Games Design (Taught)

This course provides you with a 360-degree perspective on the game design and development pipeline. Deepen your technical understanding by working with cutting edge game engines; hone your design skills analysing and creating innovative game mechanics; follow industry-standard development processes to bring your ideas from prototype to final release. You will work individually on game projects driven by your personal research interests and collaborate with fellow students on extended, challenging group briefs. The course furnishes you with the skills and confidence to join development teams across the globe or follow your own rules as an indie developer.

Facilities and specialist equipment

• Specialist games, animation and graphics labs with VR technology and high-spec computers

• Motion-capture and green-screen studios

• Industry-level software including Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya, Unreal Engine and Blender

• Modern computing labs, group study hubs and bespoke teaching spaces in our STEM building

Career-powered links
This course has been developed in close collaboration with industry. Group projects are driven by industry-set briefs, providing first-hand experience of how the industry operates and allowing you to apply your skills in real-world contexts.

Your student experience
Gain advanced skills in games design, development and emerging technologies for games.

Enhance your abilities in programming and scripting as well as procedural and generative techniques.

Develop a creative practice in games for entertainment or serious purposes, or learn to solve complex, games-adjacent problems in emerging industries like spatial computing (VR/AR/XR) and virtual production.

Undertake hands-on projects using bespoke, industry-standard facilities and working in collaborative teams across the fields of games design and games art.

Benefit from the personalised guidance and industry insights of leading academics across the fields of creative technologies and computing.

Enjoy guest lectures by game designers and other professionals from game development studios, gaining valuable industry insights.

Develop a professional mindset that makes you highly attractive to employers.

Course modules

Game design principles and programming – Explore game mechanics, learning to recreate and refine them using a cutting-edge game engine.

Collaborative project (pre-production, prototyping, project management) – Using industry-standard tools, work in a team to plan and pitch an innovative short-game concept.

Immersive futures and critical play – Deepen your understanding of experimental game design while exploring immersive technologies such as VR and AR.

Collaborative project (development, deployment, dissemination) – Move beyond the ‘alpha stage’ by developing, building and releasing your prototype short game.

MSc project – Games Design – Work creatively to generate an idea and develop it, applying your technical, analytical, organisational and practical skills.

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