Game Programming MSc

Get the edge in the highly competitive games industry

Whether you’re currently studying for a computing degree, are in the early stages of your career or want to re-train in this exciting field, this course will help you to become a confident game programmer who can deliver compelling play experiences.

Learn technical, creative and professional skills from veteran game developers and world-leading researchers, within a studio environment that mirrors the industry. Our award-winning Games Academy studio is ripe for collaboration and innovation. Learning from experienced games practitioners, and working with artists and designers in a studio environment, you’ll experiment with cutting-edge technologies and game programming techniques. You’ll also benefit from our industry connections and insights; several of our graduates have seen great success with the UK Games Fund and found their own indie game studios, through career support from our employability service RealWORKS.

The Games Academy is an educational affiliate of the BCS

We welcome students from a diverse range of backgrounds and prior experiences – including those who don’t hold a technical qualification but are willing to take on the challenge.

You might currently be studying a course related to computing (including software engineering, game development, computer science, entrepreneurship, data analysis and more). Or perhaps you’re at the start of your career and want to enhance your skills and employability. Alternatively, you may be further along in your career but interested in re-training, or transitioning into research.

You will:

• Gain a Master of Science degree with a creative edge, helping you to stand out in a highly competitive sector by nurturing an imaginative approach to problem-solving – complementing your technical expertise and other highly sought-after transferable skills.
• Learn from experienced game developers with expertise spanning experimental gameplay, human-computer interaction, graphics and simulation, distributed systems, analytics, AI, procedural content generation, physical computing and digital creativity.
• Be encouraged to explore your unique creative voice and experiment freely with new technologies.
• Undertake cutting-edge research under the supervision of subject-matter specialists.
• Work within a simulated studio environment, in line with industry expectations.
• Enhance your communication and collaboration skills through a team project with students and staff from other areas of games development.
• Acquire the industry knowledge to take a game from initial concept through to a pitch-ready demonstration.
• Develop your intellectual independence, and potentially establish yourself as a technical innovator or pursue a new career pathway in research and development.

You’ll develop your knowledge of the mathematics and technology that underpins digital games; learn industry-standard game programming approaches and methodologies; and discover how to rapidly take a game from initial concept to a pitch-ready demonstration. For your Final Major Project, you’ll also have the option to make a complete and potentially marketable game.

By working with – and optimising – a state-of-the-art, real-time interactive simulation technologies, you’ll gain the knowledge to contribute to the development of new algorithms and extensions. You’ll also have opportunities to contribute to ground-breaking research efforts, equipping you with transferrable skills for the games industry as well as software engineering in many other domains.

Study block one

• Software Engineering
• Digital Games Technology

Study block two

• Advanced Game Programming
• Game Development Project

Study block three

• Major Project

The modules above are those being studied by our students or proposed new ones. Programme structures and modules can change as part of our curriculum enhancement and review processes. If a certain module is important to you, please discuss it with the Course Leader.

How you'll learn

With regularly timetabled support sessions from our course team and access to our studio throughout, you’ll be able to produce games to a high standard, learn to collaborate effectively as a member of a game development team as well as to conduct cutting-edge research and development. You'll learn through:

• Demonstrations
• Studio practice
• Project supervision
• Lectures
• Seminars
• Practical workshops
• Crit sessions
• Tutorials
• Guest speakers
• Mentoring

How you'll be assessed

Assessment is 100% coursework, with the learning situated in an environment that mirrors industry, helping to prepare you for what it’s like in a real game studio.

Assessments are composed of practical activities underpinned by critical analyses of the workflows and practices applied in the module to further support your learning.

Module leaders, supervisors and technicians will guide and support you through your assessments to enhance your relevant technical and academic skillsets.

As a graduate of this Game Programming master’s course, your career could progress into roles such as:

• Game/Gameplay Programmer
• Tools Programmer
• Game Designer
• Systems Designer
• Software Developer
• Technical Director
• Entrepreneur
• Researcher/Further study