Do you want to design and balance game mechanics as well as tell stories? On this hands on course, you'll be making games with a mix of digital and paper prototyping and planning from week one. You’ll gain hands-on experience that will help you build your portfolio that will set you up for a successful career in a range of creative industries.
The games industry is complex, diverse and spans a variety of old and new technologies from print to computer software to 3D printed game pieces. This BA gives you the transferable skills and knowledge you need to become a successful games designer in this fast-changing industry.
Past students have gone on to work for CD Projekt Red, Creative Assembly, King, Mediatonic, Media Molecule, among many others.
Led by academic staff experienced in AAA, indie, tabletop and mobile gaming, you'll develop your games design and prototyping core skills, as well as experimenting with environment and level design, scripting, game environmental storytelling and non-linear storytelling.
This is facilitated through a blended approach to teaching with a mix of in person and online teaching to help prepare you for the distributed nature of the world of work.
You will be introduced to a range of software and techniques to make playable prototypes quickly, including Adventure Game Studio, RPGMaker, RenPy, Unity and Unreal.
You’ll get plenty of hands-on experience and opportunities for collaborating with students from our 3D animation, art and design, music, computing and graphics departments as part of our coordinated workshop activities.
You’ll develop your employability skills and industry connections with a range of work placements and internship opportunities. Our links with industry partners also give you access to live briefs, guest lecturers, and potential employers.
Year on year, students from this programme produce fantastic, high quality game prototypes. Take a look at some of the games created by our 2022 graduates.
*this course is subject to review. We periodically re-evaluate our programmes to make sure the content and teaching stay up to date and relevant. Please check this page regularly for updates.
You’ll be matched with a Personal Tutor and will get support from our Student Learning and Graduate Academic Assistants.
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The overall themes of this degree are project work, analysis, research, reflection, collaboration, making, diversity, play and experimentation. You will learn key skills, such as: game design and prototyping, game engine scripting, environmental storytelling, game writing, idea generation and selection, game prototyping, basic programming, writing and storytelling for games and environmental design.
Develop an understanding of workflows for making game prototypes using two different game engines as examples.
Explore the key theoretical concepts and history of game development and player experience-focused design.
Learn the key design processes and skills for games design from idea generation, evaluation, and pitching to testing a level prototype.
Collaborate on pitching, designing, and making a game prototype as groups.
Work to fulfil an industry brief as a collaborative group. Work with students from different specialities managing asset workflows to produce a prototype.
Develop an understanding of the technical challenges of designing for delivering a game to multiple platforms (PC, Mobile, Console). Develop a prototype for a cross-platform game.
Learning to craft player experiences using worldbuilding and characterization techniques that include game writing and environment design.
Explore the key theoretical concepts and history of game development in a wide range of contexts. This includes looking at serious games and games for education.
Develop a more advanced appreciation for creating story-based experiences using assets, sound, and writing to create well rounded levels.
Propose a games design research topic and write a substantial examination of the existing knowledge on the subject. Using an existing game or a prototype they will carry out a playtest study to examine the design question that interest them.
Take a game idea from pitch to advanced prototype. Most students will work as a group and are encouraged and supported in finding students from other disciplines to collaborate with.
More information about this course
See the course specification for more information about typical course content.
Games Design showreel
Games Design reel
The programme is well resourced with state-of-the-art facilities - you will have access to over 30 workstations equipped with an impressive array of the latest software including Unity, Processing, OpenFrameworks, Maya, Z-Brush, After Effects, Flash, Final Cut Pro and Photoshop. Students will also have access to a Vicon Motion Capture and Green screen facility.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.
Start: September 2023
Duration: 3 years full-time
Code: W615
Start: September 2023
Duration: 1 year full-time +, 3 years full-time
Code: See How to apply tab
Start: September 2023
Duration: 3 years full-time, Usually 6 years part-time
Code: P303
