Deepen your expertise. Design a game experience. Take a production from concept to completion.
Taught entirely in English, the 3iS Master in Video Game is a two-year advanced program for French and international students who want to study video game development in France and specialize in Game Art, Game Design or Game Programming.
Based at 3iS Paris West, you will combine advanced specialist training with hands-on game development, working in multidisciplinary teams and taking increasing responsibility from concept and prototyping through to a final playable build.
At the heart of the program is a major game developed collaboratively over two years, giving you direct experience of the creative, technical and production challenges faced by professional studios.
Studying video game development in France also places you within a country internationally recognized for its studios, creative talent and games industry, while allowing you to study entirely in English within a multicultural environment.
By the end of the program, you will have developed advanced expertise, experienced a complete production cycle, contributed to a finished playable game and built a specialized portfolio designed to support your entry into the video game industry.
Campus
Paris West
Entry requirements
180 ECTS or equivalent
Certification
Nationally recognized French Level 7 professional certification registered in the National Register of Professional Certifications (RNCP)
At a glance
Duration
2 Years
Languages
English
Next intake
October 2027
Spring intake
February 2027
Pace
Full Time
Study format
On-Campus
Tuition fees - Non-French tax residents
€15,000
By the end of the Master, you will be able to:
Year 1 – Specialize, Design, Prototype – 60 ECTS
The first year focuses on developing advanced expertise in Game Art, Game Design or Game Programming while strengthening your understanding of the wider game development pipeline.
The exact subjects you study depend on your specialization and your role within the projects.
You may deepen your knowledge and skills in areas including:
Pre-production of the final-year Game
From Year 1, you and your team begin designing the game that will be developed throughout the two-year Master.
The pre-production phase includes:
The objective is to establish a clear creative and technical vision and develop a sufficiently convincing prototype to move into full production in Year 2.
Year 2 – Produce, Test, Finalize – 60 ECTS
The second year is primarily dedicated to full production of the final game and preparation for entry into the video game industry.
The exact areas you work on depend on your specialization and your role within the production.
You may work on:
You will learn how to evolve the project continuously while balancing creative vision, player experience, technical constraints, resources and deadlines.
At the same time, you will finalize your portfolio and prepare applications for video game studios and companies working across interactive entertainment and digital creation.
Three specialization pathways
1 – Game Art
The Game Art specialization prepares you to design and produce the visual identity and artistic content of interactive experiences.
You will deepen your expertise in areas including:
You will learn how to design each visual element according to its role within the game, taking into account readability, gameplay, immersion, technical performance and the coherence of the overall world.
The final game allows you to apply your expertise within a shared artistic direction while building a focused professional portfolio.
2 – Game Design
The Game Design specialization prepares you to design the rules, systems and situations that shape player experience.
You will deepen your expertise in areas including:
You will learn how to turn an idea into a playable experience, then observe, test and refine that experience in response to player feedback and production constraints.
The final game allows you to confront your design vision with the realities of collaborative production and real player experience.
3 – Game Programming
The Game Programming specialization prepares you to design and develop the technical systems that make a game playable, efficient and scalable.
You will deepen your expertise in areas including:
You will learn how to translate the intentions of game designers and art directors into reliable technical systems, evaluate performance and optimize the game for its target platforms.
The final game gives you the opportunity to take responsibility for the technical architecture of a collaborative production, working closely with game designers and artists.
The final-year Game
The final game is the defining project of the Master and a key piece of your professional portfolio.
Over two years, you will take part in a complete game production, from concept and prototype to testing, iteration and final playable build.
You will help define the artistic direction and player experience, organize production, allocate responsibilities, test and refine the game, and maintain a coherent creative and technical vision through to completion.
Each specialization contributes its expertise towards one shared goal: creating a coherent, engaging and genuinely playable game experience.
You will develop a key skill for studio work: mastering your own discipline while understanding how your decisions affect the overall player experience, production pipeline and work of other departments.
Together with your specialist portfolio, the finished game provides concrete evidence of your skills, your role within a production team and your ability to contribute to a complete game development cycle.
Learning to manage a production
At this stage of your studies, specialist expertise alone is no longer enough. You also need to understand how teams organize, coordinate and deliver complex productions.
The program progressively teaches you how to:
These skills prepare you to take on greater responsibility as your career develops and, with experience, progress towards lead, supervisory, technical direction, creative direction or production roles.
Professional experience
Professional development is integrated throughout both years through collaborative productions, input from industry professionals, production reviews, juries, portfolio development and preparation for recruitment.
The program also includes a three- to six-month industry placement in France or abroad at the end of the course. This placement allows you to apply your specialization in a professional environment, understand studio methods and expectations, and begin building your industry network.
Degree & Certification
The Master consists of two years of study following an initial 180-ECTS undergraduate cycle, bringing the complete higher education pathway to five years and 300 ECTS credits.
Subject to successful completion of the program and the applicable certification requirements, students may obtain a Level 7 professional certification registered in France’s National Register of Professional Certifications (RNCP), the official national framework for recognized professional qualifications.
Depending on your specialization, portfolio and experience, the Master prepares you for roles including:
Game Art
Game Design
Game Programming
The skills developed can also be applied to XR, immersive experiences and other forms of interactive creation.
With experience, graduates may progress towards roles such as Lead Artist, Lead Game Designer, Lead Programmer, Technical Director, Supervisor, Creative Director, Game Director or Producer.
Students who successfully complete the 3iS BA Animation & Video Game are admitted directly to the Master as the next stage of their five-year pathway.
The Master is also open to applicants with 180 ECTS credits or an equivalent three-year higher education qualification, particularly in video games, Game Art, Game Design, Game Programming, computer science or another compatible artistic, creative or technical field.
Applicants must have sufficient English to follow the program, collaborate effectively within a team and present their projects.
For external applicants, admission is based on:
