Game Development BA(Hons)
Join a community of people who have a real passion for games. From day one, you’ll work as you would within a team in the industry, developing your own games. You’ll replicate professional practice, learning in a range of environments to discover your specialism and prepare for the career you want.
Key details
| Location | Penryn Campus |
|---|---|
| Course Duration | 3 years |
| Attendance | Full-time |
| Contact | 01326 254350 |
Apply now
Introduction
You'll learn how different specialisms work together, how to work effectively in a team and to develop the role you play in it. These courses simulate how industry operates, in a studio environment that's built to mirror a real games development studio.
You will:
- Build your own games from day one and have the opportunity to establish your own company in your third year
- Work in one of the largest and best equipped dedicated game-making spaces of any university in the UK
- Work in a department dedicated to gaming and be surrounded by people working in all aspects of
the industry - Develop a multi-disciplinary approach, using Unity and Unreal to touch upon all aspects of game creation
- Have the flexibility to change your area of specialism based on your skills and interests
Covid-19 update
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have reviewed and made changes to our courses to provide flexible, blended delivery that offers high-quality digital engagement and access to face-to-face teaching in our facilities. You can see how your course may be adjusted by viewing the changes for the current academic year by visiting our welcome letters & latest course updates pages
Specialisms
Art
Learn core game art abilities, like character and environment modelling, using industry-standard packages, processes and pipelines.
UCAS code: W281
Programming
Become a gameplay programmer who implements and tests the core mechanics of the game and evaluates how players interact with them.
UCAS code: W285
Audio
Create sound effects, sonic environments and scores that electrify players, and then work in-engine to integrate them into games in an immersive way.
UCAS code: W283
Design
Prototype and implement the rules, systems, puzzles and levels that challenge players and shape their experience, iteratively testing and refining them.
UCAS code: W284
Writing
Create backstories, dialogue, quests and player journeys as you learn foundational creative writing skills and translate them into narrative design for games.
UCAS code: W286
Production
Learn to manage the production of game projects, identifying and solving problems while making the development process run smoother and helping to deliver the project on schedule.
UCAS code: I608
What our students do
Our students are doing-it-for-real, whether that's game art, audio, programming, writing, design or production. Check out our students' showreels, game trailers and artwork below for a taste of what they get up to. Visit Our Games page to find out more.
Games Academy student spots gap in the market
Building believable worlds
Games Academy in Top 50 Worldwide
Global Jam at the Games Academy
Student Hired by Supermassive Games
Games Students Impress Mediatonic's Marketing Director
Games Graduate Hired to Design Sea of Thieves
Gamers Go Global
Games Student Secures Conference Award
Conference Call for Games Student
What our graduates do
Graduates from this course have started their own game development studios, and gone on to careers as artists and designers at major game studios like Creative Assembly, Supermassive Games, Rare, King and TT Games.
Graduate Completes First Game
Graduate Games Studio Wins National Prize
Propelled in to the Real World
Student Hired by Supermassive Games
Jade Ostle's Industry Insights
Further Success for RoBoats
RoBoats Reaps Reward for Game Developers
Course details
What you'll learn
You'll get a feel for all the skills and disciplines in game development, before specialising in one of six routes – but you'll have the flexibility to change your route at any point during your first year. You'll then progress from small tasks to games with a more challenging scope as you take on team-led projects.
Specialisms
Learn core game art abilities, like character and environment modelling, using industry-standard packages, processes and pipelines.
From module information to course aims and assessment criteria, discover the full course details
Create sound effects, sonic environments and scores that electrify players, and then work in-engine to integrate them into games in an immersive way.
From module information to course aims and assessment criteria, discover the full course details
Prototype and implement the rules, systems, puzzles and levels that challenge players and shape their experience, iteratively testing and refining them.
From module information to course aims and assessment criteria, discover the full course details
Become a gameplay programmer who implements and tests the core mechanics of the game and evaluates how players interact with them.
From module information to course aims and assessment criteria, discover the full course details
Create backstories, dialogue, quests and player journeys as you learn foundational creative writing skills and translate them into narrative design for games.
From module information to course aims and assessment criteria, discover the full course details
Learn to manage the production of game projects, identifying and solving problems while making the development process run smoother and helping to deliver the project on schedule.
Course structure
You'll learn what it takes to make a game, including asset creation, project management and pipelines, pitching ideas, and considering theories about what games are and how they engage players. Developing your skills and aligning them to your chosen route, you'll enhance cross-disciplinary groups as you pitch a game to tutors and build it together.
Modules
Development Principles
You'll immerse yourself in our studio culture and learn the basics of making games.
Theory 1: Reading Experiences
You'll study and write about games and VR in the same way as you might write about books on an English course, or films in Film Studies.
Multidisciplinary Development Practice
You'll pitch your first full game and build it as a team using Agile methodologies.
Specialist modules depending on your route
Art
Environment Art 1
Environment Art 2
Audio
Designing Sound
Music Technologies
Design
Game Design 1
Game Design 2
Programming
Principles of Computing
Creative Computing
Individual Creative Computing Project
Writing
Writing – Craft & Context
Breaking the Rules: Remix and Writing Back
Production
Design Thinking
Art of Strategy
With greater confidence in your skills, you'll mirror professional game development as you tackle a larger game project in a multi-skilled group. Over the course of the year, you'll research and experiment with various approaches and create innovative features. You'll investigate strategies to enhance the player experience, and learn what drives industry trends and developments from visiting professionals, all the while developing the specialist skills that will inform your practice.
Modules
World Creation Project: Pre-Production
You'll devise the concept for a world and take it forward into a fuller game title.
World Creation Project: Production
During this module, you'll develop your world creation project into a pitchable game, showcased to the rest of the Academy.
Theory 2: Form & Player Experience
Aligning your production with game studies theory, you’ll write your manifesto as a games developer, discussing the ethical and industrial debates around game production.
Specialist modules depending on your route
Art
Developing Specialist Game Art Practice
Developing Concept Art Vocabularies
Developing Character Art Vocabularies
Developing Environment Art Vocabularies
Audio
Supersonic
Developing Specialist Game Development Practice
Design
Game Design 3
Developing Specialist Game Development Practice
Programming
Specialisms in Creative Computing
Individual Specialist Computing Project: Interfaces & Interaction
Individual Specialist Computing Project: Artificial Intelligence
Writing
Games (Writing Workshop)
Developing Specialist Game Development Practice
Production
Game Production Management
During the final year of your game development course, you'll produce a complete and potentially publishable game as part of a team. By pitching it to industry professionals, you'll receive reliable and insightful feedback. You'll also research a topic relevant to your project and build an online portfolio with a clear centrepiece, sharpening your real-world insights and building valuable career contacts.
Modules
Professional Practice and enterprise
With your career in mind, you'll produce a professional online presence for your work and learn how to network and get a job in games.
Major Game Development Project: Pre-Production
The vast majority of your third year is spent making a game in a team, which may result in forming your own games company.
Preparing for the Future
You'll research and investigate topics important to your route and practice, exploring how the rapidly evolving games industry could change as you look towards entering it.
Major Game Development Project: Production
Completing your third-year game, you'll showcase it to the rest of the academy and pitch it to invited industry guests
The modules above are those being studied by our students, or proposed new ones. Programme structures and modules can change as part of our curriculum enhancement and review processes. If a certain module is important to you, please discuss it with the Course Leader.
We are making changes to our curriculum framework for courses starting in 2022. Modest amendments to our course module structure will provide you with new opportunities to collaborate and co-create with students from across disciplines during your studies.
This course page will be updated when these changes have been finalised and applicants will be notified.
How you'll learn
You'll create original games through group work, professional practice and Game Jams. You'll also develop practical skills through practice-based workshops, and learn to evaluate and improve your work through group tutorials, crits, and individual tutorials. Regular learning will come from lectures, seminars and our Virtual Learning Environment.
If you enrol in Design, Programming, Art or Animation, you'll share specialist first-year modules with other Games Academy courses. As the course progresses, you'll move from 2D to 3D and shift your focus to project teamwork.
How you'll spend your time
Year | Timetabled teaching and learning activity | Guided independent study |
|---|---|---|
1 | 38% | 62% |
2 | 36% | 64% |
3 | 32% | 68% |
The above percentages relate to 2019/2020 data.
Year | Timetabled teaching and learning activity | Guided independent study |
|---|---|---|
1 | 25% | 75% |
2 | 30% | 70% |
3 | 39% | 61% |
The above percentages relate to 2019/2020 data.
Year | Timetabled teaching and learning activity | Guided independent study |
|---|---|---|
1 | 34% | 66% |
2 | 33% | 67% |
3 | 32% | 68% |
The above percentages relate to 2019/2020 data.
Year | Timetabled teaching and learning activity | Guided independent study |
|---|---|---|
1 | 34% | 66% |
2 | 33% | 67% |
3 | 32% | 68% |
The above percentages relate to 2019/2020 data.
Year | Timetabled teaching and learning activity | Guided independent study |
|---|---|---|
1 | 30% | 70% |
2 | 31% | 69% |
3 | 32% | 68% |
The above percentages relate to 2019/2020 data.
Year | Timetabled teaching and learning activity | Guided independent study |
|---|---|---|
1 | 44% | 56% |
2 | 33% | 67% |
3 | 22% | 78% |
How you'll be assessed
Assessment across all specialisms
Year | Written exams | Practical exams | Coursework |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 0% | 0% | 100% |
2 | 0% | 0% | 100% |
3 | 0% | 0% | 100% |
The above percentages relate to 2019/2020 data.
Assessment methods
- Teamwork features heavily to reflect the industry.
- Game making is the primary form of assessment.
- Continuous assessment with no formal examinations.
- Visual, verbal and written assignments.
- Portfolio of project work.
Staff
Coming from companies like Square-Enix and Octopus 8 Studios, you’ll benefit from your tutors’ experience working on titles like Hitman, League of Legends, World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XII.
Some members of staff only teach on specific modules, and your course might not feature every member shown here.
Professor Tanya Krzywinska
Tanya started playing computer-based games on Usenet when working at the Digital Equipment...
Brian McDonald
Brian McDonald is a senior lecturer on the BA(Hons) Game Development and BSc(Hons) Computing for...
Che Wilbraham
As a self-taught, independent game developer, Ché’s background is in the arts. He sees himself as a...
Dr Douglas Brown
Formerly employed by international games developer and publisher Square-Enix and credited on...
Phoebe Herring
Phoebe Herring joined Falmouth University as a lecturer in BA(Hons) Game Art after freelancing on a...
Andy Smith
Andy joined Falmouth University in 2013 after completing his undergraduate studies in Communication...
Pete Shepherd
Having been involved in the music industry for the last 30 years, initially as a player/performer...
Richard Milligan
Richard is an animator and 3D artist with ten years of professional experience. Children's TV...
Rory Summerley
Rory is a games studies researcher who has written and lectured on a diverse range of games-related...
Terry Greer
After starting out life as a zoo keeper at London Zoo, Terry has worked for over thirty years in...
Dr Jeff Howard
Dr. Jeff Howard is Senior Lecturer in the Games Academy at Falmouth University in Cornwall, where...
Kate Bergel
The majority of Kate's career has been spent in VFX, where she started as a junior systems...
Ady Smith
I have been working in the Games Industry since 1992. I have worked on a variety of game platforms...
Facilities
- Large studio equipped with regularly updated, state-of-the-art game development machines.
- XSens MVN Awinda Motion Capture suits.
- Life drawing studio for artists and weekly life sessions.
- Specialised computing hardware for game development, deep learning projects, motion capture and immersive experiences.
- Standard packages used in software development for the games and visual effects industries, including Adobe and Autodesk suites.
- Attached lab committed to staying at the cutting edge - featuring augmented reality, virtual reality AR/VR/MR (XR) equipment including HoloLens, HoloLens 2 and Oculus Quest 2.
- Attached lab with access to PS4 development and testing kits.
- Access to a variety of game engines including Unity and Unreal.
- Studios open late during term time.
- Access to free software via Microsoft Imagine.
How to apply
Apply via UCAS
Ready to join us? If you're applying through UCAS Apply and Track, you'll need to reference the university and course codes below.
University code: F33
UCAS codes
Art: W281
Audio: W283
Design: W284
Programming: W285
Writing: W286
Production: I608
Applying as an international student?
International students can apply for a course through UCAS, via an agent or directly with the university. For more information about how to apply as an international student, visit our International applications page.
Application advice & interview information
We consider all applications on their own individual merit and potential. We invite all applicants to an interview day or audition to give them the opportunity to demonstrate this along with what inspires and motivates them in their field. Applicants will also be able to show their portfolio or give a performance depending on the course. We welcome applications from all subject backgrounds, whether you’ve specialised in STEM, the arts or humanities.
As a guide our typical offer at undergraduate level is 104 – 120 UCAS Tariff points, primarily from Level 3 qualifications such as but not limited to A-levels, a BTEC Extended Diploma or a Foundation Diploma.
For applicants whose first language is English we require you to have or be working towards GCSE English Language Grade 4 (C), or equivalent.
If English is not your first language you will need to meet the same standard which is equivalent to the IELTS Academic 6.0 overall score, with at least 5.5 in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. We accept a range of in country equivalencies and approved tests.
If you need a student visa to study in the UK, you'll need to take a recognised language test that is approved and vouched for by the University. You can read our English Language Requirements for more information.
UK applications: 29 January 2021 (for equal consideration)
Late applications will be considered if there are places available.
International fee payers can apply throughout the year. But we recommend applying as early as possible, to make time for visa and travel arrangements.
What we're looking for
We want someone who:
- Is passionate about creating games.
- Wants to work as a specialist game developer in either the AAA or indie area of the industry.
- Wants to develop real games in multidisciplinary teams in a studio mirroring the industry.
- Enthusiastically follows current video game technologies.
- Shows communication skills and understands their specialism (Art, Animation, Design, Audio, Programming or Writing).
Fees, costs & funding
Tuition fees
£9,250 per year - full-time UK/EU
£16,000 per year - full-time international
£9,250 per year - full-time UK
£16,950 - full-time EU
£16,950 - full-time international
Tuition fees are set annually and are subject to review each year. The University may therefore raise tuition fees in the second or subsequent years of a course, in line with inflation and/or the maximum permitted by law or Government policy. Students will be notified of any changes as soon as possible.
Typical course costs
- £100 - Recurring annual costs
- £1500 - Optional laptop or desktop capable of running 3D Modelling software (recommended for artists and animators)
- £300 - Optional study visits and placements for the course duration
If you need to bring equipment or materials with you, these will be outlined in your Welcome Letter.
The figures above don't include accommodation and living costs
Funding
For information about funding available, please visit our undergraduate funding page
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