Cardiff School of Art & Design>Courses>Game Art - BA (Hons) Degree

Game Art - BA (Hons) Degree

Bring life to narratives, concepts, characters, and environments.

Game artists work within multidisciplinary teams to create visionary worlds from the past, present and future. They are skilled visual communicators, working with moving image, animation, concept art, project management and image making to help realise fictional worlds into visually and sensorially immersive experiences.

Our Game Art degree will prepare you for a highly competitive and rapidly growing field, spanning the entertainment, immersive technology, web, and media industries. You will be equipped to navigate and specialise within this diverse multidisciplinary context through a combination of visual communication, moving image, visual effect, virtual reality, immersive environments, storytelling and narrative, and 2D and 3D modelling.

You'll develop industry-standard skills and competencies through collaborative projects and live briefs, developing your project management and leadership skills. With access to our cutting-edge facilities and fully equipped computer studios, immersive technologies and environments, you'll graduate with the freedom and confidence to forge your own creative identity.

You'll explore collaborative and interdisciplinary learning experiences which are designed to shape you into an adaptable graduate driven by creativity, social responsibility, and entrepreneurial thinking.​

Course Content

Year One

Game Art Fundamentals - 40 credits

The Game Art Fundamentals module introduces you to the fundamental skills required of this multi-disciplinary practice. You will focus upon developing drawing skills, skills in movement and animation and digital technologies as well as research and teamworking. 

• Fundamental drawing practices; anatomy, character, style, posing, visual languages.  

• Fundamental of movement; stop motion, rotoscoping, general animation. 

• Fundamental digital skills; Illustrator, Photoshop, Blender. After Effects. 

Narrative and Worldbuilding - 20 credits

The module will challenge you to apply the fundamental drawing and movement skills from semester one to begin to develop narratives and world-building. You will develop the basic digital skills in 2D and 3D modelling to begin to apply your conceptual skills to game assets.

Research Basics - 20 credits*

This module aims to develop students’ core academic research skills including locating sources, evaluating credibility, and analysing information. It will provide the foundations from which students will cultivate their confidence to engage in theoretical discourse and idea-driven dialogues which will be required throughout their undergraduate studies.

Interdisciplinary Understanding - 40 credits 

This module aims to introduce you to the principles of Interdisciplinary working: collaborative working, critical thinking, and reflection. Projects within the module will challenge you to work with another discipline to explore a societal and cultural theme or challenge. 

Year Two

Subject: Production Pipeline / Specialist Pathway - 40 credits

This Production Pipeline / Specialist Pathway module builds upon your fundamental development at level 4 through experiencing the production pipeline and identifying the multidisciplinary opportunities to specialize in a chosen pathway. 

You will be able to specialize in pathways including Character, Environmental, 3D generalist. 

21st Century Challenges - 40 credits

The 21st Century Challenges module builds upon the introduction to Interdisciplinary problem-solving developed at level 4 to continue to refine, and begin to apply, your skillsets through real-world projects and live briefs.  

Projects will tackle 21st Century Challenges to develop your leadership, collaboration, future literacy/critical thinking skillsets.  

Real-world Contexts - 20 credits  

The Real-world contexts module challenges you to apply the situated awareness and future-thinking skills to deploy your own practice in the creation or promotion of value for a variety of external stakeholders and communities.  

Research Proposal – 20 credits

The Research Proposal offers you an opportunity to strengthen your research skills, consolidate your research experience and orientate your level 6 contribution around an enquiry of your choosing that is inspired by your learning across all modules at level 4 and 5.    

This research proposal will be used to continue your personal and professional development at level 6 where you will identify a route for your own enquiry. 

Year Three

Subject: Final Major Project - 60 credits

The final major project is your opportunity to research, develop and output a self-initiated body of work aligned to your chosen professional ambitions. You will experiment, take risks, strengthen your skillsets developed at level 4 and 5 and create a cohesive portfolio of work that you are proud to showcase at the end of your degree.  

Positioning in Practice - 20 credits

The module aims to support your readiness in developing your unique professional career in Game Art. It will embed attributes reflective of the requirements of real-world practice aligned to your specialist discipline.  

You will have the opportunity to reflect upon how your experiences over the last 3 years have allowed you to position yourself as a professional in preparation for graduate level work, continued study, research, and entrepreneurial ventures. 

Contribution - 40 credits

Your practice is underpinned by your knowledge. Demonstrate your research and analysis skills in your final research submission, where you explore ideas in both written and practical forms.

*modules available through the medium of Welsh.

Learning & Teaching

All programmes within CSAD are delivered through a studio-based approach to learning. 

Studio-based learning provides an authentic learning environment which fosters cohort level community building, peer learning whilst being authentic to the demands of the individual disciplines. All studio spaces are bespoke to the needs of the disciplines within which students will receive a variety of learning opportunities including: 

Group Seminars, Group Critiques (crits) & Presentations, One to One Tutorials, Technical Workshops, Peer learning, Independent Guided Learning. 

Students take a significant lead in their studies, develop their own research focus and expertise base and actively engage with the process of assessment and the manner in which their individual expertise is expressed and tested.

Students will be supported as they work autonomously such that they are able to generate significant and unique learning through rigorous, self-directed, and collaborative practice.

Assessment

Throughout the duration of your studies, you will be evaluated on three main criteria, which underpin all of the disciplines being taught at CSAD: 

Skills: 

The practical, technical and conceptual skills you acquire during your course.

Context:

Your understanding and knowledge of broader intellectual context within which your discipline and work is located. This includes historical, environmental and ethical issues and will often be explored in your 'Theory and Context' modules.

Ideas:

Your understanding of intellectual and creative ideas from within and beyond your discipline; plus your ability to acquire new concepts and form new ideas. Ideas will be explored in your written work, as well as being evident in your practical progress. Each of these criteria is given equal weighting during the assessment process. That is to say that they are seen as equally important and critical to your development; an emphasis which is designed, for example, to enable a more well-rounded skill set from a student who may be skilled technically, but weak in generating ideas, or a student with much creative flair who may struggle to hone a broad concept into a strong, individual design. 

We provide a number of ways for you to track your progress en route to submitting your work for marking. Understanding that the emphases will revolve around the core areas of skills, context and ideas, you will also become familiar with the structured assessment form used by your tutors and learn to relate to your work back to the intended learning outcomes of each brief. 

The main types of formative assessment are; academic (feedback from your tutors); peer (from your course-mates or project partners); and self-assessment (which is your own critique, in light of other forms of feedback). You won't just be receiving feedback at the end of a brief, however – your tutors will often assess your progress as your work develops, providing formative feedback at crucial moments where it is hoped to encourage you to take risks, maintain your motivation or shape-up your ideas ahead of deadline.

Employability & Careers

You will be prepared to enter a variety of multidisciplinary roles ranging from concept artist, environmental artist, research and development, 3D generalist, modeller, motion graphics artist, or technical and previs artists. 

During the course, there will be the opportunity to undertake live briefs and work experience. This will include building contacts and undertaking placements as well as exposure to game art professionals through industry talks and mentoring. You will be offered support in forming your own business if you choose to do so. 

Some graduates become teachers by taking a PGCE, or elect to continue their studies with CSAD by pursuing a Master’s level qualification, or into research with a PhD or a Professional Doctorate in Art or Design. 

Entry Requirements & How to Apply

Typical Offers

Tariff points: 96-120

Contextual offer: See our contextual offers page.

GCSE: Preferably five GCSEs at Grade C / 4 or above to include English Language / Welsh First Language, Mathematics / Mathematics – Numeracy.

English Language Requirement: Academic IELTS 6.0 overall with at least 5.5 in all elements, or equivalent.

A level: Minimum three A levels. No specific subjects required. Welsh Baccalaureate – Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate considered as a third subject.

BTEC National / Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma: MMM-DDM

T Level: No specific subjects required.

Access to Higher Education Diploma: No specific subjects required.

International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma: 24 points. No specific subjects required.

Irish Leaving Certificate: No specific subjects required. Higher level subjects only considered with a minimum grade H4.

Scottish Advanced Highers: No specific subjects required.

Other requirements: Successful interview and portfolio review. Applicants will be required to submit a digital portfolio.

Combinations of the above qualifications are accepted if they meet our minimum requirements. If your qualifications aren’t listed, please contact Admissions or refer to the UCAS Course Search.

Further information on Overseas qualifications can be found here.

If you are a mature applicant, have relevant experience or RPL​ that you would like us to consider, please contact Admissions.

How to Apply​

Further information on how to apply can be found here.

Tuition Fees, Student Finance & Additional Costs

For up to date information on tuition fees and the financial support that may be available whilst at university, please refer to https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/fees​

Undergraduate costs of study in CSAD 

Materials 

CSAD provides a variety of basic materials. These enable students to develop their competence in a range of skills and demonstrate their technical ability. Materials needed in unusual quantities, or those that are specialised, expensive or unusual are at the student’s expense. Advice will be given about how ‘unusual’ is defined, which materials are deemed to be ‘expensive’, and examples given of what is viewed to be ‘unusual’. CSAD students often elect to spend on materials they prefer to work with, including sketchbooks and pens, as well as specialist equipment of their own choosing. 

In the main, no charges are made for the use of equipment, with the exception of some specialist high end equipment such as the Mimaki and 3D printers. Access to Cardiff FabLab is subject to student membership; it offers reduced fees for student use. 

For further information about additional course costs, including fees, equipment requirements and other charges for each undergraduate programme, please visit https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/additionalcosts.

Field trips and visits 

Field trips that are part of core learning will be paid for by the School. Additional visits are occasionally arranged which are optional and where the students may be asked to share the costs. The costs of study abroad, including exchanges, placements and projects are the responsibility of the individual student.

Contact Us

For general enquiries please contact the Admissions Team on 029 2041 6044 or email askadmissions@cardiffmet.ac.uk.

For course specific enquiries, please contact Department Lead, Sarah Smith:

Email: smsmith@cardiffmet.ac.uk

Tel: 029 2020 5554


We endeavour to deliver courses as described and will not normally make changes to courses, such as course title, content, delivery, and teaching provision. However, it may be necessary for the university to make changes in the course provision before or after enrolment. It reserves the right to make variations to content or delivery methods, including discontinuation or merging courses if such action is considered necessary. Please read our Terms and Conditions for the full information.​​​

Key Course Information

​​UCAS Code:
W433​ - 3-year degree

Place of Study:
Llandaff Campus

School:
Cardiff School of Art & Design­

Course Length:
Three years full-time. Four years full-time if undertaking year-long sandwich placement.​

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