Games, Design and Animation with Foundation Year

On this exciting course, you will be encouraged to showcase your creativity as you learn to make the visual and interactive elements of games. Specialised teaching, focused on game design and animation, will help prepare you for a career in the growing and fast-paced games industry. As well as the key artistic and practical skills required by employers in this industry, you will explore new ways of interacting with computers and experiencing games. You will learn about the practical and theoretical aspects of creating, analysing and enjoying games. In addition, the course will give you a foundation in the history and future of games, looking at play as art, entertainment, a form of communication and an engaging storytelling medium.

What you'll study This course has been developed to fuse technical and creative abilities. It is firmly grounded in art and design, with computing and scripting elements interwoven throughout, to help you develop the skills you need to make the visual and interactive elements of games. As you develop your creative 3D animation skills you will explore games as a means of communication and storytelling. You will have the freedom to experiment with new or unconventional modes of interaction or play, and we will encourage you to consider games as spectator or theatrical events. We will introduce you to the digital tools you will work with during the course and consider how to develop game narratives, assets, and levels. As you progress through the course, you will be able to explore performance and motion-capture methods, as well as traditional character animation approaches. You will examine interaction and user-interface (UI) design and try out gaming ideas. For your final year project, you will develop a digital product, which will give you valuable experience of applying your knowledge, business planning and entrepreneurial skills. This work can form the basis of your portfolio to showcase your work to future potential investors or employers. You will leave the course with strong creative and workplace skills, and the ability to continue building your portfolio, ready to start your chosen career.

The foundation year course is designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to continue onto your Honours degree. You will study a range of subjects that will underpin your future study and also gain valuable experience of university life, with full access to campus facilities. Successful completion of the year allows you to progress straight onto Level 4 of this course.