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Games Design

Entry requirements


GCSE/National 4/National 5

3 GCSEs at grade C/4 (or equivalent) including English Language.

UCAS Tariff

104

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Attend an interview

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About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Computer games design

This course will unlock your creative potential. Gain the technical skills to create the games you would love to play.

Explore how design, storytelling, art and coding come together to create unique and memorable games. Our industry professionals will teach you how to design and develop computer games from concept art through to asset creation, animation and level design. By the end of the course, you will have the skills you need to design fully playable games.

This course is your chance to immerse yourself in games design and learn the skills needed to stand out in this competitive industry. When you join us, you will work with other design students in different activities. These will help you develop your skills in drawing, modelling and rigging. You will complete practical projects throughout your degree. These will increase in complexity as you progress. As you work on these, you will gain experience of:

Working with real time engines
Animating characters
Writing game stories and narratives
Developing interactive user experiences
Considering the limitations of platforms
Working with Grey box preproduction
Finalising a bug free, distributable build.

Alongside your practical work you will study the theory and history of games design. You will debate some of the controversies that exist in the field. This will help you to identify the areas which interest you the most. You can develop this research in your final year research project.

Our team of designers and technical specialists are here to support you. Your tutors will really get to know you, your practice and your ambitions.

You will also gain experiences that make you stand out. We give you opportunities to:

Work with students from other courses to enrich your learning, such as Animation or Games Development
Complete work placements in industry and learn from visiting professionals
Visit international cities to find new inspiration
Exhibit your work at our annual degree show, the perfect way to build a professional network.

Modules

Modules may include:

Year 1:
Design Practise - Digital
Design Research for the Digital Domain
Specialist Project - Digital

Year 2:
Digital Design Applications
Specialist Studio Practise: Games Design
Collaborative Projects

Year 3:
Critical and Contextual Studies: Independent Research Project
Major Project: Games Design
Client Project: Games Design

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
£14,000
per year
International
£14,000
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:

York St John University

Department:

Media and Communications

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.

73%
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

67%
Staff make the subject interesting
73%
Staff are good at explaining things
67%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
73%
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

64%
Library resources
62%
IT resources
79%
Course specific equipment and facilities
53%
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?

98%
UK students
2%
International students
77%
Male students
23%
Female students
85%
2:1 or above
21%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
C
B

After graduation


We don't have more detailed stats to show you in relation to this subject area at this university but read about typical employment outcomes and prospects for graduates of this subject below.

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.

£18k

£18k

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?

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