Games Art and Design

Entry requirements

Minimum 2.2 degree in a relevant field. Applicants should be able to demonstrate recent relevant education or experience in their chosen discipline and have an ability to communicate effectively both in their chosen media and written and spoken English. Accreditation of professional experience may be possible for practitioners without a degree.

Months of entry

September

Course content

• Ranked 1 in Console & PC – Games Design & Development for Production Excellence (Rookies World School Rankings® 2019)
• Ranked 2 in Top Visual Effects Schools for Production Excellence (top in UK) (Rookies World School Rankings® 2019)

• The MA Games Art and Design degree allows you to develop your Games Art and Design skills and knowledge to a professional level.
• You will produce a commercial-standard personal portfolio that reflects the forefront of current practices in approach, style and vision.
• Explore the theoretical and contextual understanding of games art, its audiences and significances in our contemporary media culture.
• Develop professional-level enquiry, research, creative invention, project planning and management practices.
• On this masters degree you will learn in a multi-disciplinary environment through discussion and the exploration of ideas.

This MA Games Art and Design degree meets the needs of the games industry. The games industry has developed dramatically from the days of the solo practitioner to become a global market where large teams of artists work in unison to create content for the next generation of interactive game technologies. The current games art and design practitioner is likely to become a specialist in one area, such as character modelling, environment creation, lighting, animating etc. This award fuses technical knowledge of real-time rendering with the aesthetic decisions and traditional skills you will need as a games artist.

On this postgraduate Games Art and Design degree, your study will include ways of thinking about the cultural resonance of your work and about the audiences it is made for, about the nature of creativity, and the role of the Cultural Industries in a modern knowledge economy. Through your study you will develop a range of project management skills, and an ability to identify and manage your own learning. You will consider the role of enterprise opportunities in commercial, professional and social environments. Enquiry, research and clear communication underpin work throughout the programme. As well as specialist modules in your chosen discipline area the programme includes modules that are shared with other postgraduate awards in the School of Creative Arts.

The structure of MA Games Art and Design promotes cross-discipline discussion and maintains the enthusiasm and focus of discipline specialists. It enables you to develop the key transferable skills of postgraduate study grounded in activities that have currency, relevance and application for your future career and for further academic study.

The MA Games Art and Design course, part of the postgraduate Media programme, offers you a coherent learning in one of several awards. It enables you to develop creative practical skills in a discipline of your choosing. That work may extend your existing skills, knowledge and understanding, or it may mean a change of direction, new learning, and new experiences. Induction, seminars and social events for students and staff mean that you will be part of a friendly and supportive postgraduate community, which includes film makers, musicians and professionals working in new media. Senior research staff and internationally renowned professionals work with postgraduate students, helping you to develop original and challenging work.

Information for international students

A minimum IELTS score of 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in all components (or equivalent) is required for those for whom English is not their first language.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees are charged annually. The fees quoted above are for the specified year(s) only. Fees may be higher in future years, for both new and continuing students. Please see the University’s Fees and Finance Policy (and in particular the section headed “When tuition fees change”), for further information about when and by how much the University may increase its fees for future years.