BA (Hons) Games Design

Content

BA (Hons) Games Design will teach you how to take the software tools of games design and create new gaming experiences from concept to finished game. Explore skills sought by industry, such as coding and programming; enabling you to translate an idea into playable prototypes and use software to achieve your design goals and creative direction.

The focus of the course looks at the challenge presented by the game, as defined by the rules of play. You will design and build dynamic systems, which develops player experience as mental processing, physical input and emotional response.

Working from original concepts, you will develop ideas into playable games and test them to evaluate their experience of play. You'll not only design the visual feedback, but also the player interaction with the game mechanics.

This concept-to-game approach is supported by the growing theoretical area of games studies.

You will be taught in a way that encourages you to regularly generate new concepts and to remain innovative in your practice. You'll learn the design and development skills necessary to put you at the forefront of this growing profession and which are sought after by leading design and software companies worldwide.

Key topics covered include interactive design, the psychology of games, designing the experience of play, computer programming and 3D modelling. You'll learn how to write game design documents starting from the initial concept, before mastering the various stages of development.

Put your newly acquired skills into practice as you continually build playable games throughout the course. During this process, you'll demonstrate storyboarding and visualisation techniques to communicate ideas with linear or non-linear content. You will also be expected to analyse gaming trends and identify unique selling points to build into the game's hooks and features; to create your own animated content, adding functionality with scripting before testing for performance and usability.

The final major project gives you the opportunity to research an aspect of games design that is of particular interest to you and to present your findings in a dissertation.

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Monday 24 September – Friday 7 December 2018

Monday 7 January – Friday 15 March 2019

Monday 15 April – Friday 21 June 2019

Course units

In common with all courses at University of the Arts London, this course is credit rated. The course is 3 years, levels 4-6. Each year requires you to achieve 120 credit points. To be awarded the BA (Hons) Games Design qualification, you need to accumulate a total of 360 credits.

Units summary:

• Introduction to Games Design (20 credits)
• Concept and Design 1 (40 credits)
• Prototype Development 1 (40 credits)
• Contextual and Theoretical Studies 1 (20 credits)

The units in Year 1 aim to:

• Define computer games, their history and the subjective nature of play
• Introduce practical game design theories and how it effects the design of game hooks and features
• Develop an awareness of design documents used to communicate game concepts
• Develop the programming skills needed to implement design documents and build game prototypes

Units summary:

• Concept and Design 2 (40 credits)
• Prototype Development 2 (40 credits)
• Contextual and Theoretical Studies 2 (20 credits)
• Collaborative Project (20 credits)

The units of Year 2 aim to:

• Explore the importance of characters and game environments to aid immersion and enrich the player experience
• Examine the importance of genres in specifying potential target audiences
• Introduce 3D modelling and how to construct and texture game elements
• Develop your programming skills to control multiple autonomous and dynamic objects.

Units summary:

• Major Project Practical (60 credits)
• Professional Practice (Progression) (20 credits)

and

• Route A: Contextual and Theoretical Studies 3 (40 credits)

or

• Route B: Contextual and Theoretical Studies 3 (20 credits)
• Route B: Concept Prototyping (20 credits)

The units of Year 3 aim to:

• Build on existing 3D knowledge by introducing rigging, and the preparation and creation of animation and the use within a games engine.
• Introduce the integrated development environment: the use of the content pipeline to import graphical images and 3D models, as well as testing and evaluating concepts.

The final year gives students the opportunity to specialise in an area of games design which they are particularly interested in. It supports the acquisition of specialist knowledge for their Major Project dissertation and aids in the development of specialist skills for the Major Project practical, via personal study and supervision.

Students develop good practice in research, time management and team working. These are integrated with practical skills such as animation, interactive design, computer programming and 3D modelling.

London is a global city offering an exciting and vast range of career opportunities in the creative and cultural sectors. One of the design capitals of the world, the city is both a source of inspiration and extended site of study. The numerous museums, galleries, theatres, libraries, entertainment and exhibition spaces provide opportunities to explore course content at a practical and immersive level.

Students work in a lively studio atmosphere and benefit from access to a wide range of technical resources and facilities. Learning is through lectures, group seminar work, specialist tutor sessions, one-to-one tutorials, technical demonstrations and workshops.

The course teaching team spans a wide range of skills, expertise and experience embracing technical, conceptual and theoretical approaches to design. Associate Lecturers provide subject specific specialist skills and the course has visits from guest lecturers from industry.

BA Games Design Programme Specification 2017/18 (PDF - 336KB)

Staff Course Leader

Roy Caseley

Dr. Mark Ingham, Dr. Ian Horton