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LOCATION
Docklands Campus
Location Fees and Funding
Here's the fees and funding information for each year of this course
Overview
Be it beautiful games such as Horizon Zero Dawn or hyper stylised games such as Hades, this is your opportunity to learn to create your own 3D art within a game development environment.
You'll get the most out of our course if you come with an interest in all kinds of games and art as you will explore, design, and create 3D art for multiple different purposes and areas.
This programme is created with industry focused direction and allows you to work towards a specialism within the 3D game art field. Our course will equip you, like many of our successful graduates, for a role in the expanding games' industry. We're justly proud of the originality and quality of our students' work. By the end of your course, you should be playing a game you developed yourself - and hopefully following in the footsteps of the many UEL graduates now making their mark in the games' industry.
You can also take this course with a foundation year (FY), which means it will take you four years to complete the course full-time.
What makes this course different
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
In your first term of the first year, you will explore the three core areas of games' development. This is to allow you to get an idea of each field and make an informed decision, of an area that interests you. Within the second term, the course branches off and will develop your fundamental 3D modelling and sculpting abilities, you will also learn and develop your understanding within texturing and material creation and its application within the 3D game art pipeline. Alongside this you will work within a simulated studio environment to help develop your soft skills such as working in a diverse team, project management methods and working towards a creative vision.
In your second year, you will explore specialised areas within the 3D game art discipline such as character creation and environment creation. Exploring these specialisms will give you an informed decision on what area you wish to pursue when progressing further within the course. In the second term, you will have another simulated studio environment experience, with an emphasis on completing and publishing a small-to-medium scale games' project as a multidisciplinary team but working within a specialised role. You will begin to develop your online presence and identity, learn how to market yourself for potential internship and employment opportunities as well starting to develop your portfolio into the area of 3D game art you wish to enter upon completion of the course.
In your final year, you'll complete a final project that will allow you to further explore and experiment within your chosen field. You will also explore technical 3D game art which includes using a scripting language to build tools that can assist the art development pipeline. Spanning both first and second terms, you will have your simulated studio environment experience, with an emphasis on completing and publishing a polished medium scale game project as a multidisciplinary team. In a separate module, you will develop items for your personal portfolio that will showcase your skills and experiences within your chosen specialism, tailored towards the area of 3D game art you wish to enter when you graduate.
DOWNLOAD COURSE SPECIFICATIONS
This course is subject to validation. You can still apply for this course while it is being approved.
MODULES
- Core Modules
Analogue Game Design CloseAnalogue Game Design
The module will introduce students to the ideas and production of analogue games.
Students will learn the elements that make up games and how to critically design and iterate on a game idea in teams, using observations from playtests.
Academic Development CloseAcademic Development
This module will provide students with the opportunity to identify the skills, competencies and experience required for successful development to embarking on their university degree and successfully completing it and progressing on to a range of potential future career areas.
Central to the developmental process is for each student to cultivate the reflective skills, openness and self-awareness to enable themselves to assess what they are doing, identify areas for improvement, and confidently receive and give constructive feedback.
Narrative and Creativity CloseNarrative and Creativity
This module will provide students with the opportunity to identify the skills and knowledge necessary to create oral, visual and written narratives for all kinds of media production. This module aims to give students the theoretical understanding of narrative and creativity. Throughout the module students will be encouraged to consider how these theories shape their chosen subject. Students will be assessed on their ability to present their understanding of narrative theories and give supporting examples of how these apply to various forms of media.
Mental Wealth: Professional Development CloseMental Wealth: Professional Development
This module will provide students with the opportunity to identify the skills, competencies and experience required for employment and employability and how employability and industry connections are implemented in the curriculum.
You will begin to recognise the areas for your own personal professional development (including emotional, social, physical, cultural and cognitive intelligences) through taught and workshop activity.
Central to the developmental process is for each student to cultivate their reflective skills through collaboration with other undergraduate students and analysing effective approaches to industry briefs and creative problem solving.
Social Media Project CloseSocial Media Project
The module will develop basic individual research and production skills for social media content. Students will also develop their reflection and evaluation skills. Throughout the module students will create new content for a social media account relating to their chosen subject pathway, or topic of interest. Students will also be encouraged to consider current issues and debates surrounding social media.
Ways of Looking CloseWays of Looking
This module will introduce students to how meaning is made and transmitted in visual texts. Students will be introduced to the various ‘ways of looking’ (frameworks) at media, and how this is applies to current media examples. Students will be expected to conduct their own research and encouraged to consider how the ‘ways of looking’ at media can be applied to their own subject specific pathway.
Students will also learn how to apply key composition and aesthetic (typography, colour, and layout) skills to their own work in the form an academic poster using industry standard software.
- Core Modules
Final Project: Development CloseFinal Project: Development
The module will review the field / subject discipline as appropriate to a self-identified research project within the scope of the programme of study. This will entail devising, researching and planning a major programme of work in an appropriate medium as a relevant object of analysis. You will draw on learning across your programme to showcase your skills and talent in articulating your media project, as a process of development informed by theories, methods and practices relevant to the creative industries.
You can choose to follow independent research through one of two routes: a) by producing a written dissertation that engages with contemporary debates in media or b) by using practice as a mode of research supported by a verbal demonstration of the critical discourses it speaks to.
Under relevant subject-specialist supervision and through a process of drafting and revision, you will be grounded in methods of study and conceptual formulation, as dictated by the scope and character of the research undertaken.
Final Project: Completion CloseFinal Project: Completion
The module will lead on from the development stage of your self-identified research project based on your preferred choice of production, for example a written dissertation that engages with contemporary debates in media or a complete practice project, produced through a developed programme of research supported by a verbal demonstration of the critical discourses it speaks to.
The aim of the module is to extend knowledge in the chosen field of research, to produce or write the project according to the student's planning and to complete and present the final research project within the given time frame. You will have the opportunity to demonstrate your skills in an accompanying project portfolio, including production folders for practice projects or reviews of existing academic literature on the written dissertation topic and a comprehensive bibliography.
Projects will be developed through subject-specific supervision and peer support.
HOW YOU'LL LEARN
You'll be taught by a range of academics, many of whom are practitioners in the area they teach. Some of the assessments focus on practical skills and are presented as 'live or simulated briefs'. This ensures that the practice-led teaching is relevant to industry. Our staff are well placed to take advantage of a range of professional networks and industry contact. Each module is designed with practical components informed by theoretical underpinnings, with the intention that students develop an ability to have an informed approach when designing their practical assignments.
Guided independent study
When not attending timetabled lectures or workshops, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This will typically involve skills development through online study, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects and preparing coursework assignments and presentations. Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, specialist facilities, such as game labs, the library, the full Microsoft Office software, including MS Teams, and Moodle: our Virtual Learning Environment.
Academic support
Our academic support team provides help in a range of areas - including learning and disability support.
Dedicated personal tutor
When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal tutor. This is the member of staff who will provide academic guidance, be a support throughout your time at UEL and who will show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer.
Workload
Each year you will spend around 276 hours of timetabled learning and teaching activities. These may be lectures, workshops, seminars and individual and group tutorials. Contact hours may vary depending on each module. The approximate workload hours for this course are:
- Scheduled teaching - 276 hours
- Guided independent study - 924 hours
Your timetable
Your individualised timetable is normally available to students within 48 hours of enrolment. Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week between 9.00am and 6.00pm. For undergraduate students Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities, but there may be occasions when this is not possible. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.
Class sizes
To give you an indication of class sizes, this course normally attracts 30-40 students a year. Lecture sizes are normally 30 plus students. In the classroom you will be taught in groups of 18-30+ students. However, this can vary by academic year.
HOW YOU'LL BE ASSESSED
Coursework will include practical outcomes, e.g. individual or group-based games, artefacts, presentations, written assignments.
The approximate percentages for this course are:
- Year 1: 90% coursework, 10% exams
- Year 2: 100% coursework
- Year 3: 100% coursework
CAMPUS and FACILITIES

Docklands Campus, Docklands Campus, London, E16 2RD
WHO TEACHES THIS COURSE
The teaching team includes qualified academics, practitioners and industry experts as guest speakers. Full details of the academics will be provided in the student handbook and module guides.
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What we're researching
At the University of East London we are working on the some of the big issues that will define our future; from sustainable architecture and ethical AI, to health inequality and breaking down barriers in the creative industries.
Our students and academics are more critically engaged and socially conscious than ever before. Discover some of the positive changes our students, alumni and academics are making in the world.
YOUR FUTURE CAREER
We believe our courses are ideal preparation for a career in the games' industry - and we can point to a couple of BAFTAs to back it up.
After graduating with a computer games degree here, Ashraf Mohammad started working with Rocksteady as a games' tester. He has gone on to work on the Batman series of games and was a member of the team who won the 'Best Gameplay' and 'Best Game' BAFTAs for Batman: Arkham Asylum.
He is just one in a long list of our graduates who have made a real impact in the industry. For instance, in the last five years, two have featured in Develop Magazine's list of the industry's top 30 most promising young talents.
One of our alumni, Richard Hamer is currently appointed as lead designer at Sago Mini. Ryan Wiltshire is another graduate who has led several game development teams in different companies and has started his own game studio. Another graduate, Ravina Sahota recently graduated and is now working as a junior level designer at Ubisoft Reflections.
Our students have varying postgraduate interests. Some students choose to work as 3D game artists, VFX artists, technical 3D artists and 3D animation in a wide range of companies while some others prefer to start their own independent studios.
Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.