Overview

The Games Design and Development Master of Design at Heriot-Watt University provides students with a unique opportunity to design and develop their own computer game to the highest industry standards while gaining hands-on experience with the product lifecycle, gathering technical and professional skills, and further practical entrepreneurship knowledge. It is the perfect stepping stone to enable students to smoothly transition to design and programming roles in the games industry.

Key facts

This Masters degree benefits from the utilisation of our purpose-built Games Studio inside our £19m innovation and entrepreneurship GRID building. As there are only a handful of universities worldwide capable of offering such design-led programmes, this studio will provide students with a unique mixture of practical supervised studio learning experience, technical know-how, and an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship approach to Games production.

Programme Structure

Mandatory September

Games Design Practice and Pre-production Experience

Computer Graphics

Biologically Inspired Computation

Data Mining and Machine Learning

Strategic Innovation Management

Games Production Practice and Playtesting Evaluation

Business Start-up

Key information

Duration

Full-time
- 12 months

Start dates & application deadlines

Starting 2026-09-14 00:00:00
- Apply before 2026-08-31 00:00:00 , National
- Apply before 2026-08-03 00:00:00 , International

More details

International students must apply at least 6 weeks before teaching is due to begin.

Language

English

TOEFL^® IBT

OR

79

OR

4

Schedule TOEFL®

PTE Academic

63

Schedule a PTE test!

IELTS

6

Prepare for Your English Test

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Credits

180 alternative credits

Delivered

On Campus

Campus Location

Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Disciplines

Game Design View 92 other Masters in Game Design in United Kingdom

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Academic requirements

GPA

Lower Second Class

English requirements

TOEFL^® IBT

OR

79

OR

4

Schedule TOEFL®

PTE Academic

63

Schedule a PTE test!

IELTS

6

Prepare for Your English Test

Cathoven AI IELTS Preparation

Learn your IELTS Score

AI-powered IELTS feedback. Clear, actionable, and tailored to boost your writing & speaking score. No credit card or upfront payment required.

Trusted by 300k learners
98 accuracy using real exam data
4.9/5 student rating

Other requirements

General requirements

A minimum of a 2:2 honours degree or non-UK equivalent in subject area which includes University level mathematics and programming as components. Games experience is valuable, however a detailed statement of purpose would be acceptable.

Tuition Fees

Tuition fees are shown in and the most likely applicable fee is shown based on your nationality.

International Applies to you

Applies to you

Non-residents

26296 GBP / year

≈ 26296 GBP / year
Domestic Applies to you

Applies to you

Citizens or residents

12584 GBP / year

≈ 12584 GBP / year

Living costs

Edinburgh

United Kingdom

725 - 1167 GBP / month

The living costs include the total expenses per month, covering accommodation, public transportation, utilities (electricity, internet), books and groceries.

Funding

Postgraduate scholarships and bursaries

We aim to encourage well-qualified, ambitious students to study with us and we offer a wide variety of scholarships and bursaries to achieve this. Over £6 million worth of opportunities are available in fee and stipend scholarships, and more than 400 students benefit from this support.

Win a €10000 Scholarship! Deadline: 30 June 2020

Embark on your journey with the Studyportals Scholarship! We're giving away a total of 20,000 euros to help you achieve your dream of studying abroad.

Win a €10000 Scholarship! Deadline: 30 June 2020

Embark on your journey with the Studyportals Scholarship! We're giving away a total of 20,000 euros to help you achieve your dream of studying abroad.

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Scholarships Information

Below you will find Master's scholarship opportunities for Games Design and Development.

Available Scholarships

You are eligible to apply for these scholarships but a selection process will still be applied by the provider.

On this page

About

Overview

Key facts

Programme Structure

Key information

Duration

Start dates & application deadlines

Language

Prepare for Your English Test

Credits

Delivered

Campus Location

Disciplines

What students do after studying

Academic requirements

English requirements

Prepare for Your English Test

Other requirements

General requirements

Tuition Fees

International Applies to you

Domestic Applies to you

Living costs

Edinburgh

Funding

Postgraduate scholarships and bursaries

Need help with your student visa?

Scholarships Information

Available Scholarships

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