You'll be introduced to the core concepts of play and games including game art and game engine skills where you'll develop your knowledge and understanding of different theories and then explore their practical implementation.

Starting with a focus on non-digital games, you'll identify different types of games, mechanics, areas of play, rules and themes through playing and reflecting on a variety of games.

You'll also take part in design activities such as designing levels, game design challenges and you'll put together a design for a playable game prototype.

Develop your 3D modelling and game engine skills when you work with props and prepare them for the game engine pipeline and make use of them as assets in a game engine.

Explore the ways that video games matter and develop the core vocabulary and skills for analysing video games in relation to relevant concepts and contexts of game design.

You'll study a range of core concepts and approaches to analyse video games, which will encompass the ethics of globalised games industry and production cultures, gaming cultures, diversity and social justice in relation to games from AAA to indie, game aesthetics and playability. 

You'll consider games as games, games as intermedial or transmedia and games as art. You'll then apply these concepts in short written portfolio entries.

You'll focus on computer games, where you'll analyse and break down examples, identify theories in practice, platforms and interfaces, UX/UI considerations, art styles, themes and genres,  which you'll build towards a Games Design document where you'll explore an idea and become familiar with a key piece of game development. 

Develop your game art and game engine knowledge, looking at environments and characters then bring these together to produce a simple level slice demo 'in engine'. 

Through studying material such as fantasy, epic and myth and scholarly materials, you'll learn how narrative is constructed, including plot, plot twists, reader response and character construction including character motivation and choices and world building. 

Explore the ethics of narrative construction, considering issues such as diversity and inclusion, peace, conflict and concepts of right and wrong.

You'll develop teamworking skills through creative challenges, taught sessions, profiling and self-understanding.

You'll work on team presentation and develop a professional persona through attitude, commitment and effective communication.

In the second semester, you'll look at enterprise and sector analysis.

You'll develop your solo presentation and pitching skills.

We'll cover the creativity and skills needed to start, maintain and grow your production streams as independent creators.

We'll help you develop the skills valued by the creative industries to help you become a professional with an industry-relevant work ethic.

You'll look at the use of existing technologies currently used in computer games development and seek out opportunities for innovation within the field.

Explore the current state of game technologies and identify technical fundamentals in relation to games development. Identify areas where you can push the boundaries and introduce new and creative ideas.

Explore ways of creating and interacting with digital narratives.

You'll evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different formats and publishing platforms, and how they can be used for fiction and non-fiction storytelling.

You'll create digital narratives that could be game-based or interactive scenarios.

You'll be introduced to the different roles and process that are found in a game studio, then put the knowledge and skills you've built so far into practice by developing your own demo.

You'll go through the key stages of development, starting from pitching an idea, pre-production to production and then testing and launching your demo. 

You'll draw on the professional skills you have developed throughout your degree so far and use these to negotiate, deliver and reflect on a collaborative project with an employer.

This could include a work-based project, intervention or an alternative professional development project within the work setting.

You'll identify an area of game design to specialise in and develop a brief to work for your final project. You'll draw on the skills and knowledge you've developed so far and put them into practice.

You'll also build a creative portfolio using examples of work you'll have collated from your course so far and and will use existing portfolios of professionals in the game design industry as guidance.