Defining the expectation gap: a comparison of industry needs and existing game development curriculum

When developing a game curriculum, one of several key areas to consider is the type of skills needed by the game industry. The purpose of this quantitative survey research is to compare the hiring needs of industry for recent college graduates seeking game developer positions against game development curriculum currently available at post-secondary institutions. One survey was given to industry participants and a similar survey was given to academic participants. Four major categories, abilities, technical skills, supporting knowledge areas, and contextual fluency, each had specific subcategories that were rated by both industry and academia. A t-test of independent means was then used to analyze to determine if there is an expectation gap between the game industry needs and academic program curriculum. This paper details the results of the surveys and provides a limited discussion on how these results might impact game developer curriculum.