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Game Design and Development (BA)
Experience and Career Guide

BFAA for students starting Fall 2022 and earlier

Make the most out of your university career by taking advantage of all that Laurier has to offer you and learning about the many ways you can extend your classroom experience into the real world. There are so many opportunities to learn, lead, and embrace new opportunities all while having an exceptional student experience.

In this Guide

Learn the many ways you can extend your classroom experience to the real world.

Year-to-Year Academic Experience Co-Curricular Opportunities Knowledge and Skills Career Options and Graduate Outcomes

Your Year-to-Year Experience

Enhance your academic experience by learning about the opportunities available in your program.

Explore Co-Curricular Experiences

Participate in co-curricular experiences to complement your Laurier
academic journey and gain meaningful learning opportunities.

As a Game Design and Development student, you can: 

  • Join student clubs such as the Game Design & Development Students' Association (GDDSA) and build leadership skills through joining an executive team.
  • Consider completing your Project Management certification.
  • Use what you have learned in class to tell your own stories by designing, developing, and releasing your own video game or tabletop game to add to your game design portfolio.
  • Tell your own stories and the stories of others through game design projects and participate in campus, community and corporate experiential learning opportunities such as game jams and research projects with faculty to gain hands-on experience and build your professional portfolio.
  • Create an online portfolio and social media profiles to engage with other game designers, create content about games you are designing, and build your professional network.
  • Look into LaunchPad Brantford opportunities for support in launching your game.

Outside of your program, there are many co-curricular opportunities for you to participate in. 

Design Your Degree

These are a few popular academic opportunities which allow you to dive deeper into your major area of study or broaden your knowledge. See undergraduate options, minors and courses for more information.
  • Leadership option/minor
  • Business Technology Management option
  • Psychology minor
  • Youth and Children's Studies minor
  • Professional Writing minor
  • User Experience Design specialization

You can also combine Game Design and Development with other degrees. With the Game Design and Development BA in Combination Degree, you can pair this degree with any other BA in Combination degree offered at Laurier. There is also a minor in Game Design and Development offered at both the Waterloo and Brantford campuses, and an option offered at the Brantford campus.

Develop Your Knowledge and Skills

As a Laurier student, you will develop the following competencies through your curricular and co-curricular experiences.

Competency Framework

Competencies are categories of transferrable skills that appear on your online Experience Record to help you reflect on what you've learned from your experiences. The competencies include: 

  • Adaptability and Resiliency
  • Collaboration and Teamwork
  • Communication
  • Creativity and Innovation
  • Critical Thinking
  • Digital Literacy
  • Diversity and Intercultural Understanding
  • Functional Knowledge
  • Leadership
  • Problem Solving
  • Professional Attributes
  • Self-Awareness

Functional Knowledge

  • Develop your design toolkit to create video games and tabletop games. Convey your narrative through game mechanisms and art assets to make games that matter.
  • Work within an organizational context to develop a game or simulation that will bring about a specific outcome for an audience.
  • Use player-centric design to create pro-social playful experiences designed to engage players in meaningful games while representing diverse points of view.
  • Use technical writing to create documentation about your designs for a game development team and combine that with creative writing to create engaging stories.
  • Develop your game through iterative playtesting, user research, and the cyclical design process used in engineering.
  • Pitch a game idea, design document, game prototype or finished game to funders, game companies, players and the general public.
  • Learn how game designers work on teams with programmers, artists and sound designers throughout the game design and development process.

Discover Career Options

All your experiences at Laurier can help you prepare for your future. Attend Career Centre events and workshops or book a career consulting appointment to explore career and further education options.
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Pursuing Further Education
%
Employed
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Other

Laurier undergraduate respondents from the 2023 Laurier Graduate Survey conducted by the Career Centre. Graduates were surveyed within 12 months of graduation.

Alumni Careers and Pathways

Sample Further Education Programs Within the First Year After Graduation

  • Master’s Degree - Inclusive Design, Social Justice and Community Engagement
  • College Program - Game Programming

Sample Jobs Within the First Year After Graduation

  • director of game experience
  • frontend developer
  • game artist
  • game developer/programmer
  • social media manager and artist

Careers Of Alumni Two to Five Years After Graduation

  • app developer
  • digital marketing coordinator
  • game designer
  • project manager
  • quality assurance analyst
  • technical game analyst

Career Options and Resources

Need some guidance on what you can do with your degree? Discover some career options and find resources to help guide you. 

Career and Industry Options

  • corporate or non-profit training
  • design consulting
  • digital media/social media
  • education
  • entertainment
  • entrepreneurship
  • esports
  • game design
  • game creation/development
  • healthcare
  • interactive event development
  • language learning
  • library/museum
  • marketing
  • project management
  • quality assurance
  • recreation
  • technology
  • themed entertainment
  • visual design/creation
  • web development
  • writing/content creation

Career Resources

Your Experiences Tell Your Story

Share your story through your Laurier Experience Record. An interactive, shareable and official record of your hands-on experiences and learning opportunities at Laurier – the first of its kind in Canada!



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