Games Design and Art

About this course
Study BA Games Design and Art and unlock your creative potential and refine your game-making skills with a combination of hands-on practice and theory. Throughout the course you will be constantly making games. You’ll use a research-led approach to this game making and play with ideas and concepts. We'll encourage you to express your own ideas and work on projects related to your own approaches, background, and areas of interest. You’ll cover design, art, interaction design, play and storytelling, as well as as host of technical skills in both coding and asset production. You’ll also cover the emerging fields of purposeful games and serious games and explore how games can be designed to have social impact and cultural significance. You’ll learn to apply design-thinking to the creation of brand-new games and refine them through research-led creative investigation, making, prototyping, user testing and designing games.

A game making-focused curriculum will help you prepare for your future, with opportunities to meet professionals from the industry. Students also have opportunities to undertake a placement in a game’s studio setting them up for a successful career in the field. This is reflected in the Graduate Outcomes where 92% of our graduates were in employment or further study 15 months after graduation (Graduate Outcomes 2022/2023, published in 2025)

Key features of the course:

• BA Games Design and Art is based in Winchester School of Art allowing you to work creatively while gaining essential technical skills.

• You’ll work in our dedicated games studios based in our brand new Capital House building in Winchester, the games and creative technology centre at the University of Southampton.

• You will have your own dedicated space to work at on campus as part of a vibrant, creative environment designed to mirror the collaborative practices of a game’s studio.

• Opportunities to explore the full spectrum of game making, not only video games or AR and VR games but also physical games such as location-based games, tabletop games, and even escape rooms.

• As part of your degree you’ll be able to visit games studios and attend conferences, alongside numerous opportunities to pitch and present your ideas and games to industry.

Student Support
You’ll become part of a close-knit community of game makers and artists, supported by inspiring tutors who are committed to helping students achieve their creative goals. You will be working closely with your peers in a close-knit studio environment, you’ll collaborate, inspire one another and explore concepts you are passionate about.

Further information
The BA Games Design and Art is a three-year, full-time course at our Winchester School of Art. You can also add a year abroad or a year in industry, extending your degree to four years. For details, visit our course page.

Over the three years of this Games Design and Art course, you will explore a broad range of concepts in the field and you'll get the opportunity to create and build your ideas into the next generation of games.

Year 1: GET CURIOUS - develop the skills required to generate innovative game ideas through experimentation and exploration. Working both independently and in small teams, you will produce various articles of documentation and reflection on your thinking through making, coupled with various prototypes and outputs.

Year 2: PIPELINES, PROCESSES, AND INNOVATION - become increasingly familiar with games documentation, games project management, asset building skills, and the practical knowledge required to develop a game within industry-understood standard conventions. In Year 2, the focus is on digital games and looking for innovative approaches to what a digital game could be, as well as on experimental game ideas and outcomes.

Year 3: UNIQUE IMPACT GAMES - develop your games design & art ideas and skills to a higher theoretical and professional level through working competently as an independent learner and practitioner. You will use this year to create a passionate finished game for presentation to the public and games industry. You will also connect directly to the games industry via directed industry events, talks, and engagement. The production of your Major Project will be supported with promotion and exposure to the industry and the public through a directed online campaign, and the ability to show your work at various stages throughout the year at external public and industry-facing events. The year will culminate in the launch of your Major Project, a fully realised game, completed, downloadable and playable as well as featuring in at least two public arcade exhibitions where you will be able to talk passionately about the concepts and the project directly with the games and creative industries.

For a full list of modules available please visit the course page.

The learning activities for this course include the following:
Lectures
Classes and Tutorials
Coursework
Individual and group projects

How we'll assess you:
Essays
Individual and group projects
Oral presentations
Portfolios