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Games Design with Foundation Year

Entry requirements


UCAS Tariff

64-80

About this course


This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.

Course option

4years

Full-time including foundation year | 2024

Other options

5 years | Sandwich including foundation year | 2024

Subject

Computer games design

**Course overview**: This course includes a foundation year - ideal if you need additional preparation or if you don't have sufficient grades to join Year 1. Ever played a computer game and thought you could design something better? Or been so gripped by one that you wish you had come up with the idea? Then think about a course in games design. The games designer makes great ideas become real, designing the rules and structure of a game and implementing them in the game engine. It involves working with many different people, understanding the roles of specialists who need to work together to create games. You develop 2D and 3D design skills alongside an appreciation of game mechanics and its relationship to game play, including conceptual, story, character, level and visual design. You also study game engines and industry technologies and compare their capabilities.

**Top reasons to study this course**

1. Industry links: take part in Animex, our annual international animation and games festival featuring experts from Rockstar, Pixar, Disney and Sony.
2. Real-world experience: enter GameJam events, take part in industry competitions and Beta test upcoming games before they are released.
3. Career-ready: our ExpoSeries of events allow you to showcase your skills to industry professionals who are seeking to recruit new and rising talent.
4. Start-up business support: we support you to develop your own business in games through our innovative Power UP Indie Games Accelerator.

**After the course**: This degree offers the skills you need for a career in the games industry and provides generic skills which open up numerous other career paths. Some of our graduates have been recognised as being among the world's best young games development talent, and feature in Develop magazine's annual 30 under 30. Employment opportunities include creative director, games designer, scriptwriter, level designer, interface designer and games tester.

Graduates from our games degrees have gone on to work as level designers, junior game designers, mission designers and artists in a wide range of companies including 3rd Dimensions, Atomic Planet, Bizarre Creations, Creative Assembly, Eutechnyx, Halch, Media Molecule, Microsoft Rare, Naughty Dog, Ninja Theory, Frontier Rebellion, Rockstar North, Sega, Streamline, Supermassive Games, Traveller's Tales, Ubisoft, Venom, Virtual Playground, Volatile, Weta Digital and many more.

Modules

Access course information through Teesside University’s website using the course page link provided (or visit www.tees.ac.uk).

Assessment methods

Access assessment information through Teesside University’s website using the course page link provided (or visit www.tees.ac.uk).

Tuition fees

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

England
£9,250
per year
EU
£17,000
per year
International
£17,000
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Teesside University

Department:

Computing

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.

85%
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

87%
Staff make the subject interesting
91%
Staff are good at explaining things
86%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
91%
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

84%
Library resources
76%
IT resources
86%
Course specific equipment and facilities
69%
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?

89%
UK students
11%
International students
81%
Male students
19%
Female students
80%
2:1 or above
8%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

D
C
C

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.

£18,000
low
Average annual salary
88%
low
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

59%
Information technology and telecommunications professionals
7%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
6%
Information technology technicians

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.

£20k

£20k

£22k

£22k

£24k

£24k

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.

Explore these similar courses...

Higher entry requirements
Teesside University, Middlesbrough | Middlesbrough
Games Design
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 96-112
Same University
Teesside University, Middlesbrough | Middlesbrough
Games Art with Foundation Year
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 64-80
Lower entry requirements
Buckinghamshire New University | High Wycombe
3D Game Art with Foundation Year
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 32-56
Nearby University
City of Sunderland College | Sunderland
Games Design (Top Up)
BA (Hons) 1 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: -

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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