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BA (Hons) - Games Design

Whether it's Nintendo's Super Mario Bros, Ion Storm's Deus Ex, or Rockstar's GTA V, all successful games throughout each generation are built on good game and level design, story-telling, 2D and 3D modelling and texturing.

This is the ideal games design course, tailored to prepare you for a career in the multi-billion pound games industry. Spark your imagination and let that creativity run riot at our dedicated arts campus.

Apply

Course Overview

Turn your ideas into exciting new games. Seventy-five percent of your course is practical – designing, developing and creating new game experiences to create a portfolio for future employers.

This games design degree is all about the art and design work related to video games, creating storyboard concepts and turning them into playable prototypes. You’ll gain the skills to compete in this growing industry.

Industry-standard 3D and games engine software will help you develop essential skills including drawing, modelling, texturing and using the games engine. Our dedicated arts campus will allow you to mix with other creatives, allowing you to work on joint projects and develop your own network of creative practitioners.

On this course you will...

  • Have regular guest lectures with industry professionals.
  • Study game design and development with access to dedicated games design labs and industry-standard software, providing a friendly, collegiate and supportive environment.
  • Learn computer games-specific topics like drawing and concept art, character design, environment design, 3D modelling, texturing, level design, and game theory.
  • Have the opportunity to take trips outside of the lab to gain inspiration and improve creative thinking. In previous years, they have included games expo - EGX and Develop: Brighton.
  • Develop a wide range of transferable digital skills allowing you to take up a number of internships during your studies.
  • Have access to borrow our motion capture software and VR headsets.
Apply

Course Structure

What you will learn

On this programme, you will learn to design, develop, and create new and unique gaming experiences. However, this is not a programming course; it is all about the art and design work related to video games. You will learn all about art and design, developing storyboards and concepts which you will later turn into playable prototypes (both 2D and 3D).

Year one
  • Cultural Contexts
    Intro to the cultural, historical and social contexts in which creative work from a range of disciplines will be discussed, examined, and analysed.
  • Collaborative Practice
    Explore and practice the skills involved in creative collaboration.
  • Drawing, Visualisation and Concept Art
    Develop drawing as a fundamental skill in your practice and acquire the knowledge to understand the purpose of concept art as a tool visualising concepts for games.
  • 3D Modelling
    Enhance your knowledge of the professional three-dimensional visualisation for video games and digital media productions.
  • Gaming For Game Designers
    Introduction to the basic ideas and models in Game Theory.
Year two
  • Understanding the Creative Economy
    Contextualise the cultural and economic changes giving rise to the emergence of the creative economy as a leading sector in the UK and global economy.
  • Working in the Creative Economy
    Introduce to the professional practices associated with the creative industries by means of a series of guest lectures, presentations, tutorials and workshops.
  • Concept To Prototype
    Introduction to real-world scenarios in relation to working, in small groups, in the business world, and on client briefs.
  • Concept Art & Visualisation 2
    Explore and develop visualisation techniques appropriate to games design.
  • Texturing
    Enhance your knowledge of the professional texturing techniques used in the Games industry.
Year three
  • Theory and Research Methods in the Arts
    Preparation for successfully undertaking your dissertation project.
  • Dissertation
  • Group Game Project
    Develop teamwork and communication skills while you work in small groups on a specified brief to produce a working game.
  • Markets, Audiences & Exhibition
    Develop the skills necessary to identify, generate and successfully access opportunities in the workplace and/or in continuing education.
  • Major Project
    Develop the skills necessary to enable you to produce work for your final project.

Attend an Open Day at Cumbria

An Open Day is your opportunity to explore one of 5 campuses, meet your lecturers, and find out how the University of Cumbria could become your new home.

Take the next step towards achieving your dreams.
A student stands in front of a wall splattered with paint.