Course summary

The games design industry, in the UK and worldwide, is growing and there is a demand for skilled and well-educated professionals to take gaming to its next level. Brunel’s Digital Games Theory and Design MA course will give you a comprehensive understanding of digital games and the techniques and principles used in their design. You will engage in, and experiment with, practical games design. You will focus on the process of devising the gameplay experience. This will include (but is not limited to) the creation of rules, gameplay mechanics, narrative, world design and user experience. This is not a programming course and it’s not a graphics course, so there is no need for you to have programming skills or to have an art background. You will learn how to create your own practical designs, how to communicate your ideas to an audience, how to create games design documents, and you’ll also explore games studies. You will have opportunities to make connections with other games design cohorts and industry experts. And we will encourage you to participate in extracurricular activities such as game jams and game-related networking events. These are all activities that introduce you to the broader social culture of the digital and creative world and are vital to being successful in the games industry. The course is run by staff who are seasoned games designers and internationally published scholars who are active in the industry. They will share their enthusiasm and understanding of the nature of the video game industry, the importance of networks and the skills needed to create innovative games for the future.