Champlain College

The Game Studio experience deeply engages students in coursework specific to their majors, beginning with their first of four years in their programs. As they further develop their individual skills, students begin to participate in collaborative game production courses with students from other Game Studio majors. Years of collaborative game production courses allow students to lean on each other’s unique talents as they come together into teams their junior and senior years to create functioning, polished games—some of which go on to be published. The Game Studio’s process is designed to equip students with the agility, communication, creativity, and collaboration skills needed to thrive in today’s professional game studios.

Sample Program Curriculum: Game Art

(Game Business & Publishing, Game Design, Game Production Management, Game Programming, and Game Sound Design have similarly formatted curricula based on each discipline.)

In their first semester, Game Art students study figure drawing using traditional media, and the elements and principles of design, color theory, and composition using digital media. In the second semester, they take Intro to 3-D Modeling & Texturing and Intro to Animation for Games. Sophomore year builds on the artistic and technical skills learned in the first year, allowing students to gain an intermediate skill level in 3-D modeling, texturing, digital painting, and animation. By their junior year, Game Art students start to focus on portfolio work, taking advanced courses in areas such as Game Environments, Character Development, Technical Art, 3-D Animation, and Game Visual Effects. In their senior year, students continue to create portfolio work in their area of focus while working on a team with students from other Game Studio majors to create fully functioning games.