Course overview

Games development and publishing are major national and international industries offering many opportunities for graduates both in the UK and abroad. Sales of games have now overtaken music and film, establishing games as perhaps the most important and commercially successful mass-market entertainment industry in the world.

The course consists of a number of industry-standard strands, enabling you to tailor it to suit your interests. You will learn how to:

• create and animate 3D models
• program games
• design games to industry standards
• manage projects
• develop commercial and entrepreneurial skills

The course is specifically focused on enabling you to gain the skills that are required by games developers, especially for console and PC game development. However, it will also teach you to use games technologies, which can be used in other areas such as web design, TV and film. The ‘serious games’ sector where, for example, games technologies are being used to assist rehabilitation, training, education, simulations and so on, is also growing rapidly.

Transferable skills such as entrepreneurship and project management that you gain on the course are widely applicable outside the creative industries.

This course offers experience of the latest versions of industry-standard hardware (console development kits) and software, and an in-depth knowledge of the principles underlying these technologies to enable you to quickly adapt as these technologies evolve in the future.

You will become a self-directed learner able to work reflectively, so you can choose the best ways of achieving goals. These skills prepare you for life-long learning in the constantly changing media environment.

To ensure that the course is relevant to the needs of the games industry, it has been created and is taught, by a mixture of ex games-industry professionals and academics. We also constantly work with game developers and professional bodies such as TIGA to ensure that our courses stay up-to-date and teach you the skills that the games industry values.

Find out more

Please visit www.port.ac.uk/games to read more about games and creative technologies at Portsmouth

It is extremely beneficial to have visited the school prior to making an application. For opportunities to visit and more information on how to apply or any of the other courses we offer, please contact our Admissions Centre (details below).

Is this the right course for me?

This course is suitable for students who have followed technology or graphics courses and have an interest in design topics, with a particular emphasis on game design and development.

If you are interested in computer games, entertainment, graphics and animation or programming, and you have a certain flair for finding creative solutions to problems, then this is the ideal course for you.

Course content

Year one

In order to develop a useful range of fundamental game development skills you are introduced to:

• game design skills
• 3D modelling
• drawing on paper, including life drawing
• C++ programming

You also start to develop your academic study skills. Perhaps the most challenging experience of your first year is a unit entitled Introducing Art and Programming for Games, where you are put into a team and asked to create a game prototype using any technology you wish. This lets you try out your programming, graphics, management and/or design skills, while learning to work together to overcome the challenges of unfamiliar technology in a process that mimics the experiences of developers in the games industry.

You will study the following core units:

• Programming for Games
• Modelling and Animation
• Defining Game Genres
• Introducing Art and Programming for Games
• Application of Games Technologies
• Legal, Ethical and Professional Issues for Creative Technologies
• Software Skills for Media
• Drawing for Creative Technologies
• Employability Skills for Creative Technologists
• Information Design and Project Management

Year two

In the second year you continue to develop game design and development skills, and also choose between two pathways:

• game graphics: you learn to use industry-standard software tools such as 3D Studio Max and Photoshop, and study level and character-building as well as animation. You also have the opportunity to use our motion capture facilities and other pieces of industry modelling software such as Maya.
• game programming: this pathway focuses on C++, the programming language used for console and PC game development. You also have the opportunity to develop games for consoles using industry hardware and software, and learn the fundamentals of software engineering.

You will study the following core units:

• Designing Games
• Student Enterprise
• Mathematics for Creative Technologies
• Research Methods, Project Management and Scholarship
• Computer Game Design and Game Play Mechanisms
• Developing Careers in the Creative Industries

You will choose optional units dpending on your chosen pathway:

• 3D Application Programming
• Real Time Asset Production
• Media in Context
• Console Programming 1
• 3D Animation Programming

Sandwich year

The sandwich option provides an excellent opportunity for you to gain relevant work experience and achieve an additional qualification, the Diploma in Industrial Studies, both of which are extremely valuable additions to your CV. Spending a year in industry tends to improve academic performance in final-year studies.

You will arrange your own placement to be undertaken between years two and three. You can find your placement with the help of the School's contacts and our Placement Office. Alternatively, students wishing to spend the sandwich year setting up and building their own companies can do so with the support and guidance of Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise.

Final year

In the third year you are given the opportunity to apply the skills you have developed, acquire yet more skills and specialise in an area that you think may be related to the job role you would like when you finish your course.

A wide range of options in year three lets you choose between graphics, programming, design, virtual reality and also game producer skills. You also undertake a year-long individual project, where you can further develop your specialisation by investigating an area that interests you or by building an artefact (such as a game prototype, level or characters).

A year-long group project, chosen from a pool of projects proposed by a range of clients (both from industry and within the University), enables you to further develop practical industry-relevant skills.

You will study the following core units:

• Final Project
• Real Time Group Project

In this year you get more options to choose from, in order to allow you to specialise. Optional units are as follows:

• Game Studies
• Game Producer
• AI Programming for Games
• 3D Rendering
• Console Programming 2
• Advanced Programming
• Advanced Game Graphics Technologies
• Imaginary Architecture and Imaginary Worlds

Teaching and assessment

Portsmouth offers a lively and modern learning environment with lectures, tutorials and web-based sessions. The University has a long and distinguished record of running degree courses and prides itself on working at the leading edge of technology and learning methods.

Maintaining our reputation for providing a friendly atmosphere in which students enjoy their studies, staff focus on supporting students and guidance is readily available through a system of personal and subject tutors.

A typical week's study comprises lectures, seminars, tutorials, laboratory sessions, online learning and project work. Lecture groups can be large and lectures can last one or two hours. There are also many computer practicals of up to two hours each, which are taken in smaller groups.

There may be two to three hours set aside for small group seminars and tutorials for individual help. In addition, many lectures are supported via the internet with our online learning website, enabling you to work from any location.

The curriculum is presented in a lively fashion and is set out so that your knowledge, understanding and skills are built up and applied over the entire course. Subject matter is diverse and the assessment strategies in each unit are appropriate to the material covered. They are also designed to enhance the learning process by developing specific skills. Assessments may include essays, portfolios, examinations, multiple-choice tests, presentations made by groups or individuals, and projects.

Career prospects

Graduates from these courses are expected to find employment in the computer games industry or other areas where computer games technology is making an impact.

Past students have gone on to work professionally in the games industry, including roles as producers, artists, programmers, designers and game testers in companies such as Black Rock, Climax, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Exient, Jagex, Kuju (Zoe Mode and Nik Nak Games), Pivotal Games, Rebellion, Sony, Stainless Games, Travellers Tales and others.

Graduates have also gone on to work as lecturers on games courses.

Finding work in the games industry is very competitive. Having a degree may get you an interview, but you also need to have some stunning pieces of work in your portfolio to get that dream job. There are plenty of opportunities on these courses to create portfolio pieces.

Many roles in the games industry are also very specialised, which is why our courses are structured to encourage you to become specialists in one particular subject area of your choosing.

While on your course you may consider pursuing projects in addition to the work required to successfully complete your course. For example, ten of our students recently worked together on their own game projects, setting up two teams that got into the final of the prestigious Dare to be Digital game design competition. Both teams went on to pursue contracts for their original game projects.

Facilities and features

A full range of industry software will be available for you to use in the computer labs and one of our labs has even been specifically configured to support the games course. You will have access to:

• Playstation 3 development kits
• PSP development kits
• Playstation 2 Linux development kits (available to borrow)
• A range of consoles and games
• Virtual Reality Lab
• Motion capture facilities
• Half Life 2 (source game engine)
• Unreal game engine
• XNA (Dreamspark) Xbox 360 development environment
• Maya
• Macromedia software

You will also have access to a game engine that has been developed by one of our ex-industry lecturers for use in teaching.

Entry requirements

View all the entry requirements for BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology for the academic year 2013/14 (opens in new window).