The best game design programs, ranked by The Princeton Review 2026

Higher education is one of the bigger choices you'll ever make in life, and finding your path is not as simple as choosing an RPG class. When it comes to a career in game design, every journey starts at the same place: picking the right university. Let this be your first stop.

Each year, the Princeton Review ranks the 50 best undergraduate and 25 best graduate programs in the United States and beyond, using a thorough set of criteria that includes graduate employment rates, early-career earnings, faculty industry experience, curriculum relevance, and demonstrated student success in the games industry.

The list spans the best of the best programs in the country, so no matter where you land, you'll be one stop closer to your dream career. To get you into the mindset of a game designer, we've also included homework projects that explore common challenges faced by developers today, as well as a discussion on the role of AI programmers and map designers in game development.

Want to know more? Check out The Princeton Review's website for further info: www.princetonreview.com/game-design

UNDERGRADUATE RANKINGS

1. New York University

2025 Grads Hired: 53%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $84,800
Faculty: Eric Zimmerman (Gamelab), Dr. Mitu Khandaker (Spirit AI)
Graduates: Jenny Jiao-Hsia (IGF), Carol Mertz (Exploding Kittens)

2. University of Southern California

2025 Grads Hired: 63%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $107,400
Faculty: TreaAndrea Russworm (Author, "Gaming Representation"), Mark Bolas (Founder, Fakespace Labs)
Graduates: Jenova Chen (Thatgamecompany), Brent Strong (Disney)

3. University of Central Florida

2025 Grads Hired: 36%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $48,500
Faculty: Dr. Peter Smith, Dr. John Murray
Graduates: Richard Ugarte (Epic), Alexia Mandeville (Niantic)

4. Rochester Institute of Technology

2025 Grads Hired: 88%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $77,000
Faculty: David I. Schwartz, Flip Philips
Graduates: Elan Lee (Exploding Kittens), Steven Van Slyke (co-inventor of OLED)

5. Abertay University

2025 Grads Hired: 44%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $41,000
Faculty: Fraser Simpson (YoYo Games), Ruth Falconer (Women in Games)
Graduates: Zoe Sams (Riot), David Hynd (Rockstar)

6. DigiPen Institute of Technology

2025 Grads Hired: 62%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $96,096
Faculty: Claude Comair (Nintendo), Ellen Guon Beeman (EA, Microsoft)
Graduates: Kim Swift (Portal), Alex Williams (Studio Wildcard)

7. Clark University

2025 Grads Hired: 68%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $69,000
Faculty: Ezra Cove (Lord of the Rings Online, Turbine), Amanda Theinert
Graduates: Gary Goldberg (Fable Vision Studios), Stanley Pierre-Louis (ESA)

8. University of Utah

2025 Grads Hired: 36%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $71,113
Faculty: Michael Young PhD, Jose Zagal PhD (Game Studies)
Graduates: Doug Bowser (former COO of Nintendo), Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari)

9. Savannah College of Art and Design

2025 Grads Hired: 34%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $62,500
Faculty: Nye Warburton, Cyril Guichard (Electrotank)
Graduates: Chad Dezem (Insomniac), Harrison Pink (Blizzard)

10. Michigan State University

2025 Grads Hired: 53%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $62,000
Faculty: Brian Winn (Will Winn Games), Ricardo Guimaraes (Blizzard, Ubisoft)
Graduates: Brian Murray (EA), Steven Messinger (Rockstar)

11. Champlain College

2025 Grads Hired: 78%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $50,226
Faculty: Jessie Leigh Gagnon (Riot Games, Phoenix Labs), Jason Della Rocca (Execution Labs)
Graduates: Heather Conover (Riot), Alex Martens (Rockstar)

12. Drexel University

2025 Grads Hired: 43%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $42,857
Faculty: Dr. Paul Diefenbach (OpenWorlds Inc.), Dr. Frank Lee
Graduates: Girish Balakrishnan (Netflix), Greg Lebanov (Chicory, Wandersong)

13. Worcester Polytechnic Institute

2025 Grads Hired: 50%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $82,000
Faculty: Ben Schneider (Standing Stone, Turbine), Ralph Sutter
Graduates: Michael Gesner (Riot), Jon Radoff (Beamable)

14. Northeastern University

2025 Grads Hired: 20%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $80,000
Faculty: Christopher Barney, Celia Pearce (IndieCade)
Graduates: Devin Yang (Owlchemy Labs), Ryan Maloney (Blizzard)

15. Purdue University

2025 Grads Hired: 68%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $67,066
Faculty: Robert Howard, Jeffery Kesselman
Graduates: Jeff Hanna (Volition), Keith Self-Ballard (PlayStation)

16. Falmouth University

2025 Grads Hired: 56%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $28,311
Faculty: Tanya Krzwinska, William Huber
Graduates: Rex Crowle (Media Molecule), Sophie Shepherd (Respawn)

17. Shawnee State University

2025 Grads Hired: 25%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $73,500
Faculty: Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme, Greg Lyons
Graduates: Dan Clark (Epic), Derek Lewis (Insomniac)

18. University of Florida

2025 Grads Hired: 33%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $99,000
Faculty: Dr. James Oliverio, Dr. Hyo Jeong Kang
Graduates: Jesse Rapczak (Studio Wildcard), Joshua Jayaheri (Raven Software)

19. Full Sail University

2025 Grads Hired: 10%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $62,109
Faculty: Patrick Kelly, Miguel De La Cruz
Graduates: Alejandro Garcia-Tunon, Elbert Perez (Unity)

20. Vancouver Film School

2025 Grads Hired: 11%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $65,000
Faculty: Mike Wuetherick (Unity, Cloudhead Games), Joe Bonar (Unity)
Graduates: Armando Troisi (MY.GAMES, Ubisoft), Jack Kelly (New World Interactive)

21. Quinnipiac University

2025 Grads Hired: 60%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Roger Clark (Rockstar), Elena Bertozzi
Graduates: Donovan Sepulveda (Riot), Zaria Brogdon (Rockstar)

22. New England Institute of Technology

2025 Grads Hired: 24%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $50,000
Faculty: William Culbertson (Hasbro), Jordan Dubreuil
Graduates: Daniel Laba (Blizzard), Daniel Cuccia (Sony)

23. Bradley University

2025 Grads Hired: 15%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $45,000
Faculty: David Abzug (Deep Silver), Ray Hazlip (Deep Silver)
Graduates: Diana Hughes, Joseph Lax (Sony Santa Monica)

24. Miami University

2025 Grads Hired: 56%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $56,690
Faculty: Geoffrey Long PhD (Microsoft, Disney), Ben Nicholson
Graduates: Ellie Helbling (Naughty Dog), Brian Beebe (Riot)

25. DePaul University

2025 Grads Hired: 77%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Ed Keenan (Midway), Allen Turner (Disney)
Graduates: Kevin Geisler (Young Horses), Mark Nauta (Firaxis)

26. Howest University of Applied Sciences

2025 Grads Hired: 54%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Tristan Clarysse (Larian, Bioware), Kevin Hoefman (Larian)
Graduates: NR

27. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

2025 Grads Hired: 8%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $74,917
Faculty: Rush Swope (Guerilla Games), Maurice Suckling (Epic, 2K)
Graduates: Curtis Priem (Nvidia co-founder), Zach Barth (Zachtronics)

28. University of California, Santa Barbara

2025 Grads Hired: 33%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $155,000
Faculty: Pradeep Sen PhD, Tobias Hollerer
Graduates: Cody Corona (Electronic Arts), Eric Roth (Screenwriter)

29. Abilene Christian University

2025 Grads Hired: 63%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $52,200
Faculty: Dr. Brian Burton, Rich Tanner
Graduates: Morgan Davis (Gearbox), Chase Yamaguchi (Sony)

30. Kent State University

2025 Grads Hired: 34%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $65,000
Faculty: Christopher Totten, Justin McCrea
Graduates: Joey Gage (EA), Nina Marotta

31. Marist College

2025 Grads Hired: NR
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Dr. Karen Schrier (Nickelodeon), Amy Finkel
Graduates: Darren Sugg (Epic), Rex Dickson (Blizzard)

32. University of California, Irvine

2025 Grads Hired: 25%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $83,000
Faculty: Katie Salen, Constance Steinkhueler
Graduates: Rob Pardo (Blizzard), Ben Brode (Blizzard)

33. LaSalle College Vancouver

2025 Grads Hired: 44%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $70,000
Faculty: Dr. Amir Jahanlou, Lisa Smedman
Graduates: Jarett Metcalfe (EA), Dani Merrithew (Blizzard)

34. Academy of Art University

2025 Grads Hired: NR
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: David Goodwine, Brian Hess
Graduates: Ciaron Ireland (Striking Distance), Tala Furniss (Playtika)

35. University of Miami

2025 Grads Hired: 32%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $54,000
Faculty: Dr. Lindsay Grace, Dr. Anna Queiroz
Graduates: Pingtin Ji (Ubisoft), Casey O'Brien (Respawn)

36. Northern Arizona University

2025 Grads Hired: 50%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Jared Duval (Serious Games), James Palmer
Graduates: NR

37. Dakota State University

2025 Grads Hired: NR
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $41,964
Faculty: Peter Britton, Erik Pederson
Graduates: Matt Engesser (Rockstar, Epic), Jimmy Chattin (Microsoft)

38. University of Michigan-Dearborn

2025 Grads Hired: 20%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $80,000
Faculty: Brice Maxim, Foyzol Hassan
Graduates: Austin Krauss, Shane Costello

39. New Jersey Institute of Technology

2025 Grads Hired: NR
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $78,265
Faculty: Richard Thomspon, Hye Yeon Nam
Graduates: Jason Chin (Nvidia), James Tichenor (Meta)

40. University of Wisconsin-Stout

2025 Grads Hired: 10%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $40,000
Faculty: Dr. Andrew Williams, Kim Loken
Graduates: Jose Estrada (Riot), Eleanore Falck (Epic)

41. Stetson University

2025 Grads Hired: 100%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $68,000
Faculty: Dengke Chen, Matt Roberts
Graduates: Daryl Holt (EA Sports), Ben Burbank (Valve)

42. Oklahoma Christian University

2025 Grads Hired: 25%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $35,000
Faculty: Jacob Touchstone, Dr. Robert Nix
Graduates: Alex Hallenbeck (Bungie), Laurel Zwirtz (Ember Labs)

43. Bloomfield College of Montclair State University

2025 Grads Hired: 7%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Samuel Leigh (Viacom), Oliver Hong (IGDA)
Graduates: Josiah Hunt (Cloud Chamber), Michael Murphy (Blizzard)

44. Indiana University Bloomington

2025 Grads Hired: 20%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $70,000
Faculty: William Emigh (Studio Cypher), Michael Uslan
Graduates: Max Lancaster (Psyonix), Kees Leyundjik (Nintendo)

45. University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

2025 Grads Hired: NR
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Firas Khatib, Clinton Rogers
Graduates: Matt Mrazik (WB Games)

46. ArtCenter College of Design

2025 Grads Hired: 25%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Zachary Adams, Tim FitzRandolph
Graduates: Syd Mead, Michael Bay (Director)

47. Louisiana State University

2025 Grads Hired: 4%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Marc Aubanel (Electronic Arts), George Robins
Graduates: Janiece Campbell (Epic), Ashley Aucoin (Meta)

48. Oklahoma City University

2025 Grads Hired: 10%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $50,000
Faculty: Justin Shaw, Shirley Zhang
Graduates: Andrew Remeniski, Jessica Jennings

49. Cleveland Institute of Art

2025 Grads Hired: NR
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Steven Gutierrez (Serious Games), Harrison Walsh (Niche Worlds Cult)
Graduates: Zack James, Tim Elek (Epic)

50. New York Film Academy

2025 Grads Hired: NR
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Glenn Storm, Andrew Allen
Graduates: Leandro Ribeiro (Afterverse), Guillermo Quesada (Amazon)

GRADUATE RANKINGS

1. New York University

2025 Grads Hired: 59%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $84,800
Faculty: Eric Zimmerman (Gamelab), Dr. Mitu Khandaker (Spirit AI)
Graduates: Jenny Jiao-Hsia (IGF), Carol Mertz (Exploding Kittens)

2. University of Central Florida

2025 Grads Hired: 80%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $94,646
Faculty: Benjamin Noel (EA), Nicholas Zuccarello (Sony)
Graduates: Carlos Barbosa (WB Games), Brian DeSanti (Blizzard)

3. University of Southern California

2025 Grads Hired: 81%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $97,857
Faculty: TreaAndrea Russworm (Author, "Gaming Representation"), Mark Bolas (Fakespace Labs)
Graduates: Jenova Chen (Thatgamecompany), Brent Strong (Disney)

4. Rochester Institute of Technology

2025 Grads Hired: 79%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $83,000
Faculty: David Schwartz, Flip Philips
Graduates: Elan Lee (Exploding Kittens), Steven Van Slyke (co-inventor of OLED)

5. University of Utah

2025 Grads Hired: 80%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $87,325
Faculty: Michael Young PhD, Jose Zagal PhD
Graduates: Doug Bowser (COO of Nintendo America), Nolan Bushnell (Founder of Atari)

6. Southern Methodist University

2025 Grads Hired: 45%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $104,744
Faculty: Dr. Elizabeth Storz Stringer (Atari), Joowon Kim MacDonald
Graduates: Grace Liu (Netflix Games), Daniel Rivin (Disney)

7. Abertay University

2025 Grads Hired: 49%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $49,000
Faculty: Dr. Kenneth Fee, Joseph DeLappe
Graduates: Zoe Sams (Riot), David Hynd (Rockstar)

8. Clark University

2025 Grads Hired: 72%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $70,000
Faculty: Terasa Ulm, Scott Niemi
Graduates: Stanley Pierre-Louis (ESA), Gary Goldberg (Fablevision)

9. Savannah College of Art and Design

2025 Grads Hired: 73%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $62,500
Faculty: Nye Warburton, Cyril Guichard (Electrotank)
Graduates: Lucas Slominski (ZeniMax), Chris Schmidt (Bioware)

10. Drexel University

2025 Grads Hired: 50%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $80,000
Faculty: Dr. Paul Diefenbach (OpenWorlds Inc.), Dr. Frank Lee
Graduates: Anna Nguyen (NetherRealm Studios), Greg Lebanov (Wondersong, Chicory)

11. Michigan State University

2025 Grads Hired: 60%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $62,000
Faculty: Amanda Cote, Susan Bonner
Graduates: Brian Murray (EA), Geoff Johns (DC Entertainment)

12. DigiPen Institute of Technology

2025 Grads Hired: 37%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $179,000
Faculty: Claude Comair (Nintendo), Brian Schmidt
Graduates: Luis Villegas (Bungie), Taralyn von der Linden (Pixar)

13. Northeastern University

2025 Grads Hired: 40%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $80,000
Faculty: Celia Pearce (IndieCade), Bob De Schutter
Graduates: Angi Liu (Blizzard), Wendi Zhang (Activision Blizzard)

14. Worcester Polytechnic Institute

2025 Grads Hired: 70%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $82,000
Faculty: Ben Schneider (Turbine, Standing Stone), Ralph Sutter
Graduates: Michael Gesner (Riot), Jon Radoff (Beamable)

15. Falmouth University

2025 Grads Hired: 71%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $43,386
Faculty: Tanya Krzwinska, William Huber
Graduates: Rex Crowle (Media Molecule), Sophie Shepherd (Respawn)

16. University of Florida

2025 Grads Hired: 85%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $99,000
Faculty: Dr. James Oliverio, Dr. Hyo Jeong Kang
Graduates: Joseph Murphy (EA), Pooja Agshikar (Microsoft)

17. Full Sail University

2025 Grads Hired: 33%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $62,109
Faculty: Dr. Shawn Stafford, Chris Keeling
Graduates: Erin Eberhardt (Dreamhaven), Aaron Hamilton Cook (Blizzard)

18. DePaul University

2025 Grads Hired: 91%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: Ed Keenan (Midway), Allen Turner (Disney)
Graduates: Sara Asmussen (Blizzard), Kevin Geisler (Young Horses co-founder)

19. Bradley University

2025 Grads Hired: 40%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $45,000
Faculty: David Abzug (Deep Silver), Ray Hazlip (Deep Silver)
Graduates: Alex Cline (Shapeshifter Games), Annabelle Pries (Blind Squirrel)

20. Purdue University

2025 Grads Hired: 7%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $67,066
Faculty: Robert Howard, Jeffery Kesselman
Graduates: Jeff Hanna (Volition), Keith Self-Ballard (Bungie)

21. Carnegie Mellon University

2025 Grads Hired: 64%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $74,000
Faculty: Jesse Schell (Schell Games, Disney Imagineer), Derek Ham
Graduates: Neil Druckmann (Naughty Dog co-president), Bei Yang (Meta, Disney)

22. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

2025 Grads Hired: 33%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $74,917
Faculty: Maurice Suckling (Epic, 2K), Rush Swope (Guerilla Games)
Graduates: Dr. Bryan Kim, Dr. Matthew Gantt

23. University of Wisconsin-Stout

2025 Grads Hired: 100%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $44,000
Faculty: Dave Beck, Andrew Williams
Graduates: Hue Vang (Dreamworks), Andrew Murphy (Apple)

24. American University

2025 Grads Hired: 50%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: $70,000
Faculty: Andrew Phelps, Krzysztof Pietroszek
Graduates: Ryan Seymour (Smithsonian), Kelli Dunlop (TakeThis.org)

25. New York Film Academy

2025 Grads Hired: 2%
2025 Grads Mean Salary: NR
Faculty: John Zuur Platten, Craig Caton-Largent (Digital Domain)
Graduates: Leandro Ribeiro (Afterverse), Guillermo Quesada (Amazon Studios)

Homework: Creative accessibility

In recent years, the industry has reinforced the importance of designing videogames with accessibility in mind. After all, the more people who can comfortably play your game, the better chance you have of reaching an audience. The most common forms of accessible game design are options that allow players to tweak colorblind settings, alter models that trigger certain phobias, or tone down flickering lights. But sometimes, a game calls for accessibility considerations specific to the project.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the breakout hit RPG of 2025, looked beyond the usual settings when designing for accessibility. Developer Sandfall Interactive took note during playtests that its jerky combat camera was causing motion sickness for some players. To get ahead of that problem, the team included a camera stabilization option at launch that mitigated motion sickness without making any major artistic sacrifices.

Imagine you're developing a first-person shooter, a strategy sim, or a puzzle game that relies on color. How would you anticipate accessibility needs and design for them?

Programming believable AI characters

Artists can produce amazing concept art and designers can think up compelling gameplay loops, but videogames never make it out of the conceptual phase without talented programmers constructing the underlying logic. Their work is often invisible—a line of code that makes a character's jump or car's drift feel perfect—but one place a programmer's work gets to shine is in the non-player characters that populate a world. Programming believable behaviors into friendly NPCs or hostile creatures is crucial to the player believing the virtual world they're inhabiting.

A recent example of great AI programming is Arc Raiders, the hit 2025 extraction shooter that attracted millions of players through its unique PvPvE format. Players can optionally fight each other on its large maps, but they're encouraged to band together because of the presence of Arc—a fleet of mysterious robots that roam the planet's surface. The Arc, and specifically the behaviors that developer Embark Studios programmed into them, are the glue that binds the whole experience together. Arc drones will dynamically patrol the map, changing up their routes and thoroughly investigating noises. They're smart, but crucially, Embark programmers ensured they aren't so smart that players can't outmaneuver them. Careful stealth and awareness of their vision cones can mitigate their threat.

The Arc's dynamic perception is impressive, but the real magic trick is how the robots react to damage inflicted by players. When players shoot off one of a flying drone's propellers, it will dynamically attempt to compensate for the loss in power, drifting and dipping through the air before it either finds balance or crashes into the ground.

The same goes for ground-based Arc robots. When a four-legged Leaper loses a leg, it compensates by changing its walking pattern. That adherence to physics-based rules, as enabled by talented programmers, makes the Arc feel alive. They're curious, inquisitive, and worthy foes with a survival instinct, not rigid constructs with a few pre-determined actions.

Programmers are also at the heart of our favorite RPGs. Baldur's Gate 3 is known for its excellent writing, but talented programmers working behind the scenes constructed the complex web of quest outcomes that made its characters so reactive to the player's choices.

Sometimes, the best way to program believable AI characters is to double down on social interactions. In Playground Games' upcoming Fable reboot, every single citizen of the open-world Albion is a real, simulated person with a name, home, and daily routine. That much has been done before, but where Fable goes the extra mile is simulating every individual citizen's personalities and their perspectives on the world. The people of Albion will form an opinion of the player,, and that opinion can change based on one-on-one interactions or choices made throughout the story.

Fable's programmers call this system the "living population." Passing citizens will remark upon developments in the main story. A shop clerk might have a high opinion of the player if that player owns the shop they're working in. If the player develops a reputation in town as a tycoon, some citizens will find them off-putting by default.

If you find yourself fascinated by the little details and behaviors that make great videogame AI and want to be a part of it, then programming may be your starting point.

Homework: Finding fun

Often in game design, creativity goes hand in hand with flexibility. It's rare that a game comes together exactly as it was pitched. Instead, developers tend to find their game's unique hook along the journey. That can mean taking your original idea and refining it, but sometimes the project's entire premise can change when an even better idea comes along.

The 2025 Steam hit REPO, developed by Semiwork, was not originally conceived as a co-op horror game. At first, the team was making a singleplayer horror cleaning game in which players picked up trash around a mansion while avoiding a monster. By showing creative flexibility, the team realized it should pivot to multiplayer (because everything is more fun with friends). That change eventually led to moving away from the cleaning concept altogether, as the team found cleaning together wasn't as fun as it originally sounded. What was fun, they discovered, was cooperatively carrying fragile objects through precarious mansions. Thus, REPO was born.

Imagine you're developing a playable prototype for a 3D platformer. Your playtesters love how the jump feels, but aren't responding well to the game's setting or characters. How do you pivot?

The art of map design

One of the most specialized disciplines in game development is multiplayer map design. Multiplayer arenas can be sculpted from anything—a California golf course in Battlefield 6, a neon-soaked city in Fortnite, a long-forgotten spaceport in Arc Raiders—but unlike traditional level designers, map makers have the unique challenge of creating spaces that delight players upon first impression while also standing up after hundreds or thousands of hours of playtime.

Good maps have to be as distinct or visually interesting as any singleplayer space, but crucially, they also have to be fair. Mapping challenges every facet of spatial design: great mappers have an understanding of architecture, nature, composition, lighting, and can visualize how players are likely to move through spaces from any direction. The balance is considering all of these principles while also taking competition into account: Are the sightlines clear? Is the space too busy or confusing? Will it be fun to navigate the hundredth time players see it?

One way designers achieve fairness in maps is through symmetry: even if two sides of a map have different theming, they'll often share a similar or even identical shape to ensure one side isn't advantageous over the other. This is why maps in competitive shooters tend to take the general shape of a rectangle or bowl—no matter which side your team is on, it takes roughly the same time to reach the center.

We see this sort of "camouflaged symmetry" used on the largest map in Battlefield 6. Mirak Valley is a wide, flat expanse set in Tajikistan. On one end of the map is a small village with lots of indoor cover. On the opposite end is a bombed-out village with fewer standing buildings, but an elaborate network of trenches. The two sides achieve the same thing—locations with cover that act as capture points—with the same general land mass, but the map team at DICE utilized cover in two different ways. The side with fewer buildings favors vehicles, while the village gives infantry players a better fighting chance. It's not 100% symmetrical, but it's close, and it's more interesting to opt for variety.

Another way to create variety in maps is when the terrain can be changed by players. The destructible maps in the likes of Rainbow Six Siege X and The Finals force mappers to really get their creative juices flowing: How do you maintain competitive integrity when the map changes every session? The developers at Ubisoft tackled this problem in Siege by designing a visual language for "soft" walls that can be destroyed by players, and "hard" walls that cannot. In this way, designers can tightly control what sightlines can be altered by players and maintain a building's intended shape.

The Finals, meanwhile, sets no such limitations. Literally everything but the ground itself can crumble—a freedom that creates unparalleled dynamism, but also forces the map team to find other ways to distinguish arenas. The team at Embark Studios goes all-in on setting for this reason: its globe-trotting maps recreate real world locations across various time periods, including a futuristic Las Vegas, Monaco, Mexico, Korea, and even 16th century Japan.

The rise of battle royale games over the last decade has created a whole new category of map design: the 100-player mega map. Creating one large map instead of a dozen smaller ones is a major undertaking that requires close collaboration between individual mappers. The average Fortnite map, for instance, has over a dozen distinct points of interest in addition to kilometers of hills, roads, rivers, and mountains between them. It's a lot to consider, but all the extra space gives designers a blank canvas to sculpt beautiful views, incorporate multiple biomes, or hide secrets.

If these are the sort of challenges that get your mind racing, you may have the heart of a multiplayer map designer.