HD in Game - Design is a higher diploma in Digital Media & Game Development programme offered by Mohawk College in Hamilton, Canada. The programme runs for 3 years, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 16,358 per year (CAD 3,296 per year for local students).
This diploma applies design thinking to building both physical and digital games, combining the craft of game design with the technical and artistic skills needed for game production. Students build wide-ranging skills used across the games industry, including audio, visual effects, 2D and 3D visual arts, programming, game engines and game writing, and study design in depth, from design thinking and core game-design concepts to more advanced ground covering game economies, game systems, psychology and user experience. Coursework covers industry-standard software and development hardware, the creation of functional games and prototypes, and the application of game design to fields such as education, training, entertainment and social work, alongside examination of ethical questions around content creation and workplace interactions.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Mohawk states the same academic requirements for domestic and international applicants.
ACADEMIC ENTRY: an OSSD or its equivalent (Mohawk Academic Upgrading or GED) including Grade 12 English at the C or U level or equivalent. Mohawk also publishes a mature-applicant route for people without the school credits.
GAME DESIGN ACTIVITY - optional, not required. After submitting the ontariocolleges.ca application you may complete a short design activity linked from the program page. Mohawk describes it as a way to show how you follow instructions and how you solve problems, including an equity-and-inclusion angle on design, and says it also gives applicants a feel for the kind of work the program involves.
ENGLISH, where it is not your first language (Mohawk lists these as stand-ins for the Grade 12 English credit, and they apply to domestic and international applicants alike): IELTS Academic 6.0 overall with no band under 5.5; or TOEFL iBT 80 (paper-based 550); or Duolingo 105-110 with no band under 100; or finishing Mohawk’s General Arts and Science - English for Academic Purposes program (478).
Application Details
Start Date:Starts Mohawk lists on this program’s own page, checked 6 September 2026. Domestic applicants: September 2026 at Fennell Campus (FF); January 2027 at Fennell Campus (FF). International applicants: September intake. The two lists differ, so check the intake you want is open to your applicant type before applying. Mohawk runs a Fall term from September, a Winter term from January and a Spring/Summer term from May; not every program runs every term, and the seat status shown beside a start (open, waitlist, closed) moves as intakes fill.
Application Deadline:Mohawk publishes no deadline unique to this program; the dates below are the college-wide ones.
DOMESTIC APPLICANTS (Canadian citizens and permanent residents) apply through ontariocolleges.ca. Equal consideration date: 1 February for a September start; 1 June for a January start. Applications that reach Ontario Colleges by then are read together in the first round of offers. Applying afterwards is still allowed, but remaining seats go first-come, first-served, and a competitive program is usually full by that point. Where a program draws more qualified applicants than it has seats, Mohawk ranks them on the average of their highest senior-level final grades in the required courses, and offers go to Ontario permanent residents first, then residents of other Canadian provinces and territories, then international applicants.
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS (citizens of another country without Canadian permanent residence) do not use the equal consideration dates. They apply through the OCAS International Application Service, which sets a separate deadline for each intake rather than one annual date; the current list is on Mohawk’s international apply page. Files arriving after a deadline are judged on remaining program capacity, visa status and study-permit processing time for the applicant’s region, and Mohawk states it may cap applications or impose deadlines by region. The CAD 100 application fee is non-refundable and covers up to two program choices starting in the same August-to-July academic year.
