Take your creativity into the box.

Who said college can’t include some fun and games? Super Mario Brothers and countless other existing characters (as well as those getting animated at this moment) need your creative mind! With the video game industry growing at an incredible rate, trained professionals are in high demand.

Currently the industry requires 5,000 new hires a year in the U.S. alone, primarily in the fields of game design, art, computer programming, production and testing. Keep in mind that this number is only for the video game industry itself, and does not reflect the thousands of jobs that require the use of the same skill sets to create game design-based materials for educational, industrial, medical, military and space program training, nor does it include the numerous positions that exist in advertising, marketing and PR that also utilize gaming technology and design.

Incoming students choose from three specializations: game design, art and animation, and game programming (more information on the Electronic Game Programming degree). A strong core of game development courses will give you a solid background in game theory and production. Working in teams in an environment modeled after the industry, you will use the skills gained in these core classes to design and produce your own video games.

Game designers descend on campus

Professional game developers fly from all corners of the continent to meet with Champlain’s electronic game students. The students fire out questions about new video games, the industry and the developers’ jobs, while hanging on the professionals’ every word.

Some of the studios represented have included EA, Ubisoft, Radical Entertainment, A2M and Cryptic Studios. Industry professionals from these and other companies make up the advisory committee for the new program.

In November, Major (R) Chris Chambers, the deputy project director for “America's Army,” was joined by his fellow game developers in a presentation to game students. With more than 7.5 million registered users, “America's Army” ranks among the top five online PC action games played worldwide. The developers said it’s designed to provide civilians with an inside perspective and a virtual role in today’s modern Army. “This started out as a public communications effort,” Chambers said.

Recently, the chief technology officer at Montreal’s A2M spoke on campus about the creative and production processes for games. A2M titles include “Monster House,” “Scooby Doo,” “Kim Possible” and “Ice Age.” Representatives from EA Vancouver and EA Montreal have also visited with Champlain students and faculty to download the latest industry 411. EA video games include the top-selling “Madden NFL Football,” “The Sims” and “Harry Potter.”