3D Computer Games Design, MSc

Staffordshire University, the United Kingdom

Study options for this course

The award	How you will study	Study duration	Course start	Domestic course fees	International course fees
MSc	Full-time	15 months	September	GBP 7200	GBP 12300

About 3D Computer Games Design, MSc - at Staffordshire University

The Msc 3D Computer Games Design is a one year course in which artists or designers will focus on their specialisms to produce a portfolio of excellent work giving them a flying start in the games industry.

3D artists will develop advanced skills allowing them to work to a high level as a character, environment or vehicle and weapon artist. You will use industry standard software for sculpting, texturing, simulating and 3D painting along with harnessing the power of Unreal Engine to make your work come to life.

Designers will cover advanced research and development in characters, environments, vehicles. You will use Unreal Engine to develop complex frameworks, artificial intelligence systems and small games.

You will create artefacts from scratch and make use of high level frameworks allowing you to pursue careers as games designers, level designers, mission scripters and game testers.

Course content

Advanced Games Environment Design and Research

Design and create fantastic environments or apply of a broad range of advanced research techniques to analyse complex problems in environment production.

Advanced Character Prototyping

The study and application of character design, character inventory, physics, controls, animations and character statistics. 3D creation of next generation characters covering sculpting, texturing, hair and advanced shaders.

Advanced Vehicle and Weapon Prototyping

Hard surface modelling for weapons, rigging, particle dynamics and weapon textures or the research and application of theory related to weapon profiling, effects, weapon systems, vehicle performance management, handling and physics.

Mobile Games Development

Students work with in teams to produce mobile games experiencing QA, Monetisation and Platform Optimisation progressing from concept to a published product.

MSc Project and Portfolio;

This module enables you to demonstrate to a high level, the in-depth practical skills and theoretical knowledge accumulated during your programme of study.

The major aim of the project and portfolio is to allow you to extend and unify your understanding of a chosen subject while being supported by an academic supervisor, who will help you to develop your ideas.

The project and portfolio could be (but is not limited to) a series of character models, a large scale environment, a dissertation and academic paper, a game, a series of game prototypes, a system or framework for a computer game.

Graduate destinations

Our graduates work in many established Games companies such as Rockstar North, Codemasters, Sony, Playground Games, 22 cans, Travellers' Tales and even set up their own companies. Aside from Games companies many of our Graduates go on to teach Games design and become Games Academics.

We have students working on all sorts of games from indie kickstarter games like War for the Overworld to the latest Xbox One and PS4 titles and massive hits like Grand Theft Auto 5.

Career Prospects: Character artist, Environment modeller, Vehicle artist, Game Designer, Producer, User Interface Artist.

Entry requirements

A 2:2 or above undergraduate qualification (or equivalent) is required to join the masters programme. An IELTS score of a minimum of 6.5 is required for international students.

We also have a portfolio entrance requirement.

For 3D artists we'd ideally like to see a high-low poly workflow, 3D sculpting, unwrapping, texturing and the use of a games engine to display assets. We're lenient about this as some of our best graduates have come from non games degrees such as architectural rendering or animation or had gaps in their portfolio, so feel free to get in touch!

For Designers we'd ideally like to see example of level designs, videos / demos of small games and examples of visual / c# scripting. We understand that you may not have used Unreal Engine and are lenient to those who come with other Game Engine experience.

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About 3D Computer Games Design, MSc - at Staffordshire University

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