Games Design and Art

Games design and art brings together the creative and technical disciplines that produce the visual and experiential dimensions of digital games. Games design is concerned with how game worlds, mechanics, systems and narratives are conceived and structured to create engaging, playable experiences. Games art covers the visual production of those worlds, including concept art, character and environment design, 3D modelling, texturing, animation and visual effects.

Together they address the full creative pipeline from initial idea to playable product, requiring both artistic sensibility and technical proficiency with professional tools and workflows.

At the University of Southampton you will study games design and art over three years of full-time study, combining hands-on creative practice with the theoretical and critical frameworks that allow you to understand games as a medium with its own history, conventions and possibilities. A sandwich year and the opportunity for a year abroad extend your professional and intercultural experience, and work placement is integrated into the programme, giving you direct exposure to how games are made in industry settings. You will develop a portfolio of work across the degree that demonstrates your creative development and practical capability, which is typically the primary currency for employment in the games industry.

The typical tariff of 120 reflects a programme that values creative ability and commitment alongside academic preparation.

Graduates work in the games industry as concept artists, 3D artists, environment designers, character designers, UI designers, game designers, level designers and creative directors. The UK games industry is one of the largest in Europe, and Southampton's programme is designed with that employment context in mind. Others apply their skills in animation studios, film and television visual effects, advertising, interactive media and virtual reality.

Many graduates continue their creative development through postgraduate study in games, animation or related digital arts disciplines, and the portfolio you build during the programme is the starting point for that progression.