Computer Games Design
BA (Hons) Computer Games Design focuses on the creative, artistic, and technical aspects of games production, giving you the theoretical and practical skills to develop, produce and publish game titles. From the first day of the course until the last
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Key Course Details
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UCAS Code
WGF4
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Start Date
September
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Location
Cardiff
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Campus Code
B
Fees
Home students
£9,000*
International students
£14,950*
- Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
Through our professional live briefs, students will have the opportunity to pitch ideas, present games and gain valuable feedback and advice from industry professionals.
DESIGNED FOR
Our student designers are talented, entrepreneurial and passionate about gaming. Enthusiasm for the industry is essential at every stage and throughout the course, professional industry practice will need to be mirrored in attitude and production.
Career Paths
- Game Designer
- Level Designer
- Programmer
- UI/UX
- Writer
- Producer
- Tester
Skills Taught
- Project Planning
- Project Management
- Pitching techniques
- Communication and Teamwork
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Course Highlights
Module Overview
Year one is all about the fundamentals. But that doesn’t mean you won’t be making games. You will make your first game within the first six weeks of starting the course, and at least three by the end of the year. Practical modules focus on various aspects of games design, such as Level Design, Game Mechanics and World Building with briefs that encourage creative interpretation; an opportunity to express yourself and your ideas. You won’t be waiting until your final year before you can make creative, fun and interesting games.
- Making Games
- Level Design
- Building Worlds
- Game Studies One
- Design Challenges
Year two is all about advanced study. Practical modules will encourage you to design and produce more sophisticated games, with live briefs expecting polished and publishable games for you to pitch and present to industry professionals. You will also get to explore other areas of the game design process and pipeline, such as ‘writing for games’ or ‘game asset production’. Further game design theories and principles are introduced and will lay the foundation for your third-year projects and dissertation. During the year you will begin to focus on, and specialise in, the areas of games design that interest you the most.
The final year! This year is all about you and what you will become. Over the course of the year, you will be tasked with prototyping and producing a game to a professional level. This, along with your strongest work from Year 2 will lay the foundation for your portfolio. You will learn how to compile a portfolio to best present yourself and your work. How to find and apply for jobs, and even how to interview for your dream role. The dissertation is your opportunity to research and discuss a games design topic your passionate about.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
UCAS points: 96 (or above)
Typical qualification requirements:
- A Level: CCC to include a relevant art and design subject
- Welsh BACC: Pass the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Diploma with Grade C in the Skills Challenge Certificate and CC at A Level with a relevant art and design subject
- BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Merit Merit Merit in a relevant subject
- Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 96 UCAS tariff points
Additional requirements include:
The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances.
International applications welcomed:
We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence please view our dedicated country pages.
English language requirements
International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.
Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.
If you have previously studied through the medium of English IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.
If you do not meet the English entry criteria please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.
Contextual offers
We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.
USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.
We're here to help
Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch and we'd to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.
Fees and Funding
£9,000
per year*£14,950
per year*Additional Costs
As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.
* Obligatory
Cost: £250 - £300
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Cost: £1500 - £2000
Cost: £100 - £150
Cost: £50 - £100
Cost: £100 - £1000
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Top in Wales for Animation and Games (Guardian University Guide 2024)
100% of our BA (Hons) Computer Games Design students were satisfied with their course (NSS 2023).
Course Highlights
How you’ll learn
To ensure you have the skills required for industry, we assess you through presentations, group work, development diaries, writing and designing your portfolio, providing feedback as you progress.
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Teaching staff
As your thinking develops and your skills improve, we push you further by exploring the key ideas that are driving the industry. Longer, group-based, industry focused projects are vital as you develop your own ideas, visual language, technical skills and working methods, as well as meeting industry professionals and presenting your work to them.
In the final year of the Computer Games Design course, we will expect you to deliver a large-scale professional production, supported by advanced workshops, seminars and tutorials. We will want to see you demonstrate your understanding of your work and its context, in your creative design and in your writing.
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Facilities
Based in USW’s Cardiff campus, we pride ourselves on our first-class facilities, with our experienced and enthusiastic staff providing guidance and support so you can realise your creative vision.
Our Computer Games Design students benefit from several industry-standard games labs. These provide access to common games engines and related tools such as: Unreal Engine, Autodesk Suite and Adobe Suite.
Our games labs have all the facilities you need to realise your vision. Including Nvidia RTX graphics cards, Ultra-wide monitors, and a variety of VR kits. We also use an industry standard, cloud-based source control solution so you can collaborate whether you’re in the lab or at home.
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