Our BSc (Hons) Computer Games Design with Animation degree combines technical and artistic skills, making you highly sought after within the industry. We’ll cover the three main types of games animation – motion capture, hand-keyed animation and technical animation – and will give you the chance to specialise. You’ll devise 3D character models, get them to move around using body mechanics, and equip them with props, vehicles and weapons. Whether creating a desert, street, castle or spaceship as a backdrop, you’ll also master game environments.
And to ensure your real-time animation models actually work in a games engine, you will study games design and aspects of programming too.
As the largest games department in the UK, we have lots of industry contacts, including Flix Interactive, Sumo Digital, Cloud Imperium Games and animation experts Carse and Waterman. It means you’ll graduate work-ready, with connections and an impressive portfolio.
You’ll be following in the footsteps of our award-winning games students, including those who’ve landed jobs with top studios.
The first year of your course will introduce you to games design principles, the use of games engines in the creation of games, the creation of 3D assets, and the animation of game assets, all using industry-standard approaches and software. In your second year, you will be able to choose from a range of modules that cover various topics such as environment modelling, character modelling, lighting, hand-keyed animation, hard-surface modelling, cinematics, and using animations in a games engine. Alongside this, you will also work in a collaborative environment with fellow students to create a game product.
Careers
Our games graduates are in great demand and go on to work across the globe. Some have joined the likes of Ubisoft as level designers, working on games like The Division, and several recent graduates have worked on Grand Theft Auto V and Rockstar North titles.
Computer Games Design with Animation can lead to lots of specialist careers, with roles such as motion capture technician, hand-keyed animator and games animator. As many films use games engines for CGI, your skills will also be relevant to careers in film and virtual production.
