Games Design and Development, BA

Course summary

The BA (Hons) Games Design and Development course will prepare you for a range of career options across this vibrant industry. You will develop all-round workflow skills and a clear understanding of the design treatment, preliminary design, development and production pipeline, enabling you to focus on a specialist area in your final year.You will explore the multi-faceted world of games design and development, from storyboarding, concept development and prototyping to creative development, quality assurance and testing, enabling you to translate your ideas into playable games.

• Industry-led practice across all aspects of games design and development.

• Collaborative project development to understand the entire games pipeline.

• Studio-based approach to teaching and learning that emulates industry best practice.

• This course focuses on games design and development, aiming to equip you with the skills and knowledge to conceptualise, build and test your own playable games.

• The concept-to-playable prototype approach aims to give you industry applicable skills. The course aims to equip you with the skills for employment with developers of all sizes, working across various technologies and platforms. Alternatively, graduates should be able to design, produce and distribute their own games or to establish their own studio.

• Integration of logical and visual design elements means you can test graphical content in gaming environments and develop original mechanics, freeing you from the constraints of genre-specific software tools thus aiming to improve your employability.

• Real-world practices include pitching, prototyping, workable games design documents and testing.

• Industry links embedded in the course, from master classes and guest lectures to field trips*. (Subject to availability)

This course has a common first year. The common first year enables you to work alongside students doing similar courses to you, to widen your knowledge and exposure to other subject areas and professions. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with other students, so you can share your insights and experience which will help you to develop and learn. If you discover an interest in a specific subject you have studied, so upon successful completion of your first year, you could swap degrees with another course in your common first year (subject to meeting progression requirements). Once you learn more about your industry, you’ll be more prepared and more clued up on how you may want to progress your education. Common first year courses: Animation BA (Hons) Digital Media BA (Hons) Games Art BA (Hons) Visual Effects (VFX) BA (Hons) In the first year, you will develop skills across a range of areas in the creative technologies sector, working collaboratively with students from Animation, Games Art, Digital Media, and Visual Effects (VFX). You will engage with concepts of design in both 2D and 3D, explore narrative and storytelling within the context of creative technologies, and develop experience of the iterative development process. Year One Modules Skills Lab Hack Lab and Creative Play Narrative and Storytelling People, Pipelines, and Productions Prototyping, Concept Development, and Design From 2D to 3D: Developing Visual Skills Year Two In Year two, you will continue to develop the skills and knowledge you’ve learnt. We do this by embedding the following four principles into the curriculum and developing your: Technical skills – digital fluency, backed with the right academic knowledge Study skills – to be an adaptive, independent and proactive learner Professional skills – to have the behaviour and abilities to succeed in your career Global awareness – the beliefs and abilities to be a resilient, confident and motivated global citizen You will develop more advanced knowledge and skills to do with: games design, concept development, prototyping and pitching. Placement Year There’s no better way to find out what you love doing than trying it out for yourself, which is why a work placement* can often be beneficial. Work placements usually occur between your second and final year of study. They’re a great way to help you explore your potential career path and gain valuable work experience, whilst developing transferable skills for the future. If you choose to do a work placement year, you will pay a reduced tuition fee* of £1,250. For more information, please go to the fees and funding section. During this time you will receive guidance from your employer or partner institution, along with your assigned academic mentor who will ensure you have the support you need to complete your placement. Final Year Year three aims to bring you to the level to enter the world of work by consolidating your knowledge and skills from Year one and Two. You could also work on a large final project in an area of your interest, with the support of a mentor and your Academic Personal Tutor. We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated. Before accepting any offers, please check the website for the most up to date course content. For full module details please check the course page on the Coventry University website. *For further information please check the course page on the Coventry University website