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Games Design and Development

Entry requirements


UCAS Tariff

112

80 UCAS Tariff Points for Contextual and LTPO

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Computer games design

**Why study BA Game and Level Design with us?**

Do you want to design and balance game mechanics as well as tell stories? On this hands on course, you'll be making games with a mix of digital and paper prototyping and planning from week one. You’ll gain hands-on experience that will help you build your portfolio that will set you up for a successful career in a range of creative industries.

The games industry is complex, diverse and spans a variety of old and new technologies from print to computer software to 3D printed game pieces. This BA gives you the transferable skills and knowledge you need to become a successful games designer in this fast-changing industry.

Past students have gone on to work for CD Projekt Red, Creative Assembly, King, Mediatonic, Media Molecule, among many others.

**Build your hands-on games design skills**

Led by academic staff experienced in AAA, indie, tabletop and mobile gaming, you'll develop your games design and prototyping core skills, as well as experimenting with environment and level design, scripting, game environmental storytelling and non-linear storytelling.

This is facilitated through a blended approach to teaching with a mix of in person and online teaching to help prepare you for the distributed nature of the world of work.

You will be introduced to a range of software and techniques to make playable prototypes quickly, including Adventure Game Studio, RPGMaker, RenPy, Unity and Unreal.

You’ll get plenty of hands-on experience and opportunities for collaborating with students from our 3D animation, art and design, music, computing and graphics departments as part of our coordinated workshop activities.

You’ll develop your employability skills and industry connections with a range of work placements and internship opportunities. Our links with industry partners also give you access to live briefs, guest lecturers, and potential employers.

Year on year, students from this programme produce fantastic, high quality game prototypes. Take a look at some of the games created by our 2022 graduates.

*this course is subject to review. We periodically re-evaluate our programmes to make sure the content and teaching stay up to date and relevant. Please check this page regularly for updates.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£16,600
per year
International
£16,600
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Hendon Campus

Department:

Media

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

75%
Computer games design

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Computer games and animation

Teaching and learning

92%
Staff make the subject interesting
100%
Staff are good at explaining things
91%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
83%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

73%
Library resources
75%
IT resources
70%
Course specific equipment and facilities
58%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

83%
UK students
17%
International students
91%
Male students
9%
Female students
76%
2:1 or above
29%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
B

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Computer games and animation

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£21,000
med
Average annual salary
81%
low
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

42%
Information technology and telecommunications professionals
16%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
7%
Managers and proprietors in other services

This is a relatively new subject area for this kind of data, so we don’t currently have very much information to display or analyse yet. Gaming is a growing industry, and if it continues to grow we should see the rather high unemployment rate coming down over the next few years. Much the most common jobs for graduates who do get work after six months are in programming roles - but as things stand, be aware that jobs in the field are very competitive and personal contacts - either through family, friends or via specialist employment agencies - are a crucial way into the industry so be prepared to talk as well as code!

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Computer games and animation

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£22k

£22k

£26k

£26k

£31k

£31k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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Course location and department:

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here