UWE Bristol - MSc Commercial Games Development

UWE Bristol

MSc Commercial Games Development

A unique opportunity to gain advanced games development and research skills, by working on live commercial projects alongside the PlayWest studio.

This Master's in Commercial Games Development provides students with an intellectual experience of study in the field of games development. Created and delivered by staff with both research and games industry expertise, it is designed to meet the increasing shortage of adept games developers, designers and programmers. The course offers a unique pathway into the games industry and wider related research.

You will be engaged in advanced research and game development/design activities alongsidePlayWest, UWE Bristol's in-house commercial games studio. Each member of the cohort plays their part in the development team according to their prior experience: those with more experience or a related degree will help guide the cohort as a senior developer/designer, while others will take on the role of standard developer/designer.

During the course, you will develop a portfolio of live commercial and research projects, gaining practical experience, academic skills and a deeper awareness of commercial processes as you work in your multi-disciplinary game dev-team.

A rich stream of live PlayWest research and development projects with industry partners that have previously included Rolls-Royce Aerospace and Bloodhound SSC, allows you to explore the application of games technology and methodologies, as well as virtual and augmented reality for real-world applications.

By giving equal weight to both the research and games development aspects, the course aims to establish an essential bridge between ground-breaking academic research and the entertainment software industry, each often overlooked or misunderstood by the other.

Industry-ready skills

By helping students form strong professional identities as developer-practitioners, graduates will be well prepared to step into roles within the games industry, academia and other emergent fields of games development for the real world.

The degree provides an immersion into enterprise, cutting-edge technologies and game design practice. Along with practical skills, it gives students a thorough understanding of what is required to operate within a commercial entity and a diverse, mulri-disciplinary game development team of coders and designers.

Unique study facilities

PlayWest is one of a group of Enterprise Studios at UWE Bristol created to give students opportunities to work on live and funded commercial projects whilst undergoing their study. The studio is involved in high-impact work with a growing list of exciting industry partners and is based in the Foundry Collaboration space.

All principal members of the teaching team have AAA-studio experience.

The Games Technology subject area is part of "PlayStation First" program giving access to current PlayStation Dev-kits.

Entry Requirements

We normally require an honours degree of 2.2 or above in Games Technology or similar technical discipline, with a substantial software development component.

Career Prospects

As well as post-doctoral study and employment in PlayWest itself, the course prepares students for a diverse range of roles within games development (indie and AAA), visualisation, virtual and augmented reality, software development, visual effects, and mobile and app development.

Whether students progress onto employment, academia or their own entrepreneurial enterprises, the course provides a useful and unique launchpad to future success.

Course Details

Commercial Games Studio - In this module you will focus on the development of commercial entertainment software products in a real-world industry setting. It will involve working on commercial projects slated for release or stakeholder handover.
Games Research and Development - Immerse yourself in this rapidly moving stream of innovation and learn how to deploy serious games design and technology across a range of contexts and emerging application areas. This module forms the basis of a portfolio providing an entry point to research and development within the Games industry and also to academic research and real-world application.
Creative Technology Dissertation - You will work independently to plan and manage a complex creative technology research project over an extended period of time, and complete it by a given deadline.

*The information’s are correct at the time of publishing, however it may change if university makes any changes after we have published the information. While we try our best to provide correct information, It is advisable to call us or visit university website for up to date information.

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