested Areas of Study

Academic preparation includes successful completion of a college preparatory curriculum, including Mathematics, English, History/Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, a foreign language, and a full course load of academic subjects through senior year.

While we know some Game Programming students may start with no programming experience, here are some suggested areas of study and areas of exploration:

High-level math, such as Calculus
Programming languages such as Python and Java
Unity Game Engine
Attend Champlain’s Game Academy

Champlain awards course credit for AP courses taken with completed exams, including Computer Science, Calculus, Statistics, and more. Follow the Apply Now link below for more information from our admissions team. There is no portfolio requirement for this major.

Applying

If one of the elements of your academic profile is not as strong as your overall application we recommend a Personal Interview to demonstrate the personal qualities we look for in admitted students. We are seeking individuals who are highly motivated to achieve their professional and personal goals.

You can apply to Champlain College using the Common Application or the Champlain College Application. Both are free. Regardless of which you choose, all applications are considered equally.

Career Success

Champlain Game Programming majors are sought after not just for their technical abilities, but also for their experience working in a team environment in the Game Studio.

Student using a VR headset to test a game while another student watches the screen.

Your Career Outlook

Learn more about our career-focused education

Career Success

81% of Game Programming graduates over the last six years were employed within six months of graduating
92% of Champlain’s employed Game Programming graduates are in career-relevant positions

You’ll Find a Career In…

Game Engineer
Developer/ Programmer
AI (Games) Programmer
Gameplay Programmer
Graphics Programmer
Network (Games) Programmer
Physics Programmer
Tools Programmer
UI Programmer
Software Engineer

Pre-College Summer Program: Champlain Game Academy

The Champlain Game Academy offers an intensive residential pre-college program for high school students entering grades 10-12 and recent high school graduates. Like the Game Studio, our program emphasizes teamwork and creative collaboration across all the game development disciplines. In order to understand how a professional game development team works, students will be introduced to all aspects of game development.
Learn More on the Pre-College Summer Program Website

More Inside Game Programming Major

Overview

Create successful games, build your portfolio, and learn programming within a creative gaming culture when you major in Game Programming at Champlain College.
Curriculum

Start learning the ins and outs of game programming on day one through the Game Production Management major at Champlain College.
Faculty

Learn from committed and knowledgeable industry-expert faculty in the Game Programming program.

Become Champlain Ready

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