Game Art & Design
Go from player to maker.
Learn everything game-making-- from introductory coding to how to build playable prototypes in CCAD’s Game Art & Design program. You’ll grow your skills inside in the classroom and out as you learn from expert faculty members, visiting professionals, and even your peers in student-led organizations, such as the Game Development Guild, the Battle Game Alliance, and the Tabletop/Role Play Game Club.
As a Game Art & Design student, you’ll take part in community game forums, game jams, and major regional events such as GDEX, the Midwest’s premier gaming expo, and the Origins Game Fair, an annual tabletop gaming convention-- you’ll do it in our hometown, Columbus, ranked the No. 3 city in the Midwest for gaming.
And that’s not all. You’ll have opportunities to make games with real-life impact—like Smokey’s Scouts, a free mobile game created by CCAD students in partnership with the Mid-Atlantic Interstate Forest Fire Protection Compact and USDA Forest Service.
Game Art & Design Student work
The Afterlife Foundation
Stephanie Hyson
Waterwheel
Taylor Smith
The Afterlife Foundation
Stephanie Hyson
2023
Video
Waterwheel
Taylor Smith
2023
Video
Game Art & Design hub
Stop by Oh My GAD (a webpage and play on the acronym for Game Art & Design) to check out a curated selection of games created by CCAD students, faculty, and alumni. You’ll find playable demos, links to streamed content on YouTube, info about the tools our students use for game development, and so much more.
Spaces to make
Our campus has the tools and the spaces to help you make your vision real.
Make the virtual real with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) development kits and spaces to experiment. (Plus, we offer department access to tetherless VR and AR kits.)
Access to 3D printers and alternative controller kits like Makey Makey and Arduino means that if you can envision gameplay, you can create it here.
Create work in our Mac and PC computer labs loaded with industry-standard software, or with one of our 21-inch Cintiq tablets that allows you to wire up and develop your 2D and 3D skills.
Faculty
Meet the people who will help you along your creative and professional journey.
Adjunct Faculty
-
Abby Ayers[email protected]
-
Victoria Sellers[email protected]
Course Spotlight
Programming for Play
You’ll gain an introductory understanding of computer programming for games in this course, as you spend the semester learning through workshops that include working with analog inputs, modding existing game systems, and programming core gameplay mechanics. By the course’s conclusion, you’ll know how to take existing code and modify it to create your own functioning game prototype.
Game Art & Design First Year Experience
Academic Year
Total Credit Hours
Freshman Year - Fall
| Course Title |
|---|
| 2D Creative Practice |
| Systems of Drawing |
| Collaboration |
| Mod Contemporary or Historical Art History |
| Writing and the Arts |
Freshman Year - Spring
| Course Title |
|---|
| Intro to Game Art with History |
| Drawing for Entertainment Design |
| 3D Making with Care |
| Liberal Arts Self and Society Course |
Game Art & Design careers
After earning their BFA in Game Art & Design, our graduates leave ready to take on such roles as:
- Independent/self-published game artist
- Independent/self-published game designer
- Interactive media artist
- 2D/3D game production artist
Recent employers
- 360 Alley
- Afroduck Studios
- Arkane Studios
- Artana
- BioWare
- EA (Electronic Arts)
- Game-U
- GuessworkVR
- Insomniac Games
- Legio Vox Studios
- Litteseed.io
- McGraw-Hill Education
- Mindstream Interactive
- Multivarious Games
- Nike
- Trace 3D
- RIOT Games
- Super77 Games
- Super Lame Games
Game Art & Design News
Columbus College of Art & Design is taking on the “crunch culture” mindset plaguing the game industry with the launch of its Game Art & Design major in fall 2020 (pending accreditation).
Seeing a near-future career in game design with skills gathered at Columbus College of Art & Design, Danielle Tucker (Animation, 2020) is obsessed with making imaginary things come to life.
