Computer Games Development with Foundation BSc Honours

Course summary

Our degree courses with foundation year offer the opportunity to prepare you for advanced study before you progress onto a full honours degree at the University of Westminster. Whether you do not feel ready for degree-level study, don’t have the right qualifications, want to change your subject specialism or return to study after an absence from education, we aim to encourage a broad range of students to undertake our Foundation year in order to progress onto their full honours degree with us.

The foundation year is designed to give you the opportunity to explore new ideas, opening up new perspectives on the key debates within your chosen field. During the foundation year you will explore a range of creative disciplines and get a chance to develop in your chosen field, benefiting from workshops in our high end facilities and working with leading academics who will encourage you to become a confident and creative thinker. Core modules accelerate your academic and professional development and you will also take modules within your chosen field, giving you the chance to develop a cross-disciplinary perspective on your course. 

On successful completion of the foundation year, you will be able to move on to study for the Computer Games Development BSc Honours over a further three years study.

Our Computer Games Development course combines technology and creativity in a multidisciplinary way. The games industry is an expanding and challenging sector with continually evolving ideas and cutting-edge technologies. It requires practitioners to exercise more flexibility in software specifications and functionality, through adapting their approaches to design and management while keeping abreast of broad changes to technology.

This course covers all major technical aspects of the games development process, from design to production. It aims to prepare you for a career in software development with a particular emphasis on computer games. The course provides you with a solid understanding of game technologies, including programming, applied maths, computer graphics and game engines. You'll develop a broad range of knowledge and skills including mobile and web application development, 3D modelling and animation, and human-computer interaction. To enhance student employability, the course offers a number of talks from the creative industry and will support your participation in prestige game competitions and digital fairs, as well as industrial placements and internships.

The primary language you'll learn is C++, but you'll also have the opportunity to engage with other languages and software, such as C#, Python (Machine Learning, Algorithms), JavaScript and Swift for Android and iOS development. For character development we use Adobe Maya, Photoshop, 3DS Max and 3D Coat. The course focuses on using Unreal Engine 4 and Blueprints technology, but students will have the opportunity to engage with any of the commercial engines across the course.

The course will prepare you for work in an increasingly challenging and rewarding field by giving you a clear perspective on the current nature and practice of games development. You'll be equipped with the required technical and creative skills for the new era of game developers. You'll gain a thorough knowledge of programming, computer graphics and game project management, together with an appreciation of the industrial environment. The course also includes opportunities to work on group productions, including multidisciplinary game projects that simulate a real game industry environment.

The course offers a short-term, work-based learning experience that will give you the opportunity to work on a real-life problem, which is normally set by an external organisation as a small-scale project. This experience will allow you to put theory into practice by applying knowledge and skills gained from various modules to address a real-life situation, usually within the context of a business-related problem.

In previous years, there have been opportunities to travel and to engage with students from other universities across Europe. Trips have included Distant Horizons in Seville, Spain, as well as our annual Wmin-Graz Hackthon.

In addition, you'll have the opportunity to undertake a year in industry (work placement) after completing Year 2. This will help you gain work experience and enhance your employability after you graduate. You'll be offered help and support to find and secure placement opportunities through various workshops and events organised by the Careers and Employability Service and the course team. Typically, you'll be assigned into roles involving tasks related to various aspects of computer games development.

Top reasons to study with us

• Valuable industry insights – our strong links to the sector ensure the course is taught with the games development industry in mind. Our teaching staff includes academics with experience in the games industry alongside industry advisors who support the course on all work-based learning projects and competitions
• Work experience before graduation – as part of the course, you'll have the option to work for a year in the industry, gaining valuable work experience and boosting your employability
• Successful alumni – our alumni have found positions in companies including Microsoft, Sega, and Marmalade
• Outstanding facilities – you'll benefit from a brand-new XRLab facility, our upgraded Motion Capture lab, and our Games Development Project Lab
• Extra-curricula activities – students can take part in industrial networking opportunities (EGX, PocketGamer, Aardvark Swift Game Careers Talks) and Game Jams to improve students' portfolios and experience (Global Game Jam, Tranzfuser, UKIE)
• Discover our student projects – our dynamic, collaborative environment is displayed in our students' work
• You'll qualify for free British Computer Society (BCS) academic membership for the duration of your studies. The BCS supports those working in the IT industry and has a commitment to making IT good for society. The organisation has over 60,000 members in 150 countries, and a wider community of business leaders, educators, practitioners and policy-makers. Membership of the BCS will allow you to continue your professional development and enjoy a range of valuable networking opportunities. For more information, visit the BCS website

Course structure

As part of the main computer science stream, our games development course aims to produce graduates with a solid background in software engineering, to help shape the future of the computer science creative industry.  The course content is contemporary and shaped for employability through close links with local and national employers.

You'll spend around 12-15 hours per week in lectures, tutorials and laboratories. Lectures are used to present key concepts, theories and techniques. Tutorials and laboratory-based activities increase your understanding of the subject and allow you to develop your competence and confidence in technological and theoretical work. 

During the course, you'll be required to actively participate in group work, discussions, seminars, and private study.

Due to the practical nature of this course, assessment is extremely varied and includes academic and evaluative essays, case studies, exams, multiple-choice tests, oral presentations, practical projects, and work portfolios.

The following subjects are indicative of what you'll study on this course.

• Foundation
• Year 1
• Year 2
• Placement year
• Year 3

Professional accreditation

Our course is intended to fulfil the requirements of the British Computer Society (BCS), which means it complies with rigorous academic and professional standards as set out by the BCS. It also allows graduates to gain registration as a Chartered IT Professional (CITP) and partial registration as a Chartered Engineer (CEng).