Ultima actualizare 09/09/2025 15:11:08

Art of Game Design


The Art of Game Design study program in English is the first Master’s that offers an academic framework for future game designers. The range of subjects in this program is created with the aim of providing an overview of a game project. Thus, the exams are mainly practical projects that lead a game from the documentation stage to the prototype stage: whether we are talking about board games or video games.

The academic curriculum is complemented by other extracurricular activities, supported by professionals in the field, and by practice carried out directly in large companies in the industry. Last but not least, students are supported in participating in exponential games community and industry events like: Dev. Play, Game Jams, Games Days Festival. Discover the site supported by students, future game designers.

 înscriere online 04 august – 11 septembrie 2025

Înscrierea se face obligatoriu online prin accesarea platformei 2BitsEDU.
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Complete submissions are handed in after registration, exclusively in an online electronic format. The candidate must ensure that all required elements are present in the submission and can be accessed, otherwise they will not be admitted to the examination.


The institution will provide, only after registration on the Edubits platform, a folder on a secured online platform where the candidate can upload the required documents. Access to this folder is restricted to the institution and the candidate. The access details will be communicated over the email address used for registration.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

  • The application is open for graduates from faculties in the field or the following domains: Film and Media, Theater and Performing Arts, Design, Fine Arts, Animation, Music, Architecture, Computer Science, Engineering;
  • Candidates must have completed a degree with 180 credits or 240 credits;

To apply, candidates will submit online:

  1. CV EUROPASS with photo, in PDF format according to the EU guideline
  2. Portfolio of works / projects related to Game Design (primary: games / secondary: graphic design, visual art, interactive experiences, installations, narrative experiences, character designs, prototypes, software or any other work with relevant content). Accepted techniques include digital, traditional or mixed media.
  3. Short written description of one work/project and the creative processes involved (primary: project pitch, secondary: storyboard, director’s notebook etc)
  4. An essay of 1,500-2,000 words containing:
    • Personal motivation and evidence of interest in game design
    • Prior experience relevant to the field of games or interactive experiences
    • Personal experience with games / favourite games
    • The candidate’s abilities relevant to the field of game design.

Optionally, the candidate may provide supplemental portfolio materials in a physical format on the day of the examination. These will be handed to the secretary of the commission before the start of the examination.

SINGLE STAGE

Tests are graded from 1 to 10

Test 1

oral assessment
grades are given from 1 to 10
oral 20 minutes

  • Presentation of the portfolio and explanation of the technical and aesthetic means used / defending the argumentation essay. (10 minutes)
  • Interview  (10 minutes)
    • based on the portfolio, CV, essay submitted by the candidate
    • general knowledge and ludography/bibliography.
    • commentary on the text and the game from the mandatory bibliography, respectively the mandatory ludography.

Only for non-EU candidates, for master’s studies in English: The admission exam date for non-EU candidates applying to English-language master’s programs is September 1, 2025.

Test 2

practical & oral assessment
30 minutes preparation and 20 minutes examination
(10 minutes presentation, 10 minutes questions)

Prototyping of a game element on the basis of which also develops the concept of the game, starting from a given theme – evaluation of practical skills in specific software environments *, at the choice of the candidate.

* an OSX or Windows system will be available with Unity, Unreal, Godot, PICO-8, Max/MSP, Ableton Live, Pd, Adobe Creative Cloud, 3ds Max, SketchUp, Maya (or other software, on request). The candidate can also bring his/her own configuration.

In case of equal averages, the candidates will be separated by taking into account the grade obtained in Test 1. If equality persists, the candidates will be separated through a tie-breaker test involving the completion of a gaming exercise proposed by the committee.

Only for non-EU candidates, for master’s studies in English: The admission exam date for non-EU candidates applying to English-language master’s programs is September 1, 2025.

LUDOGRAPHY

Mandatory 
Super Mario Bros, 1985

Recommended 
VIDEO GAMES

  • Bioshock
  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Gorogoa
  • Inside
  • It Takes Two
  • Journey
  • Layers of Fear
  • Minecraft
  • Monument
  • Valley
  • Pac-Man
  • Pong
  • Pokemon Go
  • Stanley Parable

BOARD GAMES

  • Azul
  • Carcassonne
  • Dixit
  • Pandemic
  • Saboteur
  • Story Cubes

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mandatory

  • Brathwaite, Brenda, Schreiber, Ian – Challenges for Game Designers, Course Technology, 2009 (Part I, chapter 1 The Basics)

Recommended

  • Adams, Ernst – Fundamentals of Game Design, Third Edition, New Riders, 2014
  • Fullerton, Tracy – Game Design Workshop, Second Edition, Elsevier, 2008
  • Schell, Jesse – The Art of Game Design, 2015
  • Sicart, Miguel –  Play Matters, The MIT Press, 2014
  • Zimmerman, Eric, Salen, Katie – Rules of Play, Cambridge, Ed. MIT Press, 2004

IMPORTANT:

  1. No objections claims allowed at oral / practical assessments
  2. Grades are given from 1 to 10
  3. The final grade is the arithmetic mean of the two tests
  4. The minimum admission average for places financed from the budget and for those with a fee cannot be lower than 6.00 (six)