MS in Game Development Curriculum

Students are required to take four core courses and additional concentration required and electives courses, for a degree total of 48 hours.

Core Courses

Year One

These count as 8 hours of your 24 hours needed in your first year.

GSD 511: Game Development I – Game Studies and Design

GSD 512: Game Development II – Game Studies and Design

Year Two

These count as 16 hours of your 24 hours needed in your second year.

GSD 513: Practicum in Game Development I – Game Studies and Design
Note: May be repeated in separate terms up to 32 hours.

GSD 514: Practicum in Game Development II – Game Studies and Design
Note: May be repeated in separate terms up to 32 hours.

In addition to the required courses, you will need to take 24 additional credit hours of concentration courses and electives.

The links below are courses available for the MS in Game Game Development pathways. To view more information about which semesters courses are offered (and a link to the course catalog), click on a course number. These links open in a new browser window.

Game Art Pathway

Core courses for the Game Art Pathway

GSD 520: Tools and Techniques of Game Art – Game Studies and Design
Note: 1 TO 4 professional hours. May be repeated up to 8 hours in same semester or up to 12 hours in separate semesters, if topics vary.

GSD 521: Tools & Techniques: Contemporary Techniques for 2D Art in Games – Game Studies and Design

GSD 522: Tools & Techniques: Contemporary Techniques for 3D Art in Games – Game Studies and Design

GSD 523: Tools & Techniques: Contemporary Techniques for 3D Animation in Games – Game Studies and Design

GSD 529: The Art of Games – Game Studies and Design
Note: May be repeated up to 8 hours in same semester or up to 12 hours in separate semesters, if topics vary.

Elective courses for the Game Art Pathway

Coming soon!

Game Design Pathway

Core courses for the Game Design Pathway

GSD 530: Tools & Techniques of Game Design – Game Studies and Design
Note: May be repeated up to 8 hours in same semester or up to 12 hours in separate semesters, if topics vary.

GSD 531: Tools & Techniques: Contemporary Techniques for Game Design – Game Studies and Design

Elective courses for the Game Design Pathway

Coming soon!

Game Narrative Pathway

Core courses for the Game Narrative Pathway

GSD 560: Tools & Techniques of Game Narrative – Game Studies and Design
Note: May be repeated up to 8 hours in same semester or up to 12 hours in separate semesters, if topics vary.

GSD 561: Tools & Techniques of Game Narrative: Contemporary Techniques in Writing for Games – Game Studies and Design

Elective courses for the Game Narrative Pathway

CW 463: Advanced Topics in Creative Writing – Creative Writing
Note: May be repeated, if topics vary

GSD 409: Design & Programming of Narrative Games & Simulations – Game Studies and Design
Note: Same as CW 463 1U Design & Programming of Narrative Games & Simulations. Credit is not given for GSD 409and INFO 490 JP, JPU or JPG “Design & Prog Text Based Games” sections.

GSD 411: Interactive Fiction with Twine – Game Studies and Design
Note: No prior programming experience is assumed. Same as CW 463AL Interactive Fiction with Twine

Game Production Pathway

Core courses for the Game Production Pathway

GSD 515: Professionalization Seminar: Portfolio Production & Personal Branding – Game Studies and Design

GSD 540: Tools & Techniques of Game Production – Game Studies and Design
Note: May be repeated up to 8 hours in same semester or up to 12 hours in separate semesters, if topics vary.

GSD 541: Tools & Techniques: Contemporary Techniques of Game Production – Game Studies and Design

Elective courses for the Game Production Pathway

MUS 442: Arranging – Music

MUS 446: Songwriting – Music
Note: Students should be comfortable singing and creating/performing on an accompanying instrument (e.g. guitar, piano, self-composed digital backing tracks).

MUS 499: Proseminar in Music – Music

Game Programming Pathway

Core courses for the Game Programming Pathway

GSD 550: Tools & Techniques of Game Programming – Game Studies and Design
Note: May be repeated up to 8 hours in same semester or up to 12 hours in separate semesters, if topics vary.

GSD 551: Tools & Techniques: Contemporary Techniques for Programming of Games – Game Studies and Design

Elective courses for the Game Programming Pathway

CS 415: Game Development – Computer Science

CS 417: Introduction to Extended Reality – Computer Science

CS 418: Interactive Computer Graphics – Computer Science
Note: Same as CSE 427.

CS 419: Production Computer Graphics – Computer Science

CS 445: Computational Photography – Computer Science