Program

The Masters degree “Time-based Media / Sound – Vision – Games” teaches game design close to the reality of the design industry all over the world. It is specifically tailored to suit the needs and the language of this booming field, while also offering depth of the theoretical and practical backgrounds of media management and game studies. As a result our graduates have more than excellent job perspectives.

Computer scientists and designers collaborate in the production of game prototypes and deepen their theoretical knowledge in game-related content. We skillfully combine theory and practice – therefore a stunning array of guest lecturers from the computer game industry are part of our teaching team.

There are excellent career opportunities for highly qualified personnel in the games industry. Game designers, 3-D animators, level designers and programmers are desperately needed in the industry and find a job quickly. According to the GameCity:Hamburg there are several hundred vacancies in Hamburg alone. Our Masters program addresses this market, in close cooperation with the games industry.

If you have completed an artistic or design degree, you can become a concept artist, a 3D animator and level designer. As a computer scientist, you can deepen your knowledge in computer graphics, game engine design and programming, AI or mobile and console development. Additionally, you can gain knowledge about the games market, game production and learn about the theory of games and media.

With over 13,000 students Hamburg University of Applied Sciences is the second largest institution of higher education in the Hamburg region and one of the largest of its kind (University of Applied Sciences) in Germany. Exchange students from partner universities do not have to pay tuition in Hamburg. All students will be charged a semester contribution of 317.90 Euros (October 2015). This contribution includes a semester ticket which allows you six months unlimited travel on Hamburg‘s public transport system..

Facilities and Equipment

The GamecityLab at the HAW Hamburg is equipped with state-of-the-art high-end computers, mobile devices and the respective software (Creative Suite, Unity Engine, Maya, zBrush, iPhone and Android SDK, and more). We also offer a professional motion capturing system by Xsens. This offers you the whole professional game production pipeline – from design and game design document to the final level.

The heart of the Games Masters program is a game development project through all three semesters. Here, computer scientists and designers develop a “vertical slice” of a whole game as teams. Parallely, there are subjects like level design, entrepreneurship (business knowledge) and on game theory and ethics of computer games. Specialization courses for both designers and computer scientists and elective courses (e.g. dramaturgy, community, e-learning etc.) are also available.

Games Master Curriculum

The new Games Master course guide 2017/18 (PDF, german only at the moment)

To the application

Interested?

Applicants must have a recognized Bachelor’s degree or a diploma of the fields of design (communications,
graphic, interaction, media etc.) or computer science (computer science, media systems, applied computer
science etc.). You should have particular interest in game development, which you’ll have to present in form
of work samples and during an interview.
To the application