Games Design

What Will I Study?

You will be able to study the following qualifications in this subject:

Level 1 UAL Diploma Art, Design and Media?(1 year)

Level 2 UAL Diploma Art and Design?(1 year) Games Design Pathway

Level 3 UAL Diploma and Extended Diploma in Creative Practice (2 years) Games Design Pathway

Games Art is for you if you love drawing, digital art and games, and want to learn how the artwork behind your favourite games actually gets made.

Our Art Design and Media level 1 and Games level 2 introduces you to traditional and technical skills, so you build a broad, confident skill set rather than specialising too soon. You'll learn traditional techniques such as observational drawing, sculpting and fundamental creative practices that support your approaches to research, idea development and project management alongside using creative digital tools, developing real technical control over materials before deciding where your interests lie.

This UAL Level 3 Diploma and Extended Diploma in Creative Practice: Art, Design and Communication focuses on concept art, character design and environment art for games. You will develop skills in areas such as creating concept art for character development, games environments and asset creation, creative and perspective drawing, video editing, 2D and 3D stop motion animation, and 2D and 3D games environment design.

During your studies, you will be using, learning and developing your skills with the use of the Adobe Creative Suite in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Premiere. You will learn 3Ds Max, Maya, Mudbox, Unreal Engine, Traditional Drawing Techniques, plus so much more.

Traditional drawing and sculpting skills sit alongside digital tools throughout, so you develop a strong visual foundation before moving into more advanced digital art techniques — the same route many working games artists take.

Real-world context

We co-design parts of the course with games industry specialists, so what you learn reflects real creative practice. You'll gain experience of working in a professional context, creating art and design work for clients including community groups, and private and public organisations — building the confidence, experience and relevant portfolio that support your next step. Studio visits and industry trips also enrich your cultural and creative knowledge.

By the end, you'll have a strong digital art portfolio showing characters, environments and concept work, along with genuine software skills — ready for Foundation or degree-level study in games art, illustration or concept art, or entry into the games and digital art industry.

Where it can take you

Concept Artist · Character Artist · Environment Artist · Illustrator · Digital Artist · Further Creative or technical study at BA Hons level

Work Experience

It is very important that you develop experience in the industry, so as part of your time on your course you will complete work experience. We ensure you have a wide range of opportunities to do this - we often have clients with live briefs, and work with practitioners in the creative industries who set us project work to complete in teams.

We will support you in finding work experience and have a team dedicated to contact employers. Industry masterclasses and guest speakers attend College to speak to our Games students regularly. Attending these talks will broaden your understanding of the career routes you may choose to progress to after you finish your studies and training.

How Will I Be Assessed?

You are continually assessed to establish what you have learnt from each module and assignment.

To ensure you are ready for a demanding and successful career in the creative industries, many of your assessments are in line with the industry standards and protocols. This means you may be asked to pitch your ideas, present information to communicate to an audience or work with an employer to create a solution and outcome for a project.

With each project you will be asked to produce a portfolio of evidence which is also formally assessed by your tutor(s) at different points through the year. Your feedback will be kept on our digital assessment platform at final assessment points, but in tutorials you will discuss your progress and set new and stretching targets.

Your final grade is assessed through your final major project where you will use a selection of the skills and techniques you have learnt, practised and developed on the course. This project is examined by external moderators and exhibited for your peers and tutors to assess.

Maths and English