The MFA in Game Design program is intended for creative visionaries intent on producing socially, culturally, and emotionally substantial work. While games are often perceived as pure entertainment, the MFA takes a deeper look, exploring games-as-art as well as games-for-a-purpose. This degree prepares students to advance the frontier of games by exploring emerging theories and applying them to practice. Throughout the program, students will create games that are challenged by peers and faculty in critiques. Graduates will be prepared to invent the future of games and adapt to the ever-changing composition of conventions, tools, and platforms. As the terminal degree in the field of game design, an MFA also opens doors to teaching at the university level or entering an academic tenure-track career.
| Program Requirements | Quarter Hours |
|---|---|
| Degree Requirements | 64 |
| Total hours required | 64 |
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
- Situate their creative practice within historical, aesthetic, and social contexts; design and develop games that are significant in those contexts.
- Leverage the affordances of games to intentionally evoke specific emotions and experiences, purposefully communicate ideas as well as have the desired social impact.
- Critique games from a variety of perspectives including historical, aesthetic, and social.
- Iteratively build projects up from simple prototypes to increasingly complex systems.
Degree Requirements
Course Requirements
No Introductory Course may be substituted for any other course at any level.
| Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GAM 420 | CREATIVE COMPUTATION | 4 |
| GAM 424 | GAME DESIGN WORKSHOP | 4 |
| GAM 430 | ART GAMES BOOTCAMP | 4 |
| GAM 440 | GAMES WITH A PURPOSE BOOTCAMP | 4 |
| GAM 520 | GAME DESIGN PROSEMINAR | 4 |
| GAM 530 | GAMES STUDIES PROSEMINAR | 4 |
| GAM 540 | GAME DEVELOPMENT PRACTICUM | 4 |
| GAM 550 | INCUBATION STUDIO | 4 |
| Select 20 credit hours from any graduate level GAM, ANI, CP, DOC, FILM, POST, SCWR, GD, EXP, UXD, GPH, or VFX courses 1 | 20 | |
| GAM 600 | THESIS STUDIO 2 | 12 |
- 1
Focus Area Electives include any graduate level GAM, ANI, CP, DOC, FILM, POST, SCWR, GD, EXP, UXD, GPH, or VFX courses. Students should work with their faculty advisor to select a grouping of Focus Area Electives that will best serve the student's professional trajectory.
- 2
Students must take GAM 600 THESIS STUDIO three (3) times, over three consecutive quarters. Twelve (12) credit hours are required.
MFA Thesis Proposal and Development
In parallel to taking Incubation Studio in Winter quarter of their second year to prepare their Thesis proposal, students must solicit a Thesis committee consisting of 2-3 members. At the end of the Incubation Studio each student's Thesis committee assesses their progress and provides feedback and guidance on the Thesis proposal. By the beginning of Spring quarter the Thesis committee will have given feedback and students will have had the opportunity to revise their Thesis proposal. With their Thesis committee's approval candidates can enter Thesis Studio Spring quarter to begin their Thesis project. Candidates continue Thesis development through Thesis Studio courses taken in the Fall and Winter quarters of their third year. In addition to work completed in the Thesis Studio courses students are required to provide quarterly evidence of progress, iteration, and refinement to their Thesis committee in the form of playable prototypes, proof of concept papers, or other appropriate means. The forum to present progress is in an end-of-quarter critique with the entire third-year cohort and all Thesis committee faculty in attendance.
MFA Thesis Showcase and Defense
Candidates will turn in a final draft of their completed Thesis project by the end of the Winter quarter of the third year and be required to publicly show their work in the annual MFA showcase or exhibit their work in a juried venue. The candidate will defend the Thesis before the Thesis committee who will review the Thesis project to decide whether the candidate should be awarded the degree. If the committee does not deem the project ready for approval, the student will be given notes and asked to resubmit their project. Students may resubmit up to three times. If a student's project is not deemed passable after the fourth time, the student will not receive the MFA. Students have eighteen months from the submission of their first draft to obtain the committee's approval or the degree will not be awarded.