Support Nebraska Game Programming and Design!
The UNO College of Information Science and Technology and the student-run Maverick Meadow Indie Game Studio are seeking $60,000 in order to fund a two-year graduate fellowship in game programming and design. The fellowship will provide paid tuition, a stipend, and faculty mentorship to support a talented graduate student in developing and releasing a commercial game as part of a thesis-equivalent project.
Preparing for Careers in Games
The video game industry is extremely competitive, and to stand out, emerging professionals need not just a degree but also a strong portfolio of multiple projects demonstrating their skills. For students at UNO, earning a master's degree and developing a game as a thesis-equivalent project is a great way to enhance their portfolios. However, many students simply cannot afford to get this critical experience. When you fund students through this fellowship, our fellows will be able to focus on improving their skills in their classes and dedicate themselves to the hard work of developing, testing, promoting, and launching a game that will help them stand out in a competitive job market. In addition to financial support, fellows will receive guidance and mentorship from faculty with expertise in video game development and have access to support, resources, and testing through the Maverick Meadow Indie Game Studio.
Incubating the Video Game Industry in Nebraska
UNO has a history of graduating students who went on to work at major game studios across the globe, and the state of Nebraska has an extremely talented local cohort of independent and professional video game developers and designers who generated nearly $46 million in economic impact in 2025. However, that impact is only 0.048% of the $96 billion national economic impact from the video game industry (https://www.theesa.com/resources/2026-economic-impact-report). One of the factors hindering the video game industry in Nebraska is brain drain, because students who graduate must immediately go out and start making money. By paying students to develop commercial games, we hope to reduce the pressure to leave and encourage more talented developers to stay in the state and contribute to developing the local industry.
Supporting Nebraskan Art
Video games are a unique art form that combines technology and creativity to create experiences and tell stories that could not be told in other mediums. By funding this fellowship, you uplift Nebraskan voices and enable the fellows to create something that reflects their unique lived experiences and imagination.
Sustaining the Fellowship
The current funding campaign is to fund one fellow for the first two years of the program. In addition to seeking additional donations for future fellows, a portion of the sales of the funded game will go back towards the fellowship. The program's long-term goal is to be self-sustaining, but to get there, we will need your start-up support. Please make a gift today help us fund education, art, and technology in the state of Nebraska.
If you are interested in discussing a transformational gift to this program, please contact David Belieu at david.belieu@nufoundation.org.
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