DigiPen Academy: Find Top Courses & Training Locations

In DigiPen Academy, juniors, seniors, and recent high school students spend four weeks studying three courses and labs with college instructors. Students can specialize in subjects like game design, animation, and game programming, and earn a tuition credit towards college studies at DigiPen Institute of Technology.

DigiPen Academy is located in Redmond, Washington, 15 miles from Seattle and home town to the campuses of tech giants Microsoft and Nintendo of America. DigiPen Academy is part of DigiPen Institute of Technology.

DigiPen Institute of Technology is a private, for-profit college founded in 1988 in Redmond, Washington. Since then, it has added campuses in Spain and Singapore. Through the DigiPen Academy, it offers programs for students in grades K-12, online courses, and year-long programs for high school students.

DigiPen was initially founded in Vancouver as a research and development institute for computer science and animation. In 1990, it partnered with Nintendo of America to create a post-secondary training program in programming for game developers. In 1998, DigiPen became accredited in the state of Washington to grant four-year degrees. In 2002, it began offering post-graduate degrees.

DigiPen was the first institution to offer degrees in game design and remains ranked a top 5 school for studying game design by Princeton Review. DigiPen student games have won 57 awards at the Independent Games Festival, more than any other school. Its graduates have developed more than 1,600 commercial video game titles.

School Locations

DigiPen Academy is located in Redmond, Washington, only 15 miles from Seattle and home to tech giants Microsoft and Nintendo of America. While Redmond is more commonly known as the home of Microsoft, it was DigiPen’s partnership with gaming giant Nintendo that led to the establishment of its campus there.

DigiPen Institute of Technology also has campuses in Spain and Singapore. Additionally, It has international partnerships with universities in South Korea and Thailand.

Subjects Taught at DigiPen Academy

DigiPen Academy has three primary academic programs, the Homeschool Program, WANIC Programs, and Pre-College Summer Programs.

DigiPen Homeschool Academy was initially designed for homeschool families. Since then, it has evolved into a flexible program of a la carte courses for homeschool and non-homeschool families who want their children to receive additional training in STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Math). The curriculum includes both general academics and STEAM-focused courses. All courses in the Homeschool Program take a STEAM-focused approach to prepare students for a career in a STEAM field, including ones that might not even exist yet. Although DigiPen Homeschool Academy isn’t just for homeschoolers any longer, it still offers extra support to families who have decided against public school.

All of the courses offered by DigiPen Homeschool are live online and can be taken from anywhere. In addition to providing general education courses such as math, reading, and science, DigiPen Homeschool Academy includes a rotating list of electives, including game design, video game programming, engineering, music and sound, debate, and theater. Some course offerings include more technical training like Minecraft Modding, Web Design, Intro to 3D Design, 3D Printing, and Product Design, and 2D Game Design. Some courses are more eclectic such as History: What If?, Creature Design & Sculpting, and Exploring Art: Sculpting Techniques. The entire course catalog is a la carte: parents may choose as few or as many courses according to their child’s needs and goals. Classes are offered for ages 6-18.

DigiPen’s WANIC (Washington Network for Innovative Careers) Programs are for ambitious junior and senior high school students who want to earn Advanced Placement credit or college credits in computer science, art, design, and other subjects through DigiPen Institute of Technology. The year-long curriculum is project-based and will give students an immersive experience in the collaborative nature of working in the tech industry. Current offerings are Video Game Programming (AP Computer Science), Art & Animation (AP Studio Art), Music & Sound Design (3 Fine Art credits), DigiPen Game Design (3 CTE credits), and Data Analytics & Visualization ( 2 CTE credits, 1 Math Analysis credit). Every course in the WANIC program is the length of an academic school year for 2.5 hours each school day. Enrollees are required to attend an online information workshop and complete Algebra 2.

DigiPen’s PreCollege Program gives high school students a preview of taking college courses while also learning skills to succeed in the gaming industry. There are four offered tracks for PreCollege: Game Design, Art & Animation for Games, Game Programming, and Music & Sound Design for Games.

Students interested in game design and want a preview of the DigiPen GameDev Academy course can preview it on the DigiPen Academy YouTube channel. Noble Desktop's Classes Near Me is a great tool if you’d like to learn more about live online game design courses for high school students.

Age Requirements

Each of DigiPen’s Academic Programs has different age requirements. The DigiPen Homeschool Academy is open to students K-12. Students must be 16 to enroll in DigiPen’s PreCollege Program. The WANIC Program is for high school juniors and seniors.

Additionally, If you want to enroll in WANIC Programs or the PreCollege Game Programming track, you’ll need to have completed Algebra 2. Students who enroll in music courses are expected to have experience playing an instrument.

If you plan to attend a course at DigiPen Academy’s Redmond, Washington campus, you must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

What Classes Are Available?

DigiPen’s PreCollege Program gives students a preview of taking college courses and succeeding in the game industry. Students will take two academic lessons each day and then build practical skills in an afternoon project studio. There are four tracks for students to choose from: Game Design, Art & Animation for Games, Game Programming, and Music & Sound Design for Games. All faculty for the PreCollege Program are faculty-level highly-trained professionals in their field. Students receive grades in their courses and a transcript that can be included in their college applications. If graduates decide to continue their education at DigiPen Institute of Technology, their credits will transfer. Each track includes a Game Project Lab in which students of all tracks come together to complete a game.

In the PreCollege Game Design track, students learn both the technical and creative skills necessary for excellent game design. The curriculum walks students through the fundamental principles of game design, the computer science essentials necessary for game design, the art and animation process, and the storytelling skills required to create a compelling narrative. The four academic courses included in this program are Game Design, Applied Computer Science for Designers (includes a lab), Interactive Narrative and Character Creation (includes a lab), and the Game Project Lab. In the Game Project Lab, students collaborate with students from the other tracks to complete a game project.

The PreCollege Art & Animation track is a four-week program that focuses on production art for video games and animation. This track’s core three academic courses are Art Foundations, Animation Techniques (includes a lab), Computer Graphics Tools (includes a lab), and a Game Project Lab. In the Game Project Lab, students collaborate with Game Design students to serve as the game’s resident artists by developing characters and backgrounds. Students will need a tablet or iPad with Procreate for digital painting.

In the DigiPen PreCollege’s Game Programming track, students learn the academic fundamentals of becoming a professional programmer, including computer science, advanced math, and physics. This course requires successful completion of Algebra 2 before enrolling. The courses in this track are Computer Science for Games, Applied Math for Games (includes a lab), Applied Physics for Games (includes a lab), and collaborative Game Project Lab with enrollees from the other PreCollege tracks.

DigiPen’s PreCollege Program includes a Music & Sound Design for Games track. This course focuses on the music that makes up a game’s soundtrack and the sound effects that make games immersive. Students will learn the theory and techniques of sound design with courses in Theory and Musicianship, Theory and Literature (includes a lab), Fundamentals of Music and Sound Design (includes a lab), and the Game Project Lab. In this Game Project Lab, students collaborate with Game Project Lab students from the other tracks in the completion of a game project. Students enrolled in this track will design and provide the music and sound effects for the game.

Class Formats

DigiPen offers a mix of online and in-person courses. Its summer courses are most frequently offered in-person. DigiPen Homeschool and DigiPen PreCollege are currently offered only live online.

Admissions Process

All of DigiPen’s courses are open-enrollment courses within the bounds of the program. There is currently no application process.

Pricing & Payment Options

Because DigiPen’s course offerings are varied, so is the pricing. Currently, enrollment in year-long DigiPen Homeschool courses costs range from $700 for Debate to $1300 for Creative Writing or Math. The PreCollege programs are priced around $2700 for a four-week sequence of courses. Its online Summer Courses are typically $1400.

DigiPen offers payment plans for all courses and limited need-based tuition assistance on a first-come, first-served basis. Students applying for need-based tuition assistance are required to submit financial documents.

DigiPen gives out one President’s Scholarship to a student in each of its PreCollege Programs Video Game Programming Track, Art & Animation Track, and Music & Sound Design Track. No scholarships are offered for the Game Design Track. Students are required to submit an essay along with high school transcripts.

Benefits of Attending DigiPen Academy

DigiPen has a proven track record of educating gamers: it was the first university in the U.S. to offer a game design degree and this legacy lives on in its top-ranked tech programs. High school students who enroll in one of its programs will have practical technical training and foundational conceptual training on STEAM concepts designed to make them competitive in a job field that might not exist yet. It offers three flexible programs: the homeschool program with a wide variety of course offerings, the PreCollege program for students over 16 who want real-world game design experience under their belt, and WANIC courses for ambitious high school seniors and juniors who want to start earning college credit early.

What Do Students & Parents Say?

Online reviews of DigiPen’s programs for high school students are mostly positive. DigiPen Academy currently has 4.6 stars on Facebook. There are several active Facebook groups with in-person meet-ups for kids and teens enrolled in DigiPen programs. One parent raved online, “I sent my child there from grades 5-12, and the skills he acquired motivated him to take AP math and computer science classes in high school, and now he is studying computer technology and science in college.”

Other parents wrote that the courses are “well presented with just the right amount of information given to grasp the concept” and “well explained.” Another parent whose child enrolled in Game Design via the PreCollege Track noted that it was a “good introduction for game design kids will appreciate. My son learned a lot working on a team.”

DigiPen’s PreCollege Program is intended to give students a sneak peek at a career in the gaming industry and life as a college student at its parent school, the DigiPen Institute of Technology. If you’re considering the PreCollege Program, you should be aware of the many online complaints of a toxic culture at DigiPen Institute of Technology. DigiPen Academy’s parent school DigiPen Institute of Technology was recently the subject of a viral critique video: “DigiPen: The College That Teaches Crunch Culture.” In the video, Jim Sterling, a former coder turned critic of the gaming industry’s treatment of its workers, shares quotes from DigiPen Institute of Technology students who find its courses are made intentionally impossible to pass and the professors are borderline abusive to students. Former students flooded the video’s comment section with their DigiPen experiences: “I went to DigiPen for two years for my Masters, and to this day, the most valuable thing I learned at Digipen was how toxic the video game industry is.” Another former student writes, “DigiPen took so much from me and my friends, and barely gave us anything in return.”

Key Takeaways

DigiPen is the K-12 branch of the for-profit, private college DigiPen Institute of Technology located in Redmond, Washington.
It offers three main Academic Programs: DigiPen Homeschool Academy, WANIC Programs, and the PreCollege Program.
The four main tracks of the PreCollege Program are Game Design, Game Programming, Music and Sound Design for Games, and Art & Animation.

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DigiPen Academy

School Locations

Subjects Taught at DigiPen Academy

Age Requirements

What Classes Are Available?

Class Formats

Admissions Process

Pricing & Payment Options

Benefits of Attending DigiPen Academy

What Do Students & Parents Say?

Key Takeaways

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