Computer Games Design

Computer games design is the discipline concerned with creating the interactive experiences that define modern gaming. It sits at the intersection of creative and technical practice, requiring both imaginative thinking about what makes a game engaging and satisfying, and the technical skills to realise those ideas in game engines and design tools. Games designers shape the rules, systems, levels, and interfaces that players encounter, and their decisions determine how a game feels to play, whether it is intuitive, accessible, challenging, and rewarding.

At Anglia Ruskin University, this three-year full-time programme develops your specialist skills across the key areas of games design: game design itself, including the design of mechanics and systems, level design that creates compelling spatial challenges for players, user interface design that presents information clearly and efficiently, and user experience design that ensures the game is intuitive and accessible across different audiences. The programme takes a player-centred approach, asking you always to consider how design decisions affect the experience of the person playing. You will work with contemporary game engines and design tools, developing practical proficiency alongside your conceptual and critical understanding of why games work as they do.

You will develop skills in design thinking, game prototyping, player experience analysis, and digital communication, as well as the collaborative working skills that professional games production demands, since virtually all commercial games are team efforts.

Graduates of computer games design go on to work as game designers, level designers, UX designers, gameplay analysts, and production assistants in games studios of all sizes, from independent developers to major studios. Many also move into user experience design, digital interactive media, and product design more broadly. Postgraduate study in game design, digital media, or human-computer interaction is an option for those wishing to specialise further.