Top 10 Game Design Schools and Colleges Offering Master of Science (MS) Programs - 2018 Rankings

Established in 1880, University of Southern California (USC) is home to 45,500 students enrolled in more than 200 undergraduate programs, 300-plus graduate programs, and more than 150 minors. Program options for aspiring game designers are offered through Viterbi School of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science and the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences’ Interactive Media & Games Division. Dornsife programs are offered in in conjunction with the School of Cinematic Arts.

Viterbi School of Engineering offers an MS in Computer Science (Game Development) and a Progressive Degree Program (PDP). The PDP allows exceptional undergraduate students to start graduate-level classes during their senior year and request a reduction in the units required for the Master’s degree. This allows students to earn the MS in Computer Science with one or two additional semesters of study.” The PDP is available for the MS in Computer Science (Game Development).

In addition to unique program options for graduate game designers, USC is home to the GamePipe Laboratory. Sponsored by Intel, Sony, and other technology companies, the Lab produces a "Demo Day," which allows students to showcase their work. The semiannual event attracts game industry reps, reporters, faculty, students, and hundreds of spectators from across the country.

The University of Utah (The U) was founded in 1850. Home to more than 31,000 students from across the U.S. and around the globe, the school offers 100 undergraduate programs and more than 90 graduate programs across 17 colleges and schools, and nearly 100 departments. The College of Engineering and the College of Fine Arts are home to the Entertainment Arts and Engineering Master Games Studio (EAE:MGS). The Studio offers a Master of Entertainment Arts and Engineering (MEAE). Tracks include Game Arts, Game Engineering, Game Production, and Technical Art.

According to the Studio, “all students in each of the tracks have a series of common classes including Game Design, Rapid Prototyping, Pre-Production, and Final Project.” In addition, students will “develop and enhance a professional game portfolio” and they will have the opportunity to complete an internship in the game industry.

The David Eccles School of Business and the Entertainment Arts & Engineering Program also offer a dual degree program “designed to take advantage of the complementary elements in the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and the Masters of Entertainment Arts & Engineering.” The MBA/MEAE, which aims to bridge the ‘suits’ vs. the ‘dev’ divide, takes three years to complete.

Other graduate offerings include a five-year BS/MS with a Graphics and Visualization Specialization offered through the School of Computing. This accelerated program makes it possible for students to get both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in just five years. The degree has three options: course-only, project, and thesis and students can choose a number of electives to refine the degree. Sample courses include Character Animation, 3D Computer Vision, Physics-Based Animation, Virtual Reality, and Human/Computer Interaction.

DePaul University (est. 1898) offers 300 programs of study across 10 colleges and schools and two campuses in Chicago. In keeping with the university’s commitment to diversity and access to education, 35% of total enrollments are students of color and 86% of students receive some type of financial aid. The College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM), where the game programs are housed, is also home to programs such as animation, computer science, and sound design, offering cross-disciplinary courses and collaboration among students. 

DePaul offers an MFA in Game Design and an MS in Game Programming, in addition to Real-Time Game Systems and Technical Artist concentrations in other graduate degree programs. The MFA in Game Design is for creative visionaries intent on producing socially, culturally, and emotionally substantial work. The degree prepares students to advance the frontier of games by exploring emerging theories and applying them to practice. The MS in Game Programming is designed for those interested in game development programming at the highest level, including real time computing, computer graphics, and professionals retooling for the game industry.  

Game students showcase their work at both public and private (for industry professionals) events annually. Additionally, MFA students showcase their games that advance the medium--including VR, tabletop, and digital--at the Chicago Toy & Game Fair.

CDM has over 40 labs with roughly a dozen dedicated to gaming, including game development and research labs, a gameplay lab, playtest and usability labs, and, new in 2018, a Virtual and Augmented Reality Design Lab that supports multiplayer, room-scale VR and AR game dev on cutting-edge devices.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was founded 1861. The school serves nearly 11,500 students enrolled in more than 100 programs across five schools including the School of Architecture and Planning, the School of Engineering, the School of Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences (HASS), MIT Sloan School of Management, and the School of Science. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is also home to the MIT Game Lab, the MIT Education Arcade, and the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab.

Together, the labs provide the opportunity to study, design, and develop games as a supplement to several degree programs. Simply put, students who are interested in games can create their own program is study. Graduate students may choose the MS in Comparative Media Studies (CMS) with a Games and Interactive Media “Cluster.” The CMS program is available through the HASS Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing.

An MS in Computer Science and Engineering is also available. This offering is an extensive graduate program that allows students to study and participate in active research of aspects in computer science that are vital in the creation of modern digital games, such as artificial intelligence, networking, and computer graphics.

Established in 1963 and home to more than 66,000 students across four campuses, the University of Central Florida (UCF) is the nation’s second-largest university. One of the nation’s youngest universities, UCF offers around 230 degree programs across 13 colleges. One of the school’s largest programs is game design.

The Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA) is UCF’s graduate video game design school. The school says that the Academy opened its doors to a select group of future game developers and creators in August of 2005. Today, FIEA is home to dozens of students enrolled in the MS in Interactive Entertainment program with three Tracks: Art, Production, and Programming.

The MS program teaches artists, programmers, and producers the techniques, tools, and skills to succeed in the gaming industry, says the school. It provides specific skills in the area of game design, as well as essential skills such as problem solving, teamwork, and project management.

Program highlights include student production teams and access to internship opportunities and job interviews with game and media companies from across the country. Student production teams are mentored by industry experts and researchers who provide instruction in game design, technical design, creative collaboration, rapid prototyping, 3-D animation and modeling, technical art, motion capture, software engineering, legal and ethical issues, preproduction, and postmortems.