Academics
SMU Guildhall provides aspiring game developers with advanced, world-renowned education for career-evolving specialized preparation.
SMU Guildhall's Game Design Programs
We merge solid academics with real-world products. SMU Guildhall's highly ranked Master's-level game development education equips the next generation of game creators with the technical skills and instincts required to drive the evolution of gaming. Our 100+ graduate game development courses are modeled after the style and pace of the industry and taught by industry veterans.
Bachelor of Arts in Game Development: This undergraduate degree will grow your foundational technique and artistic skill in drawing, modeling and hands-on creative production for the evolving landscape of interactive entertainment, digital media and game development.
Master of Interactive Technology (MIT) in Digital Game Development: SMU Guildhall's signature graduate program has pioneered game development education since 2003, providing developer-created curriculum that is mirrored to directly model and prepare students for real studio environments.
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What Will You Study?
While our undergraduate degree focuses on a foundational introduction to game development, our Master's program offers highly specialized, next-level training in all of the cornerstones of game development. Each Master's student will select a specialization in one of four disciplines:
Choose Your Master's Track
Art Creation
Art Creation
Apply your natural artistic talents to create interactive game art, bringing imagined worlds and characters to vivid digital life.
Level Design
Level Design
Learn to craft the story and player experience as you assemble gameplay progression, level architecture, player flow, and immersion.
Production
Production
Shepherd cross-disciplinary teams of developers in a studio simulation. Producers also select a secondary sub-specialization.
Programming
Programming
Write code that breathes life into games. Study engine design and architecture, data-driven gameplay systems, and more.
SMU Guildhall's Curriculum
Our Cohort Model
In the Master's program, students will be admitted with a "cohort" of students and move through our program together in lockstep. Your course sequence will include team game production, specialized classes, industry trends, leadership, and professional development. Each course serves as a prerequisite for the next, first elevating your individual skills and then combining them in collaborative development.
Course Catalog Bulletin
In-depth degree specifications, including descriptions and sequencing of our 100+ courses, lectures, and labs.
Independent Coursework & Research
Guildhall students pursue independent passion projects, analyze industry trends, and solve critical issues to demonstrate mastery of their specialized crafts.
Directed Focus Studies and Master's Theses showcase each student's unique interests and mastery of the skills required in their discipline and career path. Many students are also part of large collaborative research initiatives, which seek to find solutions to pressing global issues. Unity, Valve, Epic, Microsoft, Nintendo, Intel, Dell, Oculus Rift, and America’s Army, have all sponsored research projects through grants, scholarships, and technology.
Annual SMU GUildhall Student Work Index
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Studio-Modeled Learning: Interdisciplinary in Thought and Action
Team-based game development and specialized learning are at the core of our curriculum. In our Master's program, students take courses in their specialization, developing independent projects with a narrow track of concentrated study, and then apply those skills to cross-disciplinary Team Game Production courses. Here, they concept, prototype, build, test, and release team games in the style and pace of the industry using engines like Unity, Unreal, Half-Life 2 (Source), and Skyrim (Creation Engine).
At graduation, every Master's student will have made a minimum of three original games—including one 2D game and two 3D games—on a variety of platforms including PC, console, mobile, and VR. Team sizes and composition evolve to allow students both lead and supporting roles; the first games, made in small teams, serve as foundational stepping stones toward final large-scale, total-conversion Capstone projects.
"I can't think of anyone that didn't teach me something I still use today. At SMU Guildhall, we had the equivalent of years of practical work on game development in a very short period of time."
Brent Ellison (Cohort 8)
Learn More About SMU Guildhall Academics
Contact us for information on our educational programs and research opportunities:
Elizabeth Stringer
Director, Academics
estringer@smu.edu
214-768-5134
