Games Design with Foundation Year

Course overview
This course includes a foundation year - ideal if you need additional preparation or if you don't have sufficient grades to join Year 1. Ever played a computer game and thought you could design something better? Or been so gripped by one that you wish you had come up with the idea? Then think about a course in games design. The games designer makes great ideas become real, designing the rules and structure of a game and implementing them in the game engine. It involves working with many different people, understanding the roles of specialists who need to work together to create games. You develop 2D and 3D design skills alongside an appreciation of game mechanics and its relationship to game play, including conceptual, story, character, level and visual design. You also study game engines and industry technologies and compare their capabilities.

Top reasons to study this course

• Number 1: Teesside University has been ranked the number 1 video game design and development school in the UK and number 5 in Europe. (GAMEducation 2025, tees.ac.uk/source).

• Nationally recognised: Teesside University is ranked the top North East University for Animation & Game Design in the Guardian University Guide 2026. (58 institutions ranked, tees.ac.uk/source).

• Industry links: take part in Animex, our annual international animation and games festival featuring experts from Rockstar, Pixar, Disney and Sony.

• Real-world experience: enter GameJam events, take part in industry competitions and Beta test upcoming games before they are released.

• Career-ready: our ExpoSeries of events allow you to showcase your skills to industry professionals who are seeking to recruit new and rising talent.

• Scholarships: you could be eligible for a £9,000 scholarship to support your studies (excluding those applying to the foundation year).

• Employability: 100% of BA (Hons) Games Design students agreed that the course has developed knowledge and skills needed for the future (National Student Survey 2025, tees.ac.uk/source).

Employability
This specialist degree offers the skills you need for a career in the games industry and provides generic skills which open up numerous other career paths. Some of our graduates have been recognised as being among the world's best young games development talent, and feature in Develop magazine's annual 30 under 30.

Employment opportunities include creative director, games designer, scriptwriter, level designer, interface designer and games tester.

Graduates from this course have gone on to work as level designers, junior game designers, mission designers and artists in a wide range of companies including 3rd Dimensions, Double Eleven, Bizarre Creations, Creative Assembly, Eutechnyx, Halch, Media Molecule, Microsoft Rare, Naughty Dog, Ninja Theory, Frontier Rebellion, Rockstar North, Sega, Streamline, Supermassive Games, Traveller's Tales, Ubisoft, Venom, Virtual Playground, Volatile, Weta Digital and many more.

Course Modules

Access course information through Teesside University’s website using the course page link provided (or visit www.tees.ac.uk).