Whether you want to develop your practice in mobile, PC, console, VR or multiplatform games production, or finesse your skills in animation, the vocational focus of this course can help you break into the sector you are interested in. As well as incorporating industry standards throughout, it is taught by active practitioners and visiting experts. You will also undertake a work placement relevant to your career plans.

The course is taught in dedicated rooms in UCW’s Knightstone Campus. You will also benefit from the new equipment, modern library and bright and spacious study spaces in our new University Centre in the Winter Gardens, also in the centre of Weston.

This course also offers a comprehensive itinerary of optional visits to studios and businesses in the games and animation industry, and games conventions in the UK and abroad. In recent years and at an additional expense, students have visited EGX in Birmingham and Gamescom in Cologne, for example.

Please click on the next tab to find out more about what you will learn on this programme and how it is taught and assessed.

Please contact UCW’s HEART student services team if you have any questions. It would also be great to meet you and show you around at our next Open Day.

All of the modules on this course are compulsory and worth 30 credits each.

Year 1:

• Understanding Animation for Production – 30 credits 
• Understanding Art for Production – 30 credits
• Understanding Games Development – 30 credits
• Understanding the Games and Animation Industries – 30 credits

Year 2:

• Creative Collaborative Production – 30 credits
• Creative Independent Production – 30 credits
• Games and Animation for Cultural and Ethical Awareness – 30 credits
• Wider Professional Practice – 30 credits

Year 3:

• Pitching to Industry – 30 credits
• Professional Practice – 30 credits
• Specialist Collaborative Production – 30 credits
• Specialist Independent Production – 30 credits

This course is taught via a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, case studies, presentations, skills practice and project work. UCW’s Higher Education Library Plus (HE.LP) team also deliver a series of sessions on degree-level research and academic writing to all first-year students. When not in scheduled classes, students are expected to continue learning through independent self-study. This involves reading relevant literature, working on individual and group projects, and undertaking research in preparation for coursework.

This course has an average of 12 hours of scheduled teaching per week and a work placement element totalling 60 hours over the duration of the course.

Assessment is via a combination of practical exams and coursework, with an assessment breakdown of 50% practical exams and 50% coursework. There are no written exams on this course.

Please click on the course handbook button to find out more, including how the course is delivered on a part-time basis.

• Graduates of this course are eligible to apply for postgraduate courses such as the Master's degrees in Commercial Games Development and Animation at UWE Bristol.
• Graduates of this course could also seek positions in the games and animation industries as games producers, designers and developers, or related roles in the wider creative arts industry.

Industry insight

The total value of the UK games industry is expected to reach £4 billion in 2020 (UK Animation, VFX and Games Industry: Strategies, Tends and Opportunities report).

Qualification requirements

• UCAS Tariff - 80 points
• A level - CDD
• Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016) - MMP
• T Level - P
• Applicants are also required to submit a portfolio of creative work and attend an interview.
• Applicants with a level 5 qualification such as HND, Foundation Degree, or equivalent can be considered for 3rd year entry. Please contact admissions@ucw.ac.uk to discuss your application further.

Course Handbook

Programme specification

UCW Terms and Conditions