5Q with Jason Corace: Introducing UAlbany’s Game Center Director

By Mike Nolan

ALBANY, N.Y. (Sept. 23, 2025) — The University at Albany has a new face behind its Game Design and Development programs. 

Jason Corace, an award-winning game designer and educator, has joined the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (CEHC) this semester as an associate professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology.

He is serving as the first director of UAlbany’s Game Center, which will oversee a new undergraduate major in Game Design and Development and a graduate program in Strategic Game Design and Applied Development.

The new programs, launched this semester, build on CEHC’s existing game design and development minor and undergraduate concentration. SUNY is also supporting the creation of a game design lab/classroom space that will be housed at UAlbany’s ETEC research and development complex.

We caught up with Corace to learn more about his background in game design and vision for UAlbany’s programs in this emerging space.

How did you get into game design and what brought you to UAlbany?

I got into games because they were really important to how I grew up. I was one of the first generations that grew up with video games. Games were important to my family. They were important to how my friend group came together. And eventually, I decided to go into the industry for my career. I studied game design in graduate school and then went on to work for a few different game studios and created my own games.

When thinking about coming to UAlbany, what really interested me was how diverse it was and how we could think about all the different ways that games and play can interact with different fields. Yes, games are about entertainment. But they can also educate and inspire deeper social connections. UAlbany offers this great opportunity for students to build strong game design skills and then really apply them to lots of different types of research and to different industries in ways that you don't find at a lot of other colleges.

Why can students expect from UAlbany’s game design and development programs?

My vision is to build a world-class program that has a lot of great local roots. We are in New York’s Capital Region, which has a large game industry already, but there's also a lot of amazing game-related opportunities available right here on campus, which we want to bring together through these new programs. 

I think students should be excited because we are going to offer a lot of hands-on experiences here that you can really only get at a top research institution like UAlbany. These new programs will explore game design from many different avenues. We're looking at it from just pure design. We're looking at it through narrative. We're also looking at the security aspect of it, of what it means to play safely online, along with the educational aspect, and how new technologies are going to affect the way we play in the future.

What types of learning opportunities are there for students?

One of the things that’s unique about these programs is that they are completely hands-on. I’m teaching the Game 100 class this semester. It's a large class, but the students are all playing games together. They’re making games, they’re designing games, they’re reading about games. The idea is to get them to think together and collaborate.

We’re also working across a lot of disciplines, including classes taught by faculty in UAlbany’s art and music programs, and soon cybersecurity. That’s pretty unique and gives students a different experience and perspective.

How will UAlbany connect with the booming local gaming industry?

We are really lucky to have 20-plus game studios in the Capital Region, some of which are really big names like Activision Blizzard, Wolf Jaw and WB Games. That’s more studios than you’d find in New York City. We already have great relationships with many of these studios, including faculty who are working with them on research projects. We are also setting up ways that our students can work with these companies through internships and other ways, like play-testing events. Our goal is to make UAlbany the hub for games in this region.

What does the future of game design and development look like?

No one has that question completely figured out. But I think we see some trends. For example, if you told me 20 years ago that people would lock themselves in rooms and pay to get out, I would probably think you were crazy. But escape rooms are huge and I think the trend that we see within games is that social play is where the field is headed. From huge online games like Fortnite to the popularity of board game nights, people want to play and connect together.

Regardless of how the tech changes, our job at UAlbany is to teach students to be thoughtful, engaged designers who understand how people play together, how they connect, and to explore what play can do.