Course units
In response to the Climate Emergency, UAL has embedded responsible practices within the curriculum. We shaped our courses around principles of social and racial justice, and environmental sustainability that ensure learning outcomes reflect the urgent need to equip you with the understanding, skills, and values for ethical practice and empower you to work towards an equitable future.
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.
Year 1
The units in the first year will define computer games, their history and the subjective nature of play. You will be introduced to practical game design theories and how it influences the design of game hooks and features. You’ll develop an awareness of design documents used to communicate game concepts, and the programming skills needed to implement design documents and build game prototypes.
Introduction to Games Design (20 credits)
This unit introduces you to the discipline of game design using two distinct approaches. Firstly, it will help you develop the research and writing skills required to critically analyse and discuss games as played experiences. Secondly, the unit will support you develop your own game ideas and communicate these ideas during critiques and presentation pitches.
Programming and Technical Design for Games (40 Credits)
This unit will introduce you to the fundamentals of game development, with a focus on how to think about, plan and write code to create a wide range of different game mechanics. Using a hands-on, problem-solving approach, you will learn flexible programming skills that will enable you develop games from Game Design Documentation.
Designing the User Experience (UX) of Games (20 Credits)
This unit will introduce you to the fundamentals of User Experience (UX), this will help you understand how players will make sense of, and interact with, the games you design. You will learn how to design taking into account the cognitive processes of your player using theories of interactive and visual design.
Game Concept to Playable Prototype (40 Credits)
This unit will take you through the game design and development process from start to finish. You will start with an original game idea and produce a Game Design Document which will help guide the development of your game as you use various prototyping techniques to assemble game assets and program the game’s functionality.
Year 2
In year 2 you will explore the importance of game objects, game mechanics and game spaces to aid immersion and enrich the player experience. You’ll examine the importance of genres in specifying potential target audiences. You will be introduced to 3D modelling and how to construct and texture game elements. You will develop your programming skills to control multiple autonomous and dynamic objects.
Agile Game Development (40 Credits)
This unit will introduce you to agile development in team projects, focusing on developing a non-digital prototype into a digital prototype informed by professional documentation and good practices. You will validate your game mechanics using rapid prototyping and iterative testing, while learning how to frame your mechanics to create richer, more meaningful experiences.
Understanding Player Experience (20 credits)
This unit introduces you to player psychology, exploring how and why different games affect players in different ways and how players’ behaviour may change as a result. As part of this unit, you will also consider games as a range of systems, including reward systems, narrative systems, information systems and educational systems.
Game Spaces and Replayability (40 credits)
This unit will help you develop your 3D skills in context of games design – focusing on playability and level design, you will also learn how to design and develop games with replayability as a core game loop. You will learn how to craft engaging game spaces that shape player experience, while exploring design strategies that increase player engagement and encourage player retention.
Introduction to Professional Practice (20 credits)
This unit introduces you to the roles and responsibilities of group work, enabling you to put personal and professional development principles into practice. You will have the opportunity to work in multidisciplinary teams with students from other courses to use subject-specific skills to achieve a common goal.
Year 3
In your third year you will build on your existing design and development knowledge and skills to produce your final Major Project Practical (MPP). The MPP is the largest single project you undertake on the course, and you can work on it individually or in teams. To aid the development of your MPP you will be expanding your formal playtesting methods and User Experience (UX) concepts, which you will use within iterative development cycles to help produce the optimum player experience for your game.
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 Informed Critical Report or Dissertation and aids in the development of specialist skills for the Major Project practical, via personal study and supervision.
Major Project Practical (60 credits)
In this unit you are required to conceptualise, design and develop a game, independently, or as part of a team, and if you wish too, collaborate with students from other courses. You will have complete control over the creative and design direction the game takes, and receive expert guidance from the course team and associate lecturers to help plan development of your game setting out clear milestones and deliverables.
Informed Practice (20 Credits)
This unit will require you to submit an academically rigorous piece of work manifesting critical enquiry, reflection, analysis and original research. You will demonstrate detailed research, apply a range of different research methods and methodological approaches, and contextualise your work from a historical and theoretical perspective, informed by your approach to your own creative practice.
Professional Practice and the Games Industry (40 credits)
This unit will provide you with an understanding of how the games and related creative industries are structured and operate. You will develop your work into a professional portfolio that reflects your future goals and aspirations in terms of the role you would like to take in the industry or postgraduate study you wish to undertake.
Optional Diploma between Years 2 and 3
Between Years 2 and 3 of the course, you’ll also have the opportunity to undertake one of the following additional UAL qualifications:
Diploma in Professional Studies (DPS) (Optional)
An optional, year-long learning opportunity which enables you to develop your professional skills by undertaking time out for industry experience. Supported throughout the year by academics, you’ll build on the knowledge gained on your course in a range of national or international locations, and graduate with an additional qualification of Diploma in Professional Studies.
Diploma in Creative Computing (Optional)
Between Years 2 and 3, you can undertake the year-long Diploma in Creative Computing. This will develop your skills in creative computing alongside your degree. After successfully completing the diploma and your undergraduate degree, you’ll graduate with an enhanced degree: BA (Hons) Games Design (with Creative Computing).
Diploma in Storytelling (Optional)
Between years 2 and 3, you can undertake the year-long Diploma in Storytelling. Enhance your creative voice and discover how to engage audiences and enact change through compelling storytelling - a skill that's in demand across a range of creative industries. After successfully completing the diploma and your undergraduate course, you’ll graduate with an enhanced degree: BA (Hons) Games Design (with Storytelling).
