Programming for Games and VFX

If you love games, films and animation, have a passion for coding, finding creative solutions and being part of a team, then Programming for Games and VFX is for you.

Programmers are the foundation of any interactive project, they are the people who innovate solutions, they facilitate Design and Art in realising their vision, Programmers are highly sought after in industry with great employment opportunities across animation, games and visual effects (VFX).

Designed with our industry experts from Creative Assembly, this cutting-edge course will enable you to develop and refine your skills, with individual specialisms. You’ll have rich and varied opportunities to develop experience in teamwork, as well as the soft and technical skills that developers look for in Programmers.

Upon graduating, you will also have the transferable skills to work and support teams across different real-time and graphics production environments, such as virtual reality (VR) and virtual production, VFX and animation.

Taught by industry professionals, we have a high level of industry project mentoring from external developers throughout our courses, connecting our students to current development practice. This coupled with our studio-based practice and high spec equipment will give you the best foundation to become a Programmer.

Why choose this course

• Based in London - home to some of the best animation, video games and VFX studios in the world

• Partnership with Epic Games - the first Unreal Engine Authorized Training Center in the UK and an Unreal Engine Academic Partner.

• We’re a Houdini certified school

• Industry briefs and feedback - work on industry-standard briefs, experience real-life scenarios and receive feedback on your work from external developers to learn about current development practice

• Successful alumni - you’ll join our community of thousands of Escapees, many of whom have gone on to work at some of the world’s top studios including Rare, Rockstar, Ubisoft, DNEG and Framestore. 47 Escapees worked on Avengers: Endgame, 26 on The Mandalorian, 23 on Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 and 20 on Stranger Things

• Study in a studio environment that mirrors current industry practice, using high-spec equipment and professional software such as Unreal Engine and Houdini

• Professional input - industry partners have helped design this degree to make sure it is relevant to employers and up to date

• All-round technical skills - learn software, skills and techniques for both games and visual effects and learn how the pipelines cross over.

Course Modules

First year (Level 4 - 120 credits)

An introduction to the disciplines, pipelines and creative industries, giving you the all-round skills you’ll need on your journey to becoming a professional.

• Introduction to Programming (30 credits)

• Computer Graphics Fundamentals (30 credits)

• Programming for Games Design (15 credits)

• Programming for VFX (15 credits)

• Software Development for Games and VFX (30 credits)

Second year (Level 5 - 120 credits)

You’ll develop your specialist skills and work in teams on industry-style projects.

• Applied Artificial Intelligence in Games and VFX (30 credits)

• Distributed Systems for Games and VFX (30 credits)

• Specialism (15 credits)

• Industry Studio Project (45 credits)

Third year (Level 6 - 120 credits)

You’ll hone your skills and begin to demonstrate the level of knowledge needed to be a professional artist.

• Advanced Specialism (30 credits)

• Professional Studio Project (60 credits)

• Professional Practice (30 credits)

Your work is assessed through practical assignments and retrospectives by a mix of tutor, peer, self-review and industry. In fact, industry professionals often review your project modules and share their personalised feedback with you.