Game Design
Master of Fine Arts
Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media
Programs of Interest
0Invent the future of games!
DePaul’s nationally recognized Master of Fine Arts 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.
DePaul’s School of Design is located in the heart of Chicago’s Loop district. Chicago’s thriving games industry offers opportunities for students to form valuable industry connections.
For international students: this is a STEM-designated program, which can qualify you to extend your post-graduation stay in the United States.
Flexible Curriculum
The MFA Game Design is a cohort-based program designed to be completed in 2.5 years, taking place over eight 10-week quarters. Students will take foundational classes and engage with game design methods, reflective practice, making, and collaboration through a mix of bootcamp, theory, and production studio classes. Over half of the courses leading to the degree can be tailored by the students to their personal interests and allows them to truly create their own individual journey.
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
- Critique games from a variety of perspectives including historical, aesthetic, and social.
- Design and develop games with historical, aesthetic, and social significance.
- Leverage the affordances of games to intentionally evoke specific emotions and experiences or purposefully communicate ideas as well as have the desired social impact.
- Iteratively build projects up from simple prototypes to increasingly complex systems.
Michelle Lega (MFA '20)
Michelle Lega is a senior producer in the video game industry, helping indie teams develop and publish their games. She is a strong advocate for helping underrepresented voices find their place in the industry, and recently gave a talk at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) where she provided advice and tips for new game developers.
"The connections I made during my time at DePaul have become lifelong friendships - people I work on game projects with, reach out to for help, and look forward to seeing at industry events!"
Jarvis Student Center for Innovation and Collaboration
The Jarvis Student Center for Innovation and Collaboration is an 8,000 square-foot open space where CDM students and faculty come together to ideate and innovate. The center focuses on multidisciplinary professional learning and industry partnerships fueled by emerging technologies and projects dedicated to societal needs, innovation, and creativity.
Engagement Opportunities
Through mentored independent studies and funded research assistantships, MFA Game Design students have several opportunities to work with faculty in their specialty areas, including immersive tech, prosocial games, hybrid games, and critical game studies.
Game Design Faculty
Our faculty are recognized leaders in the field of game design regularly publishing award-winning games and showing work in prestigious festivals, galleries and conferences. Their talents are matched by their diversity, some have decades of experience in the mainstream game industry, others advance games as an art form or sociocultural force, while others focus on scholarly analysis and criticism.