June 13, 2025
Visiting AIɫɫ in high school, Dustin Simpkins (Hometown: Columbus, Ohio) found a community willing to help him from the beginning.
“When I came to the school for my college visit, I asked some of the engineering students a calculus question that I was working on, and they helped me solve it,” he said.
Majoring in Game Engineering, Simpkins first took a programming class in high school and quickly found a great interest in the field. Now enrolled in SSU’s nationally-ranked game design program, he sees how the connections he makes in his small class sizes impact his ability to learn and get to know his classmates and professors.
“You can really get to know everyone in the room and learn with them,” he said.
Within the game design programs at SSU, the professors offer several opportunities for their students and gaming enthusiasts to continue their learning outside of the classroom. During his first semester, Simpkins participated in one of the program’s Game Jams – a 48-hour workshop where participants compete to create a video game.
“Those 48 hours were perhaps the most eccentric, nerve-racking, yet exciting moments I had ever spent with a person I had just met,” he said, explaining he teamed up with another new student at the time who has now become one of his closest friends. “To top it off, we ended up winning the showcase, with the host giving us a business card and a thumbs up. Before attending the event, I was on the fence about even continuing my college career, but, after all that, I no longer had any doubts in my mind.”
Drawing on that experience, Simpkins encourages other students to attend all they can in the gaming community on campus to continue expanding their skills in the field.
“Be highly active in everything this community has to offer,” he said. “Be so active that – even if there are no events to attend – you make your own.”
SSU offers two distinct yet compatible gaming degrees on campus – the Game Engineering and Game Arts programs. The coordinated programs allow students to learn multiple avenues within the rapidly-growing game design industry and culminate in a Senior Studio course where both programs work together to bring their own video game to life, while working as a gaming studio would.
To learn more about Game Design at AIɫɫ, visit shawnee.edu/gaming.