March 29, 2019

The Princeton Review released its 10th annual rankings for best programs in game design, listing Westphal’s undergraduate Game Design & Production (GDAP) program at #6 and graduate program in Digital Media at #10. In these competitive rankings, 50 undergraduate and 25 graduate programs were chosen from 150 institutions offering game design courses, majors, or degree programs in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. The Princeton Review’s 2018 survey requested information about each institution’s academics, faculty, technology, and career prospects. This new recognition is not of only of our Game Design & Production faculty, but of our allied Digital Media programs in Animation & Visual Effects, Interactive Digital Media and our new undergraduate major in Virtual Reality & Immersive Media, as well as our research intensive masters and doctoral programs.  

“I love what the Game Design & Production program has accomplished and we are excited to continue to evolve the program to greater heights,” says Assistant Teaching Professor and Program Director for GDAP Robert Lloyd. “Drexel’s Digital Media programs have been preparing students for over 20 years, with alumni throughout the game industry, as well as any industry that wants to speak the language of realtime interactive experiences for training, simulation, education, and entertainment. As the number of game design programs across the nation have ballooned, we are proud to have maintained our top-ten standing among the best in the nation. This is thanks to our faculty and incredible, diverse students that continue to produce great work. From entrepreneurial indies, to small and medium studios, and on into major AAA game studios and companies across a variety of industries, Drexel Dragons are achieving great things and reaching back to help the next generation move forward.”

The resounding achievements of Westphal’s alumni in the game design industry are a testament to the success of Westphal’s Digital Media programs. In 2018, alums Greg Lobanov (Digital Media ’14) and Dan Fornace (Digital Media ’11) were listed among Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 Leading a Technological and Artistic Revolution in the Games category. Lobanov also became a finalist for Excellence in Narrative at the 2019 Independent Games Festival (IGF) for his game Wandersong. Recent graduate Thomas Sharpe (GDP ’16) also earned a finalist spot at the 2019 IGF for Best Student Games for his game Sole, which was initially developed in Drexel’s Entrepreneurial Game Studio, the University’s experimental game development incubator and publisher housed in the ExCITE Center. Other alums from the Department of Digital Media have gone on to work in the visual effects and art departments for Oscar-nominated blockbusters, such as Ralph Breaks the Internet, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Ready Player One.

Students in the Game Design & Production program frequent industry competitions, including the 2018 Intel University Games Showcase, in which juniors Ryan McMahon, Andre Edgarian, Utkarsh Dwivedi and Benjamin Spurr took home the top Gameplay Prize for their cooperative racing game, Fling to the Finish, which also received Honorable Mention in the 2019 IGF and just presented at PAX East, preparing to launch their Kickstarter. Most recently, students Mark Hurley, Erin Truesdell, Erica Kleinman and Julie Arcala were named Gold Winners at the 2019 Game Developers Conference Game Narrative Review, in which students are critiqued on game narrative and storytelling.

See all of Westphal College’s national and international rankings here.

Learn more about our Digital Media programs:

Virtual Reality & Immersive Media

Animation & Visual Effects

Interactive Digital Media

Game Design & Production

MS, PhD, Digital Media