Atkins Game Design Program

At a glance

• About 70 students a year
• State Program of the Year

The gap

When I arrived at Atkins in 2018, game design ran on low-end hardware and nonprofessional software. The course was taught by a math teacher because no one else was available to teach it. Students were learning to make games, but not the way games are actually made.

What I built

I rebuilt the program around professional tools and the full production cycle. The lab now runs on high-end machines with advanced graphics cards. Students work in Unreal Engine, Maya and Adobe software, with graphic design and 3D modeling folded into the game design path.

The path runs five semesters. Students start with Adobe tools, then take 3D modeling/computer science before entering three levels of game design.

• Level one produces a complete board game and a 3D platformer.
• Level two teaches advanced design and programming concepts. Each team produces a game for a client.
• The capstone, Career Game Art and Design, is application-only. Students must publish a game to pass the class.

Every game is student-built by a production team with real studio titles and reporting lines. Teams build for clients: other classrooms in the building and external organizations. Every client is competitive, so teams pitch for the work.

Students learn advanced design and player psychology. They also learn communication and production management, because that is what ships a game.

Senior developers from studios including Blizzard, Epic, Take-Two, Cryptic, Final Strike and MDC have mentored students through sessions, game jams and conferences.

What they made

Student teams have shipped 18 games for classroom use, and three are published on itch.io.

What changed

The program was named a state-level Program of the Year. For three years running, students have been finalists or winners in the Games for Change Student Challenge, Southeast region, which covers 12 states. Student teams have also earned more than six competition awards, including Team Cohesion, Judges' Choice and Artistic Vision.

The program now serves about 70 students a year.

What lasted

Graduates have gone on to game design programs at five North Carolina colleges and at Rochester Institute of Technology. One student was recruited for a hiring interview at a AAA studio straight out of high school.

Many former students work outside games, in careers that include the Army, ministry, music education and business management. They tell me the habits they built here still carry into that work. Communication, iteration, production and an understanding of people come up most.