MSc Commercial Games Development

Introduction

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.

Careers / Further study

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.