Do you want to design and balance game mechanics to create emergent player experiences? 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 BSc 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 programming, technology, and story development skills, as well as enhancing your game-play design expertise. You'll develop core games design and prototyping core skills, as well as in game engine scripting, developing for mobile, developing for VR/AR/XR and gameplay design.
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.
Year 1 provides an overall introduction, where you will begin to learn the essential skills you need to become an effective Games Designer. These include such skills as, programming, level design, mechanics and some basic 3D modelling and sound editing. You will also learn about the broader context of games; their history and cultural impact, player experience and theories relating to game design.
Year 2 develops the topics that were introduced in Year 1 with a greater emphasis on group work (including projects with students on other programmes) and experimentation.
Year 3 is where you can develop your skills still further and showcase your mastery with your final project. You will produce technically demanding levels or complete games (but with design components too). You also produce polished portfolios (of your project work over your 3 years of study) and undertake an industry focussed project, which may be the result of an internship, a live industry brief or on a negotiated topic.
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.
Develop an understanding of workflows for making game prototypes using two different game engines as examples.
Develop an understanding of workflows for making game prototypes using two different game engines as examples.
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.
Work to fulfil an industry brief as a collaborative group. Work with students from different specialities managing asset workflows to produce a prototype.
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.
Explore new and developing technologies and the concepts of interaction design that help understand ways to prototype and examine mechanics that suit new technology.
Make new and experimental gameplay. Learn processes to rapidly conceptualize and prototype game mechanics and evaluate the results.
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.
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.
Designing and making a new game requires a good deal of contextual research, design justification, project documentation and reflection. This module will help you develop the documentation to accompany your Final Project.
Develop a deeper understanding of the games industry and the requirements of different jobs in it. Create a portfolio of your previous work, choose your target job role, and come up with an improvement plan for targeting the job with your portfolio.
More information about this course
See the course specification for more information about typical course content.
A mix of recorded and live lectures allow you to gain and develop knowledge in specific subjects. You can discuss and develop your understanding of topics covered in lectures and practical sessions in smaller seminar and discussions groups. In addition, you can arrange one to one sessions with your tutors, personal tutor or module leader in person and online. You will also have access to and use resources to support and compliment your learning.
When not attending your taught sessions, mentioned above, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. Typically, this will involve working on projects, undertaking research, reading journal articles and books, and preparing for assessments including coursework. Your independent learning is supported by the facilities available including the library and Study Hub, Laptop hire, and with online materials in MyUniHub (see student support section below).
Your overall workload will include the activities listed above, and with each credit being completed equating to 10 hours of study time (You will complete 120 credits per level of study, which are broken down into modules of typically 30 credits). While your actual hours may depend on the optional module that you choose (if available), the following information will give you an indication of how much time is allocated to teaching and independent study on your course;
Level 4
24% of your time is spent in timetabled Teaching and learning - typical structure activity:
Teaching, learning and assessment: 288 hours
Independent Learning: 912 hours
Level 5
24% of your time is spent in timetabled Teaching and learning - typical structure activity:
Teaching, learning and assessment: 288 hours
Independent Learning: 912 hours
Level 6
22% of your time is spent in timetabled Teaching and learning - typical structure activity:
Teaching, learning and assessment: 264 hours
Independent Learning: 936 hours
You will have access to academic support services that you assist you in the following areas;
Study Skills, including academic writing, reading and numeracy skills.
The course will provide you with opportunities to test your knowledge and understanding informally through ‘formative’ assessment. This will be completed before your formal ‘summative’ assessment which will count towards your final marks. Each module normally contains at least one piece of formative assessment from which you will receive feedback from your tutor. Formative assessments are developmental and any grade you receive from formative assessment does not count towards your final marks.
There is formal ‘summative’ assessment as part of the module, usually towards the end of the module. The grades from the summative assessments count towards your module mark. Assessments are reviewed annually and may be updated based on student feedback, to suit content or based on feedback from an external examiner.
Percentage of course assessed by coursework
The balance of assessment will depend on the modules that you complete throughout your course. The approximate percentage of the course which is assessed by coursework is outlined below:
Level 4 100% coursework
Level 5 100% coursework
Level 6 100% coursework
You will receive feedback on the formative assessment, and summative assessments.
Feedback is intended to help you learn and progress, and you are encouraged to review and discuss your feedback with your module or personal tutor.
We will aim to provide you with feedback within 15 working days of submission.
Details of progression and pass marks for assessment can be found in the university regulations.
Student showreel
Student showreel
This degree opens up a wide variety of different career options, including: Technical Game Designer, Gameplay Designer, Level Designer, Interaction Designer, App Designer, Developer and Programmer.
Graduates from the course have gone into a range of roles throughout the gaming and creative industries:
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.
Our media and VFX studio is home to a wide range of sophisticated technology, enabling the creation of rich visual effects
You can work with wood, metal and plastics and the latest technologies, including a computer-controlled 3D printer
You will have access to our media store, with a range of industry-standard equipment for loan
Our digital media workshops have high-end work stations for all kinds of digital media, from video editing to 3D graphics and music composition.
