Sound – Vision – Games

Hamburg is Germany’s top location for everything to do with games and therefore the perfect setting for students in the course’s Games branch to boost their future career chances by forming networks via HAW Hamburg’s excellent connections in the local games industry and the buzzing independent scene.

The project-based structure of the course helps students in the Sound/Vision branch to launch their own technical, scientific or design ideas in a vibrant and creative environment. Our Finkenau media campus has everything you’ll need – sound, lighting, VR, video, production and signal processing labs, studios, workstations and mobile equipment.

This degree course is aimed at graduates with first degrees (Bachelor, Diplom or equivalent) in IT, media technology, media systems, media informatics, design, communication design, illustration, communication studies or audio/video production.

The Sound/Vision branch is ideally suited to holders of a first degree with a technical/scientific or artistic emphasis who want to advance their skills via specialist and interdisciplinary project work.

The Games branch is for you if you’re a design or IT/computer science graduate who intends to forge a career in the games industry or gain a specialist qualification in this field.

As detailed above, this three-semester Master’s degree course is divided into two independent branches, Sound/Vision and Games. In each of these, students take eight required or required elective modules.

The Sound/Vision branch is a project-centred course situated at a point of intersection between science, technology and creative design. Students learn and expand hands-on skills in areas such as audio technology and sound design, video technology, image design, visual effects (VFX), interactive sound/vision design, lighting technology and design, and production and project management. Typical projects might revolve around topics such as lighting design, video mapping, media walls, sound design for film, music production, video production and post-production, dramaturgy for film or theatre, or interactive works or installations. Scientific and technical projects might entail working with digital signal processing and synthesis, perception, immersive and interactive audiovisual techniques or lighting technology, or exploring the emotional impact of light and colour.

The Games branch is tailored to ways of working typical of the computer games industry. In this area of the course, upcoming designers and IT specialists collaborate on game prototypes and expand their theoretical competencies in relevant topics. This branch gives art or design graduates the opportunity to become concept artists, 3D animators or level designers – to name but a few of the potential options. Computer scientists can enhance their skills in computer graphics, game engines, artificial intelligence (AI) systems that respond or learn, or console programming, as well as learning about the mechanisms of the computer games market and game production and exploring the theories behind games.

Essential:

• A completed Bachelor's (BSc, BEng or BA) or Diplom degree (or equivalent), worth at least 210 credit points, in media technology, media systems, computer science, IT (applicants with a degree in applied IT or with a specialism in media are welcome), communication design, illustration or a related subject
• Successful completion of the aptitude assessment for your chosen branch:
• Part 1: Submission of a sample of your work
• Part 2: Interview, to which you will be invited if your performance in Part 1 merits it
• International applicants are required to demonstrate proficiency in the German language at level B1 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
• Admission will require proficiency in English at level B1, which will be tested during your interview.

Documents required when you register for the aptitude assessment:

• A copy of your first degree certificate or certificate of examinations (Prüfungszeugnis). If you did not do your first degree at HAW Hamburg, you will also need to submit your Diploma Supplement/Transcript of Records
• Registration form for the aptitude assessment, indicating whether you are applying for a place in the Sound/Vision or Games branch and your choice of focal area
• A sample of your work that provides a detailed and comprehensive demonstration of your interest in and your aptitude and potential for your chosen branch of the degree course.

Documents required for the formal application stage (1 December-15 January):

• A copy of your first degree certificate, showing your overall final grade, and/or your certificate of examinations from your Bachelor’s degree (Bachelorzeugnis)
• Diploma Supplement/Transcript of Records
• Confirmation of successful completion of the aptitude assessment

Documents you may choose to submit to enhance your application:

• Any documents demonstrating practical experience, work or courses you have done which are related or relevant to the areas of sound/vision or games
• A letter of recommendation

This degree course welcomes new entrants in the summer semester only, and does not have a winter semester intake.

Please register in writing for the aptitude assessment with the Department of Media Technology, Faculty of Design, Media and Information, between 1 October and 31 October; don’t forget to submit your sample of work. You will need to decide if you want to apply for the Sound/Vision or the Games branch; you can’t apply for both at once. A link to information on applying for the Games branch is here: http://www.gamesmaster-hamburg.de/bewerbung.

If you pass the aptitude assessment, you can submit your formal application for a place online between 1 December and 15 January.

Applications and admissions are managed by the Student Admissions and Registration Office (Studierendensekretariat) and the Examinations Office (Prüfungsamt).

You can find more information on the application process for Master’s degrees at Applying for a Master's degree course.