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Learn to produce vibrant and engaging experiences for gamers on this dynamic online MA course. You’ll analyse the principles of the creative process, from early ideation and prototyping through to full production, release and post-release content.

Supported by an experienced cross-disciplinary team of industry practitioners, including tutors working in professional game development roles, you’ll learn to integrate design tools, programming languages, game engines, specialist middleware and frameworks into your game development practice.

You’ll explore current trends in indie games, funding opportunities and studio business models to see how you could start up your own. If you already have a business or game idea, this is your chance to get it off the ground by preparing pitch materials with help from tutors with a wealth of experience.

This Indie Game Development master's course is delivered by Falmouth's Games Academy , which has been ranked 11th in the world for postgraduate games courses, No.1 for both undergraduate and postgraduate Games Design in England (The Princeton Review 2025).

Apply the principles of design and creativity to generate novel experiences and own the Intellectual Property (IP) of any games you produce

Develop digital and non-digital prototypes and playable games, exploring the use of games across a range of application domains, including gamification and serious games – learning to use industry-standard platforms and adapting to their technical constraints

Use methods from business and analytics to better understand how people engage with indie games and games companies

Collaborate across disciplinary boundaries and expand your professional networks at optional in-person events

Throughout this indie game development course, you'll learn how to produce original and creatively distinguished games based on your own intellectual property. You'll gain the ability to critically reflect upon and evaluate working methods and find the most effective ways to collaborate on projects. You'll also gain key professional skills in pitching your ideas; communicating concepts and presenting artefacts visually with clarity and enthusiasm.

Modules

The modules have been specifically designed to be studied in a non-linear order, with the order in which you’ll study the modules depending on when you begin the course.

You will need to complete four 30-credit modules and one 60-credit Major Project (180 credits in total). All modules on the course are compulsory and must be passed in order to complete the award.

From module information to course aims and assessment criteria, discover the full course details for the MA .

PGDip

You will need to complete four 30-credit modules (120 credits in total), and will not complete a Major Project.

From module information to course aims and assessment criteria, discover the full course details for the PGDip .

By devising a series of small-scale creative artefacts, you'll use your existing ideas about development practice and then experiment with new approaches to challenge these ideas. This will enable you to create a personal case study, from which you can define how to expand and enrich your practice. Beyond the personal case study, you'll gain a broader sense of the contexts in which these practices are applied across disciplines.

(30 credits)

You’ll develop and combine skills from the art, design and programming disciplines to create your own small indie game. This will help you understand how game development draws from many different disciplines and explain the different tasks involved in making games. By the end of the module you'll have made a game yourself and produced a report that explains the cross-disciplinary context for your creative process.

(30 credits)

You'll work in a multi-disciplinary team on a problem-led creative project. This will typically, but not necessarily, be a small game or creative app. You'll work together to situate, design, implement and evaluate your creative artefact. With the support of a supervisor, you'll strategically manage scope, workflow, communication roles and responsibilities. At the end, you will have pitched and produced an original artefact, based on your own intellectual property, that clearly illustrates how you can engage an audience.

(30 credits)

In this module, you’ll design and prepare to launch a small business with a focus on indie game development. You’ll investigate and assess market opportunities in an area of your choice. This could involve exploring your audience, comparing how game businesses operate, contrasting business models, and considering how intellectual property can be managed. You’ll then decide which business opportunity your indie game is responding to and devise a business plan. You’ll consider branding, cash flow modelling, enterprise planning, incorporation, seeking further investment and interrogating routes to market. This will underpin further development and launch of your indie game.

(30 credits)

You’ll work on a major research and development project, either independently or with others. This will allow you to expand and consolidate your skills of devising, developing and executing an extended development project. You can build upon your projects from other modules or develop a new concept. You should finish the course with a polished project of a publishable quality. A supervisor will act as your mentor and adviser. If you’re planning to start your own business following this MA, your supervisor can direct you to professional services staff for business mentoring.

(60 credits)

As part of our process of continuous improvement, we routinely review course content to ensure that all our students benefit from a high-quality and rewarding academic experience. As such, there may be some changes made to your course which are not immediately reflected in the content displayed on our website. Any students affected will be informed of any changes made directly.

You'll learn through a blend of lectures, webinars, guest talks, tasks and discussion forums, which you'll access via our dedicated virtual learning environment. This is also where you'll find all key documentation, get course announcements and access extensive learning resources.

How will I be supported?

You'll be supported academically by Online Tutors, who will also deliver weekly webinars and facilitate the online forums. If you need assistance with anything that isn't directly related to course material, a dedicated Student Advisor team will be on hand to help. You'll also have access to Falmouth University's excellent Employability Service .

You'll refine dynamic development practices, spending around 25 hours a week working on your craft. We incorporate optional face-to-face events for all our online students. There will be up to two per year and will typically run over weekends, to fit around your other commitments.

What are my study hours?

Based on the total learning time for the Postgraduate online courses, an average study week can be up to 25 hours. As our online courses are intended to be flexible, the time required to study will vary based on the level of study, the module week, and individual learning pace.

Find out more about learning online

Assessment methods

Assessment provides the course team with a means of offering tailored guidance alongside advice on how to progress knowledge and skills in key areas that relate to the course Learning Outcomes. The course team will identify your strengths and weaknesses as an individual and discuss them with you throughout your time on the course.

Assessments are 100% coursework, submitted in an electronic format to the virtual learning environment, and designed to reflect professional practice. Assessment methods include:

Projects

Portfolios

Pitches

Papers

Dedicated easy-to-use virtual learning environment (VLE)

Accessible online audio / visual content

A Student Advisor to support you throughout your studies and access to our Student Support Services

Access to our Employability Service

24/7 access to Falmouth's extensive online library of contextual books, journals and resources

Access to online software tutorials at LinkedIn Learning

Students' Union community

Optional in-person events

Invitation to attend alumni events

Although online students don't have access to on-campus facilities as part of the course, you can hire equipment and access facilities by paying a charge. Find out more about availability and prices here.

The Indie Game Development course is part of Falmouth’s Games Academy , one of the largest dedicated game development studio spaces of any UK university. You'll learn from industry experts with years of experience across disciplines, bringing together art, animation, audio, design, programming, production and writing. Some members of staff only teach on specific modules.

Game developers at companies such as MediaTonic, Firesprite, Creative Assembly, Project Gamechanger and Rare

Creative AI specialists at companies including Ultrahaptics, Solutionpath and Bewsign

Researchers and developers at companies such as Facebook

Designers, developers, programmers and analysts at companies such as Facebook

Doctoral researchers in artificial intelligence and/or data science, sponsored by the likes of Google

Our graduates have a track record of producing successful indie games. Published titles include: Get Packed by Moonshine Studio, Soria by Polargryph, SAI by Studio Mutiny, RoBoats by Animal Puree, Kick Your Astronaut by SquirrelSoft and Karate Krab by Liquid Sapling. Visit Our Games page to find a selection of real games that Falmouth students have collaborated on.

Speak to us about the course

If you'd like to talk to an Advisor about this course or your application, get in touch with us via the form below.

Ask us a question

Apply now

Ready to apply for postgraduate study? We have three start dates a year: January / May / September. Select the start date you'd like to apply for in the drop-downs below and then click the relevant apply button to begin.

You can apply to begin your studies in September 2025 by selecting the relevant course route below:

Apply for MA

Apply for PGDip

You can apply to begin your studies in January 2026 by selecting the relevant course route below:

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Apply for PGDip

You can apply to begin your studies in May 2026 by selecting the relevant course route below:

Apply for MA

Apply for PGDip

An honours degree or Level 6 equivalent qualification is desirable. However, c andidates without a degree or formal qualification are still encouraged to apply. If you'd like to discuss our entry requirements, speak to an advisor .

For more information regarding equivalent international qualifications and Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) either request information with our easy online form, or read about it on our apply page .

If English is not your first language you will need to meet the same standard which is equivalent to the IELTS Academic 6.5 overall score, with at least 5.5 in Reading, Writing, and Listening, and a minimum of 6.0 in speaking.

We also accept a range of other recognised English language qualifications.  You can visit our English Language Requirements page for more information.

For more information about equivalent international qualifications or English language requirements please contact our friendly Course Advisors .

We're looking for people who are interested in working with artists and designers, developers, and creatives in a distributed studio environment, testing and experimenting with cutting-edge technologies and game development techniques.

You may be early in your career following completion of related undergraduate study or further along in your career but interested in re-training and learning new relevant technical skills or starting a business.

An Early Bird discount is available for early applications. Currently the scheme offers up to £600 off MA tuition fees: £300 if you apply by the Early Bird discount submission deadline, and a further £300 off your tuition fees if you receive an offer and within two weeks you accept the place and pay the acceptance fee. Both these payments would be applied to your final fee instalment. Please note the discount amount is subject to change for future intakes.

Tuition fees are set annually and are subject to review each year. The University may therefore raise tuition fees in the second or subsequent years of a course, in line with inflation and/or the maximum permitted by law or Government policy. Students will be notified of any changes as soon as possible.

The figures above don't include accommodation and living costs

What better way to find out about life at Falmouth University than by asking our current students?

From course details and academic support, to the social scene and settling in, our students are ready and available to answer any questions you might have. Simply set up your account, send them a question and they'll get back to you within 24 hours.