ABILENE, Texas — For the eighth consecutive year, Abilene Christian University has earned a top spot on The Princeton Review’s list of best game design programs. ACU ranked No. 28 in the “Top 50 Undergraduate Schools for Game Design for 2023” list, the same as last year.
“We have found that our ranking brings awareness of the Digital Entertainment Technology program to people who might not have considered ACU,” Dr. Brian Burton, associate professor and lead faculty of digital entertainment technology, said in an ACU release. “Thanks to our consistent ranking in the top 50 game design degrees, students from all over the United States and even the world have visited our campus and spoken with the faculty and students in the program.”
Programs in the review are ranked based on a survey conducted in 2022 of administrators at 150 institutions offering game design coursework and/or degrees in the U.S., Canada and some countries abroad.
The survey covers a range of topics, from academics and faculty credentials to graduates’ employment and career achievements. ACU has the highest-ranked program at a faith-based university and is the second highest-ranked program in Texas. The full report can be seen at princetonreview.com/game-design.
“We have alumni working at top game design studios around the world, and we maintain those connections,” Burton said. “The benefit to ACU – beyond bringing students from around the world – is a very creative group of students using technology to create VR experiences, mobile games, games on Steam and Epic, and competing (and winning) every year at Filmfest.”
ACU's game design program is part of the School of Information Technology and Computing’s digital entertainment technology degree, which equips students with the tools needed to create digital content and learn about the creative processes behind concepts and design.
“Students graduating from Digital Entertainment Technology are in high demand,” Burton said. “With our new classes on how to use the recent developments in Artificial Intelligence, DET students are even more productive and finding new ways to apply their knowledge.”
Despite the recent accomplishment, students remained focused on the bigger prize. Students Emma Carter and Lily Yaro are proud of themselves and their classmates, they are focused on what is next.
"By the end of the year I want to at least create an animation, like full-blown 2D animation with my own characters and some music," Carter said.
"We just finished Film Fest, so I know we're going to start doing more Film Fest stuff for the next year. That'll be interesting," Yaro said.
Abilene Christian University's game design program currently hosts approximately 70 students, but with more recognition from national outlets, students part of the program like Jackson Kennemer would love for it to grow even further.
"I think it's really cool because if more people know about us, then more talented people will come here and then you can learn things from them before we graduate. And so I think that's a really big benefit because a lot of the learning we do is sort of I wouldn't want to say on our own, but it's like you get what you put into it, so you have more people pouring into the program, then you learn more," Kennemer said.
The Princeton Review developed its Top Schools for Game Design project in 2010, with guidance from a national advisory board the company formed to help design the project survey and ranking methodology. The Princeton Review also is known for its annual rankings of colleges, business schools and law schools in dozens of categories.
PC Gamer magazine, The Princeton Review‘s reporting partner for this project since 2013, has a feature article on the rankings in its May issue.