BA/BSc (Hons) Game Design Degree

Design, production, testing. Study Game Design and gain experience in the full game production pipeline.

What you can expect from your degree

• The gaming industry has exploded in recent years thanks to exciting technological advances that have opened the door to dynamic, immersive experiences like never before. With gaming companies on the lookout for talented game designers, programmers and testers, now’s the perfect time to study a game design degree course.
• At SAE, you’ll learn how to design and develop next-level video games while advancing your game development and programming skills in 2 years rather than 3. Beat the competition by graduating industry-ready more quickly than at a traditional university – while saving money on course and accommodation fees too.
• Across your 2 years at SAE, you’ll explore level design and narrative construction by completing real-world project briefs in a simulated games studio environment. You’ll gain advanced skills in industry-standard software packages, such as Unreal Engine 5, Unity 3D, Adobe Creative Suite, Autodesk Suite (Maya) and Visual Studio, plus expert proficiency in programming languages C# and C++.
• SAE’s highly experienced Experts will introduce you to the professional world of game design, showing you the ropes in programming, UI/UX design and industry workflows. As you explore common game engines and asset development fundamentals, you’ll complete group projects and run playtesting for the games you’ve developed, validating your understanding of game design theory and application.

Levelling up

• As you progress your studies, you’ll get ready to embrace real-world success thanks to SAE’s focus on practical learning, business planning skills and games industry knowledge. In your final trimester, you’ll complete a Major Project in a chosen area of specialism – a perfect opportunity to connect with industry experts with a view to future game design employment.
• At the end of your time with us, you’ll graduate equipped with the skills of a professional game developer and ready to launch into the industry as a game designer, game developer, concept artist, multimedia specialist or software engineer. Simply put, SAE’s accelerated game design degree really puts you ahead of the game.

At the end of your 2-year game design degree you will:

• Learn game development and master your craft in a collaborative studio-based environment.
• Confidently operate the latest industry software, including Unreal Engine 5, Autodesk’s Maya, Unity 3D, Visual Studio and Adobe Creative Suite.
• Blend hands-on immersive training with academic learning for well-rounded education from day one.
• Design and playtest games you love playing.
• Gain entrepreneurial and business skills to take into your game design career.
• Collaborate creatively on games projects with SAE students from other courses, such as animators, musicians, filmmakers and marketers.
• Develop a significant portfolio of work to present to industry.
• Build an impressive network of connections across the wider creative industries.
• Graduate career ready with practical employment skills gained through strong industry links.
• Game design course start dates available in January and September.

Course structure

The BA/BSc (Hons) Game Design course is an accelerated 2-year degree, split over 6 trimesters. Its structure follows 3 distinct stages – each designed to help you develop specific skills. Dividing it this way ensures you graduate as a well-rounded game designer with a thorough understanding of the entire game development process.

• Stage 1 (T1 and T2) provides a foundation of core technical knowledge.
• Stage 2 (T3 and T4) broadens your skills, and collaboration, exploring new areas of game design.
• Stage 3 (T5 and T6) is all-encompassing, covering every aspect of game development from conception to completion, including entrepreneurial aspects like project management, business planning and marketing.

Trimester 1

• Develop the essential technical game design skills and knowledge needed to collaborate with professionals and your fellow creative media students.

GD (T1) Game Programming Basics

• During the Game Programming Basics module of this pioneering games design degree, you’ll learn the fundamental knowledge and skills of game development. As you progress your studies, you’ll discover object-oriented programming (OOP) and common algorithms used for games, while practising practical applications. You’ll also explore core mathematics and other programming fundamentals to support your learning, such as logic operations, algorithms and basic vector mathematics.

Topics include:

• Programming basics
• Structured programming
• Object-oriented programming
• Introduction to algorithms
• Boolean algebra and numeral systems
• Vector arithmetic
• Version control

GD (T1) Game Development Basics

• Across this module, which complements the Programming Basics module of this game designer degree, you’ll gain an overview of the concepts and practice of games design. As you research elements of game design, you’ll learn to create your own games, exploring the functionality and operation of game engines. You’ll also be mentored through your own game project and learn how to implement and tweak game mechanics and mechanisms in common game engines.

Topics include:

• Game design fundamentals
• Game engine basics
• Game mechanics
• Game mechanism

Trimester 2

• Across your second trimester, you’ll broaden your scope to put what you’ve learned in Trimester 1 into practice, while getting to grips with industry-standard practices.

GD (T2) Applied Game Design

• In Applied Game Design, you’ll apply the theories and frameworks of foundational game design, using testing frameworks to validate your theories in practice. As you learn the fundamentals of level design and user interface design, you’ll have fun checking the quality of the games through playtesting. You’ll also prepare for the real-world of game development by presenting the data you’ve collected to others in a variety of ways.

Topics include:

• Asset management and creation
• Playtesting and QA
• Data collection principals and ethics
• Statistics for game design
• UI/UX
• Level design

GD (T2) Games and Culture

• Across the Games and Culture module of this game design accelerated degree, you’ll explore a small game project to research and present the context of games culture, focusing on an appropriate genre or game space. Across the pre-production stage of the project, you’ll discover fundamental game production methodologies and theories of play. As you enhance your skills in this area, you’ll present your learnings to the class using a variety of mediums.

Topics include:

• Academic research and writing
• Game production basics (agile/scrum, kanban, risk analysis, etc)
• History and culture of games
• Ethics of video games
• Theories of play (flow, magic circle, MDA)
• Narrative in video games

Trimester 3

GD (T3) Creative Studio 1: Industry Workflows

• Game designers, in collaboration with game programmers, are critical to meeting the technical needs of a game project. Throughout Trimester 3, you’ll work on gaming projects in our creative studio, providing a highly practical aspect to your education as you develop your professional practice and familiarise yourself with industry-standard tools. Across this hands-on module, you’ll learn how to apply iterative design and rapid prototyping to develop all the necessary systems and tools for a functional, captivating game world.

Topics could cover:

• Rapid prototyping
• Games narrative
• Reward systems
• User interface and user experience (UI/UX) design
• World building

Trimester 4

• The second Creative Studio term focuses on collaborative game design. Building on your practical knowledge, you’ll work together in a group to create games designed to reach an intended audience.

GD (T4) Creative Studio 2: Collaboration and Business

• The Creative Studio 2 module is all about collaborative game design. You’ll pair up with students from other SAE programmes outside your games design course, encouraging you to explore new creative perspectives and gain fresh ideas. A key part of the module is identifying a target market and developing a product to distribute to paying gamers as you discover the commercial, community and marketplace aspects of games development.

Topics could cover:

• Commercial games
• Modern marketplaces for games
• Games product lifecycle
• GAAS
• Mobile and platforms
• Business planning
• Marketing

Trimester 5

• As you near the end of your game development degree, you’ll start to specialise, advancing your skills across your chosen area of the game design industry.

GD (T5) Advanced Specialised Production

• In this module, you’ll expand on your existing knowledge and produce work of a professional calibre within your field of expertise. Choose to participate in real-world projects via internships, collaborate with peers across diverse creative fields, tackle simulated briefs or develop your own projects. This subject provides a platform for you to hone your skills, build your network and curate a portfolio that showcases your talents.

Topics may include:

• Serious Games
• Game economies
• Playtesting
• Psychology of games
• MDA
• Accessibility
• Level Design

GP (T5) – Research and Professional Development in Creative Media

• In this subject, you’ll prepare for your final Major Project, craft your project proposal with guidance from our SAE Experts. You’ll also enhance your essential academic and professional skills, which will prove useful when applying for jobs in the industry or pursuing postgraduate studies.

Trimester 6

• The final module of this game design degree course lets you demonstrate the practical and academic skills you’ve developed across your 2 years at SAE via a large-scale advanced-level project.

GD (T6) – BA/BSc Game Design Major Project

• During your final trimester, you’ll implement the Major Project you designed, scoped and planned across Trimester 5. This industry-focused venture lets you concentrate on a specialism of your choosing, advancing your knowledge and skills in this area. Depending on your topic, you can use it as a springboard into industry or as a way to make connections with industry professionals that may lead to future employment. Some of our previous students have exploited this creative opportunity to the fullest, creating award-winning game designs or launching their own businesses.

What jobs will this course lead to?

• Game Designer
• Game Tester
• Game Programmer
• Game Animator
• Game Developer
• Android Developer
• Concept Artist
• VFX artist
• Game Writer
• Level Designer
• Gaming Journalist
• UI Designer