Overview
Turn your love of computer games into a career, on our full-time Computer Gaming Technology degree. Play, design and build games at our Development Studio in Cambridge, and create a portfolio to launch your career as a games developer. Choose to take a placement year to get more experience of the gaming industry.
- Improve your prospects with guest speakers and live briefs from companies like Sony, Sumo Digital, Jagex, and Frontier.
- Take part in events with industry reps like gaming festival Brains Eden, hosted every year by ARU, where games studios snap up the latest talent
- Study in Cambridge, where 18% of the UK gaming industry is based (nesta.org.uk).
- Get a head-start in industry with our optional placement year
Forget the stereotypes – gaming isn’t just for teenage boys. Half of all gamers are female, and the average age is 31*. This means the industry is huge, and a variety of exciting jobs await you.
Right from Year 1, you’ll be creating games. Everything you design will build into a valuable portfolio to help you secure your dream job when you graduate. You’ll even have chance to do a year’s work placement – offering plenty of practical experience and a head start in industry.
Based in our new home in Compass House, Cambridge, you’ll enjoy having the latest technology at your fingertips and collaborating with other students on innovative projects.
You’ll study both the theory and practical aspects of gaming and experience the whole development process, from initial concepts to programming, testing and publication. You’ll spend plenty of time in our Games Development Studio, which simulates a commercial working studio and features up-to-date hardware and software. We currently have GameMaker, 3DGameStudio, Unreal Tournament 3 Editor, Adobe Flash and Action Script, Java and C++, Microsoft XNA Game Studio, Visual C# Express, Microsoft Visual Studio, Photoshop, GIMP, 3ds Max, Blender, Fusion, Audacity, Second Life and Unity3D.
18% of the UK games industry is based in Cambridge, so it’s a great place to study, surrounded by studios large and small. Many famous developers are based locally, including Sony, Frontier, Jagex, Inertia Game Studios, Eidolon Studios and PTM Games. Our department is also a member of TIGA, the association for games developers in the UK.
We host the annual Brains Eden Gaming Festival, when students from across Britain and Europe compete in teams to build games.
Careers
We work with employers to make sure you graduate with the knowledge, skills and abilities they need. They help us review what we teach and how we teach it – and they offer hands-on, practical opportunities to learn through work-based projects, internships or placements.
Find out more about our placements and work experience, or the faculty’s employability support.
It can take three years to create a game, all the way from initial concept to the finished product. One game can involve up to 200 professionals working as a team.
The BSc (Hons) Computer Gaming Technology degree will provide you with relevant skills to pursue careers in games programming, quality assurance and independent game development. The core programming skills are also transferable to the wider IT industry, or possibly to a career teaching programming/computer science, giving you extra flexibility.
Graduation doesn’t need to be the end of your time with us. If you’d like to continue your studies we offer a wide range of full-time and part-time postgraduate courses. We offer an innovative, MSc Computer Games Development which focuses on developing skills through intense collaborative, industry focused projects.
Modules & Assessment
Year one, core modules
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Analytical Techniques for Games Developers
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Introduction to Game-Engine Technology
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Introduction to Computer Gaming
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Software Development for Games
Year one, optional modules
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Simulation in Games
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Acoustics, Sound and Music
Year two, core modules
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Game Engine Technology – Systems Modelling
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Software Design and Implementation
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Object-Oriented Programming for Games
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Games Design and Development
Year two, optional modules
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Interaction and Usability
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Audio for Games
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Advanced Acoustics and Psychoacoustics
Year three, core modules
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Artificial Intelligence
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Professional Issues: Video Games and Society
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Emergent Gaming Technologies
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Final Project
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Professional and Entrepreneurial Portfolio
Year three, optional modules
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Data Structures and Algorithms
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Mobile Technology
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Audio Programming
Assessment
For a full breakdown of module options and credits, please view the module structure (pdf).
Throughout the course, we’ll use a range of assessment methods to help measure your progress. You’ll demonstrate your learning through the games you produce, but there will also be a mix of exams, personal learning plans and projects.
Where you’ll study
Your faculty
In the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, we use our expertise and connections in Cambridge and beyond to nurture creativity through experimentation and risk-taking, and encourage critical thinking, in order to educate, entertain, inspire and understand, as well as to improve people’s lives.
