Task 1.3 – University Research
Portsmouth University – Computer Games Technology BSc(Hons)
- Requirements needed to get on the course e.g. GCSE’s, UCAS points
GCSEs – 3 GCSEs at grade C or above to include English and Mathematics/3 GCSEs at grade 4 or above to include English and Mathematics.
UCAS points – 112 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent.
- What Skills are they going to teach? – Subjects.
Year 1 –
Core modules in this year include:
- Define Games
- Foundation in 3D Modelling
- Introduction to Image Creation
- Technical Game Development
- Tools For Games and Animation
- EPortfolio
Year 2 –
Core modules in this year include:
- Student Enterprise for Games
- Project Initiation and Career Management
Options to choose from in this year currently include:
- Prototyping and Iterating Game Designs
- Programming Application Programming Interfaces
- Program Consoles
- Professional Experience
- Mathematical Elements for Games and Animation
- Gameplay Programming
- Engaged Citizenship through Interdisciplinary Practice
- Designing for Animation
- Design Games
- Design and Visual Research for Cinema and Game
- Creative Technologies Study Exchange
- Commercial Asset Production for Real Time
Placement Year –
On this course, you can do an optional work placement year between your 2nd and 3rd years to get valuable experience working in industry.
We’ll help you secure a work placement that fits your situation and ambitions. You’ll get mentoring and support throughout the year.
Year 3 –
Core modules in this year include:
- Real Time Interactive Group Project
- Final Year Project
Options to choose from in this year currently include:
- Advanced Graphics Techniques
- Console Programming Resolution
- Create Worlds
- Games Research
- Motion Capture Applications
- Programming AI for Games
- Psychological Theory for Game Designers
- When are their open days?
- Do you have the GCSE’s to get onto the course?
Yes, I do.
- How is the University course offering the skills you need for your chosen career?
It’s allowing me specialize, and get a job placement for a year, which will help me with programming, I will also be working with a lot of different people with different skills which will help me out along the way.
- Is there anything specific you like or dislike about the course or University?
I like the fact that this course is a A Bachelor of Science BSc (Hons) course instead of A Bachelor of Arts course since I feel like it would look better on my CV that I took a university course which was a Bachelor of Science (with Honours) – And I also like the fact that the course allows you to specialize in the 2nd year, and you work with other people to produce a game, and you also have a job placement or you can open up your own games studio.
Another thing I like about this is that Portsmouth University is rated a TEF: GOLD which is good, I always tend to look at the TEF ratings of the univeristy before picking a course.
Falmouth University – Computing for Games BSc(Hons)
- Requirements needed to get on the course e.g. GCSE’s, UCAS points.
GCSEs – Mathematics Grade 4 (C), or equivalent / English Language Grade 4 (C), or equivalent.
UCAS – 104 – 120 UCAS points, primarily from Level 3 qualifications like A-Levels, a BTEC Extended Diploma, or a Foundation Diploma.
- What Skills are they going to teach? – Subjects.
Year 1–
Beginning with an introduction to programming, you’ll learn the basics of computing using Python. We’ll support complete beginners as we go through the standards for collaborative software development, helping you apply what you’ve learned to a small team-based exercise.
You’ll then embark on your first multi-disciplinary game development project alongside artists, animators, composers, designers, and writers. This project gives you a practical understanding of game engineering processes and game engine architecture – typically, using either C++ in Unreal 4, or C# in Unity.
Throughout the year, you’ll work individual creative computing projects into your games. These projects typically involve procedural content generation and physical computing, reflecting our research strengths.
Modules
Development Principles
Creative Computing
Principles of Computing
Individual Creative Computing Project
Multidisciplinary Development Practice
Year 2 –
You’ll develop a game in collaboration with students from other disciplines, develop a portfolio of specialist game components for current and future projects, and explore specialist fields in modern gaming.
These fields give you a chance to learn to develop for equipment like Microsoft HoloLens or HTC Vive, and analyse rendering APIs like OpenGL and shader languages like GLSL. You’ll also be able to apply techniques like Monte Carlo Tree Search to design bots, and implement client-server multiplayer games using the cloud. On top of a greater emphasis on C++, we’ll also address a greater variety of programming languages like Java and JavaScript.
Modules
Specialisms in Creative Computing
Mathematics for 3D Worlds & Simulations
World Creation Project: Pre-Production
World Creation Project: Production
Options include:
Interfaces & Interaction
Graphics & Simulation
Artificial Intelligence
Distributed Systems
Year 3 –
Working with team members from different disciplines, you’ll turn your skills and expertise into an original game as part of a year-long major development project. You’ll also research a specialism as part of your final year project – applying cutting-edge computing technology to your game’s development. At the end of the year, you’ll pitch your game to industry professionals as part of our annual Show & Tell day.
You’ll also study advanced topics like low-level programming in assembly, techniques for optimising code for console architectures like Sony PlayStation 4, and learn statistical computing for game analysis in R. You’ll also set up a portfolio website using HTML and CSS.
Modules
Major Game Development Project: Pre-Production
Major Game Development Project: Production
Research & Development: Practice
Research & Development: Dissertation
- When are their open days?
- Do you have the GCSE’s to get onto the course?
Yes, I do.
- How is the University course offering the skills you need for your chosen career?
It focuses more on the science and technology route of games development, which is what I need if I want to get into a technical route in the games industry.
- Is there anything specific you like or dislike about the course or University?
I like the fact that this course is a A Bachelor of Science BSc (Hons) course instead of A Bachelor of Arts course since I feel like it would look better on my CV that I took a university course which was a Bachelor of Science (with Honours)
But this university is far from home, so I dislike that I’ll have to travel up there and live up there and stay up there, and it’s in a rather boring area.
One thing I do like about Falmouth Univeristy is that it is rated TEF: GOLD.
Falmouth University – Game Development BA(Hons)
Falmouth University – Programming BA(Hons)
- Requirements needed to get on the course e.g. GCSE’s, UCAS points.
GCSEs – GCSE English Language Grade 4 (C), or equivalent.
UCAS – 104 – 120 UCAS points, primarily from Level 3 qualifications like A-levels, a BTEC Extended Diploma or a Foundation Diploma.
- What Skills are they going to teach? – Subjects.
Year 1 –
You’ll learn what it takes to make a game – asset creation, project management and pipelines, pitching ideas, and theories exploring 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
Theory 1: Reading Experiences
Multidisciplinary Development Practice
Specialist modules depending on your route
Specialist modules
Art
Environment Art 1
Environment Art 2
Animation
Game Animation 1
Game Animation 2
Audio
Designing Sound
Music Technologies
Design
Game Design 1
Game Design 2
Programming
Principles of Computing
Creative Computing
Individual Creative Computing Project
Writing
Craft of Writing
Audiences & Contexts
Year 2 –
With greater confidence in your skills, you’ll mirror professional game development as you tackle a larger game project in a multi-skilled group. Made over the entire year, you’ll research and experiment with various approaches and create innovative features. You’ll investigate strategies in player experience, and learn what drives industry trends and developments from visiting professionals, all the while developing the specialist skills informing your practice.
Modules
World Creation Project: Pre-Production
World Creation Project: Production
World Creation: Game Development Project 1
Theory 2: Form & Player Experience
Specialist modules depending on your route
Specialist modules
Art
Developing Specialist Game Art Practice
Developing Concept Art Vocabularies
Developing Character Art Vocabularies
Developing Environment Art Vocabularies
Animation
Game Animation 3
Developing Specialist Game Art Practice
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 and Digital Writing Workshop
Developing Specialist Game Development Practice
Year 3 –
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 work with industry mentors, sharpening your real-world insights and building valuable career contacts.
Modules
Preparing for the Future
Major Game Development Project: Pre-Production
Professional Practice
Major Game Development Project: Production
- When are their open days?
- Do you have the GCSE’s to get onto the course?
Yes, I do.
- How is the University course offering the skills you need for your chosen career?
It would allow me to branch off to my chosen profession and work on that myself, I would be working on set tasks..
- Is there anything specific you like or dislike about the course or University?
I dislike that it’s a Bachelor of Arts instead of a Bachelor of Science, having a Bachelor of Arts degree on my CV doesn’t look so good, whereas a Science one does, I also dislike, as stated earlier, the university and where it is as since it isn’t near home and it’s in a really small boring area.
I think this course is similar to Portsmouth Universities’ Computer Games Technology but with a more arts side to it.
One thing I do like about Falmouth Univeristy is that it is rated TEF: GOLD.
Staffordshire University – Computer Games Design and Programming BSc (Hons)
- Requirements needed to get on the course e.g. GCSE’s, UCAS points.
Typical UCAS offer: 112 points
BTEC: DMM
- What Skills are they going to teach? – Subjects.
Year 1 –
Introduction to Games Design
Introduction to 3D Games Engines
Games Engine Creation
Rapid Games Prototyping
Year 2 –
Junior Collaborative Game Development & Testing
Advanced 3D Games Engine and Scripting
Advanced Games Engine Creation OR Social and Mobile Games Development
Year 3 –
Senior Collaborative Games Development & Testing
Individual Games Technology Project
AI Scripting for Games
- When are their open days?
- Do you have the GCSE’s to get onto the course?
Yes, I do
- How is the University course offering the skills you need for your chosen career?
You work as teams with others to make games and specialize in my own chosen path, for example, programming and UI, which is what I want to go down in University.
- Is there anything specific you like or dislike about the course or University?
I like the fact that this course is a A Bachelor of Science BSc (Hons) course instead of A Bachelor of Arts course since I feel like it would look better on my CV that I took a university course which was a Bachelor of Science (with Honours)
I also like that the course has programming in it’s title, which means that it would look better on my CV.
I don’t like the university since it is TEF: Silver and I would much rather do a course which is in a university TEF: Gold, another thing I don’t like is that Staffordshire is how far it is away from Bognor Regis, I know it’s not that far away but it’s not near either.
Abertay University – Computer Games Technology BSc(Hons)
- Requirements needed to get on the course e.g. GCSE’s, UCAS points.
- What Skills are they going to teach? – Subjects.
- When are their open days?
- Do you have the GCSE’s to get onto the course?
I don’t have the higher B in higher math, I have a low B in GCSE math, so that is something that I may struggle with, I will probably be able to retake math and physics (for programming) at A-Level to get the grades and then apply, but then that would take me longer, I think I can try to apply without the math and then present a good portfolio and the fact I’m in a games development course to help me out.
- How is the University course offering the skills you need for your chosen career?
The university is the best university to go to since it is the top University in Europe for Games, which would look very good on my CV, it is also a very technical course with a lot of math and computing, which would be very handy if I wanted to branch off to do technical art.
- Is there anything specific you like or dislike about the course or University?
I don’t like how the university is a TEF: Silver, since it would look a lot better if the university was a TEF: Gold, and I don’t like how far away the university is from home, it’s a lot further then Staffordshire so, visiting home would be very complicated since I can either take a plane back and forth or I would take a very long train journey, the place it is in (Abertay) is very cold, since it is up north.
One thing I do like about the course and university and area is that GTA spawned in Abertay, and Angry Birds, so it’s got lots of good reputation.
Amy Elliott Level 3 Games Development (2nd Year) 