A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game system, such as the Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, or the Sony PlayStation 2 or may develop for a variety of systems including PCs. Developers also specialize in certain types of games, such as RPGs (Role Playing Games) or FPSs (First Person Games). Some focus on porting games from one system to another. Some focus on translating games from one language to another, especially from Japanese to English; an unusual few do other kinds of software development work in addition to games. Most video game publishing companies, such as Electronic Arts, Activision, and Sony, maintain development studios, but these companies are generally called "publishers" and not "developers", as publishing is the primary activity of these companies, and is the source of most of their income. Other than the publishers, there are well over 1,000 video game development companies today. Many are tiny 1- or 2-person operations creating Flash games for the Web, or games for cell phones. Others are large companies with multiple locations, such as Foundation 9 Entertainment, which says it has over 300 employees. As a rule, developers are privately held companies; only a very few non-publishing developers have ever been publicly traded companies.

Suggested Course Sequence

For course descriptions visit here.

First Semester		Credit Hours	Prerequisite
ITD1XX	Information Technology Seminar	1	-
ECA122	Computer Applications for Technical Professionals	3	-
ECA127	Programming Logic and Problem Solving	3	-
ECA155	Flash Animation and Design	3	-
ECA156	Game Design	3	-
ENG124	College Composition	3	Test
		16
Second Semester
ECA222	C++ Programming	3	ECA127
ECA223	Java Programming	3	ECA127
ECA267	Advanced Flash Animation and Design	3	ECA155
MTH125	College Algebra	4	Test
	Arts/Humanities/Social Science Elective	3	-
		16
Summer Semester
COM121/122/123	Effective Speaking or Interpersonal Communication or Intergroup Communications	3	None/None/ ENG124
ENG221	Technical Report Writing	3	ENG124
		6
Third Semester
ECA224	Advanced C++ Programming	3	ECA222
ECA239	Advanced Java Programming	3	ECA223
ECA281	2D Game Design and Development	3	ECA222
ECA282	Flash ActionScripting	3	ECA155
MTH126	PreCalculus	4	MTH125
MTH128	Trigonometry	1	MTH125
		14
Fourth Semester
	▲ Technical Elective	3
ECA240	Advanced Gaming and Simulation Topics (XNA)	3	ECA222
ECA241	3D Game Design and Development	3	ECA222
ECA292	Information Technology Capstone	3	Sophomore Status
PHY121	Physics I	4	MTH125, MTH128
		16
	TOTAL CREDITS	71

Note: ECA292 should be taken in the last or next-to-last semester of enrollment