Games Technology BSc (Hons)
Course overview
Our BSc (Hons) Games Technology course is perfect if you're seeking a career as a sought-after Technical Artist within the gaming industry.
This industry-focused degree course, taught in state-of-the-art facilities at UCA Farnham, is founded on the principles of User-Centred Design (UCD) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and you’ll learn how to consider the user throughout each stage of the game design and development process.
As you explore game design, you’ll have access to the very latest hardware and software – Alienware Aurora towers, 4k dual screens, RTX 2080 graphics cards and SSD HDs, with Unity and Unreal games engines for prototyping. As the course progresses, you’ll be able to test your games on the very latest Dev Kits, including those from Sony PlayStation, as part of the Sony PlayStation First Academic Development programme.
This course sits alongside the established and highly regarded BA (Hons) Games Arts degree, and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to collaborate with students on that programme as you make game prototypes together. You’ll also get to take part in Game Jams with your peers across our games degrees, mirroring industry approaches to idea iteration and team development.
When it comes to industry links, you’ll benefit from our connections with games brands including Rebellion, SEGA, Creative Assembly and SuperMassive Games, and graduate with all the tools you need for a successful career.
Past graduates have gone on to work for AAA, iii and indie games companies across the UK and abroad.
| Length of study | 3 years full-time |
|---|---|
| Campus | Farnham |
| Entry requirements | 112 UCAS tariff points |
| Course entry options | Sept 2021, Sept 2022 |
| UCAS institution code | C93 |
| UCAS code | G450 |
Accredited by:
Course details
This year will take you through fundamental games design processes and the technical foundations of 2D and 3D programming, understanding games engines, as well as planning and creating games. You’ll share theoretical units with students on the Games Arts course.
Games Design
You’ll be introduced to the key digital art and design skills needed to complement your technical skills, with which you’ll transform your research and develop ideas into functional assets for games. You'll learn how to approach problems creatively using a range of sources for reference and inspiration.
Games Programming
Specific to this course, you’ll learn the fundamentals of working in Unreal Engine, using Blueprints, the basics of C++ programming and gain a solid grounding in gaming systems and platforms, the system architecture of these platforms and the similarities between them.
You'll be introduced to fundamental mathematics for computing before moving on to Procedural and Object-Orientated Programming. You'll also demonstrate your technical understanding through this unit by producing simple games.
Interaction
Through the fundamental concepts of gameplay, computer games design, and computer games scripting and C# coding using the Unity games engine, you’ll learn about how games interact with users.
Introduction to Video Game Studies: Image, Medium and Culture
This unit introduces you to a range of key concepts central to developing an understanding of video games and the history of their theorisation. Exploring influential video game examples and relevant theoretical and critical writings, you will analyse the cultural and artistic contexts in which the medium has been theorised, produced and played. You will also become familiar with the technological developments and conceptual transformations, before and after the so called digital shift, establishing a firm understanding of the technical and intellectual changes that have influenced the development of the video game as a medium.
Year two will build upon your planning, design, asset creation and prototyping skills. You’ll start to specialise in a defined area, and continue to undertake shared units with students on the Games Arts course.
As the course progresses, you’ll develop your practical skills further in the programming language C++, alongside contextual studies.
Games System Design
Through this unit you will further build on your knowledge of digital systems and programming skills. Specifically, you will be introduced to C++, gaining understanding of its key concepts and features and demonstrating your understanding in response to briefs. Complementing the explicitly technical focus of this unit you’ll be encouraged to be creative – your work may be entrepreneurial or speculative, you might look beyond gaming for entertainment to areas like ‘Serious/ Applied Games’, ‘Games as Social Political Comment’ or ‘Games as Art’.
Games Production
Contemporary games production practices and workflows are crucial to the success of a game. You’ll learn how to work in small dev teams, iterate and develop to milestones, while creating high-quality work. You’ll learn the process of making a game environment and the roles of those involved, specifically exploring mechanics, environment production techniques and workflows. From there, you’ll work in groups to create a prototype – in an iterative fashion as you would in contemporary game production practice.
You’ll also work in a group to successfully pitch a game concept, and develop a prototype or ‘vertical slice’. Each member of your group will need to specialise in a specific area appropriate to their skills and interests, however all members should be involved in the production.
Gaming in Contemporary Culture
You’ll critically examine the position of computer games and gamers within culture and society, exploring gaming's relationship to gender, ethnicity, conflict and capital. You’ll also discuss ludology and its attendant concepts, including immersion, procedural rhetoric and cyber-individualism.
Your third year will introduce you to the economics and management of the industry, as well as copyright, patents and legal concerns, and also give you the opportunity to showcase your own learning with your dissertation, pre-production project and final games’ prototypes.
Final Major Project: Pre-production
This extended period of study allows you to develop a significant body of work either individually or in a group that demonstrates your skills, interests and your aspiration for your future role within the games industry. You'll begin this unit by developing a project proposal through which you will define the concept, scope, audience, and purpose of your Final Major Project, you will present this through a pitch to your tutors and peers. Alongside this proposal you will produce a detailed production schedule committing to project milestones.
Final Major Project
From the work you have undertaken in the previous unit, you’ll produce a fully resolved body of work, either individually or as part of a team. It should demonstrate your creativity, skill, knowledge and understanding of recognised games industry practices and pipelines producing outcomes to a professional standard.
Thesis
You'll undertake a substantial period of sustained, individually negotiated research on a subject related to the contextual and/ or theoretical concerns of your discipline or chosen area of practice, towards the provision of structured written argument.
Tuition fees
The course fees per year for 2021 entry are:
- UK students - £9,250
- EU students - £9,250 (see fee discount information)
- International students - £16,950 (standard fee)
- International students - £16,270 (full early payment fee)
The course fees for 2022 entry will be available here shortly.
Additional course costs
In addition to the tuition fees please see the additional course costs for 2021 entry. The details for 2022 entry will be available here in due course.
Further information
Find out more about our course fees and any financial support you may be entitled to:
These fees are correct for the stated academic year only. Costs may increase each year during a student’s period of continued registration on course in line with inflation (subject to any maximum regulated tuition fee limit). Any adjustment for continuing students will be at or below the RPI-X forecast rate.
Course specifications
Please note, syllabus content indicated is provided as a guide. The content of the course may be subject to change in line with our Student Terms and Conditions for example, as required by external professional bodies or to improve the quality of the course.
Facilities
This course has studios with high end PCs with Alienware Aurora towers and the latest RTX 2080 graphics cards, 4k dual screen monitors and Wacom Cintiq graphics tablets, with software including Unity and Unreal games engines. There is also a VR development studio, and a dedicated Games Incubator Studio for graduate entrepreneurs looking to set up their own companies or looking to release games to market. In addition, our Farnham campus has sound production and Foley studios, pro tools and a specialist library.
Games studio, UCA Farnham
Foley sound studio, UCA Farnham
Games studio, UCA Farnham
Library, UCA Farnham
Course connections
Taking advantage of our proximity to the UK’s largest games hubs, our course connects directly with some of the best-known names in the industry, including:
- Supermassive Games
- EA
- Sony
- Creative Assembly
- Supergonk
- Two Point Studios
- Zappar
- Hangar 13
- Atom Republic
- Rebellion
- Miniclip
We also regularly welcome input from active industry practitioners, who can offer expert advice and guidance to students about the realities of working in the computer games market.
The UK games industry is the fifth largest in the world, with plentiful opportunities, particularly in London and the South East where almost half the market is based. According to the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment, the games industry grew by 26 per cent between 2017 and 2018, and 82 per cent of games companies are looking to expand their workforce.
This course is uniquely focused towards producing graduates who are steering their careers towards being a Technical Artist working between both the artists, designers and programming teams.
You may also like to consider further study at postgraduate level.
Entry requirements
The standard entry requirements* for this course are:
One of the following:
- 112 new UCAS tariff points, see accepted qualifications
- Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3 or 4)
- Distinction, Merit, Merit at BTEC Extended Diploma / BTEC National Extended Diploma
- Merit at UAL Extended Diploma
- 112 new UCAS tariff points from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma in appropriate subject
- 27-30 total points in the International Baccalaureate Diploma with at least 15 IB points at Higher level, see more information about IB entry requirements.
And normally five GCSE passes at grade A-C and/or grade 4-9, including English language, mathematics (grade B/6) and science or physics (grade B/6).
Other relevant and equivalent Level 3 UK and international qualifications are considered on an individual basis, and we encourage students from diverse educational backgrounds to apply.
*We occasionally make offers which are lower than the standard entry criteria, to students who have faced difficulties that have affected their performance and who were expected to achieve higher results. We consider the strength of our applicants’ portfolios, as well as their grades - in these cases, a strong portfolio is especially important.
To view the equivalent entry requirements for your country please select it in the list below.
Don't meet the international entry requirements or English language requirements?
You may be able to enter the course through the following entry courses:
Pre-sessional English courses in the UK or China
For this course, you’ll be required to submit an online portfolio via your UCA Applicant Portal. Further information on how to compile and upload your portfolio will be provided once you have applied. If you receive an offer, you’ll be invited to attend an Offer Holder Webinar where you can meet the course team and learn more about the course.
Apply now
UK applications
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Apply for full-time study - starting September 2021:
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Apply for full-time study - starting September 2022:
International & EU applications
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Apply for full-time study - Year 1 - starting September 2021:
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Apply for full-time study - Year 2 - starting September 2021:
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Apply for full-time study - starting September 2022:
If you're interested in joining Year 3 of this course, please contact our International Admissions Team on +44 (0) 1252 892838 or internationaladmissions@uca.ac.uk
When to apply:
We are still accepting applications for 2021 entry - get your application in now.
If applying directly to us, you can apply throughout the year but we recommend you apply as early as possible so you have time to arrange accommodation and visas.
For more information visit our how to apply pages
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