Director of the Digital Game Development Program Nicholas Fortugno is awarding graduate students, from the Urban Arts Program, the “Most Anticipated Game of Unreleased Games Arcade 2025” at the Unreleased Games Arcade (UGA).
The Bachelor of Science in Digital Game Development, at The City College of New York’s Division of Science, will admit its first cohort of students this fall. The new degree program, originally called Gaming Pathways, is a collaboration between the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Urban Arts, and CCNY and Science Arts Engagement New York’s Harlem Gallery of Science.
Students enrolled in the four-year program will take courses in programming, game design, animation, graphic design, and more advanced techniques as they progress. Introductory courses are for beginners providing students with the skills and software needed to develop digital games from scratch.
“The Digital Game Development major provides students with a foundation in the three main disciplines in game development: game design, programming, and digital art production,” said Nicholas Fortugno, director of the Digital Game Development Program at CCNY and co-founder of Playmatics. “With that basis, students join teams to build game projects in studio classes, focusing on the specialization of their choice and learning critical teamwork and producing skills.”
Classrooms are equipped with custom-built Alienware PCs with access to top-performing development tools — Unity Engine, Unreal Engine, Blender, Maya and Adobe Photoshop — just to name a few. There is also access to more than 50 critically-acclaimed AAA games.
High school students in Urban Arts, a program that teaches digital game design as a pathway to college and career, can take approved courses through CCNY’s College Now earning them college credits toward this degree. CCNY also partnered with Hostos Community College so that students can transfer several credits from their two-year Associate of Applied Science in Game Design to the new degree.
Students will have access to several industry-leading companies, such as Epic Games, through CCNY’s Career and Professional Development Institute and through the program’s Education Advisory Board, consisting of representative from AAA and independent digital game companies whose goal is to ensure graduates are job-ready. In addition to career development workshops, students will have the opportunity to engage in esport tournaments through CCNY’s Esports Club as well as playtesting sessions and networking events.
Prospective students can apply to the program in mid-May through CCNY’s website. The application does not require a portfolio submission, or personal statement at this time. For more information, email gamingpathways@ccny.cuny.edu with any questions.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.2 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.