WKU is hoping that aspiring video game designers can find their home on the hill this fall.

Beginning next semester, WKU will offer a certificate in game design, the university announced in a press release on Tuesday.

Kristina Arnold, the head of the art department, said in an email that the creation of the game design certificate was a year-and-a half process that required collaboration from the art and computer science departments.  

“Developing a game design program has been a student-inspired initiative, as students both in the art and (computer science) departments have been asking for years for game design curricular offerings,” Arnold said.

According to the WKU Game Design website, the game design certificate consists of six courses. Students may be able to receive a game design certificate within a year.

“Gaming is a growing, multi-billion dollar industry that provides jobs in many areas of interest, so once we realized we had the resources to do so in-house, developing the certificate seemed like a no-brainer,” Arnold said.

According to Yahoo Finance, video game sales in the United States totaled $6.6 billion during the first six months of 2020.  

Arnold said that two new courses, Game Programming and Gaming: Culture, Theory, Practice, were created because of the new certificate. These courses will be taught by current faculty members.

In order for a current student to add the game design certificate to their studies, they must fill out a Change of Major form on TopNet, according to the Game Design website. Any student who fills out the form to receive a game design certificate will not have their major changed.