Program Overview

Games Animation, Modelling and Effects - BSc (Hons)

The Games Animation, Modelling and Effects (GAME) BSc course is an innovative undergraduate degree that will provide students with the creative skills needed by the games industry. As an artist, students will develop their computer graphics skills, both artistically and technically, and learn about subjects including modelling, rigging, animation, texturing, lights/cameras, visual effects (VFX), and rendering.

Why Study This Course?

The course is designed with computer games professionals and the games industry body TIGA to enable artists to develop their computer graphics skills. Students will gain an excellent education in the area of games design and development, and each module has been designed with their computer games career in mind. The course covers specialist artistic skills, including concept artwork, 2D/3D assets, character models, animation, textures, VFX, and rendering. Students will also develop problem-solving, communication skills, and an awareness of the ethical responsibilities that a technical artist must consider.

Key Skills Covered on the Course

• Visual Effects (VFX) workflow: designing and implementing VFX in Houdini and Maya, compositing VFX and 3D content in real-life footage in NUKE, and creating procedural content in Houdini to be integrated in Unreal Engine.
• Character artist workflow: designing and modeling characters in Maya, sculpting characters in ZBrush, creating realistic clothing in Marvelous Designer, texturing characters in Substance Painter and Substance Designer, and rigging characters in Maya for animation.
• Environment/hard-surface modeler workflow: designing and creating environmental assets in Maya, ZBrush, and Houdini, texturing assets in Substance Painter and Substance Designer.
• Animator workflow: learning the principles of animation, designing and creating animations in 2D with Adobe Creative Cloud software, animating mechanical objects and characters in 3D with Maya, exporting animations and integrating them in Unity and Unreal Engine.
• Game Designer/Level Designer workflow: studying the principles of game and level design, working in teams with Games Programming BSc students to design, project plan, and implement their own games.
• Technical Artist workflow: learning scripting in C# for Unity, MEL, and Python for Maya, visual programming in Unreal Engine, the Bifrost graph editor in Maya, and procedural asset generation in Houdini.
• Concept Artist workflow: studying essential elements of art and the principles of design, learning perspective and the use of Photoshop and Illustrator, drawing human anatomy in detail, and creating concept art and character sheets.

Course Modules

The modules listed are for the academic year 2025/26 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details are subject to change over time.

• Year 1:
  • 2D Computer Animation
  • 3D Modelling and Texturing
  • 3D Sculpting and Animation
  • Digital Imaging
  • Digital Skills
  • Game Design
  • Game Design and Development
  • Introduction to Drawing and Animation
• Year 2:
  • 3D Texturing and VFX
  • Advanced 3D Animation
  • Advanced 3D Modelling
  • Anatomy and Character VFX
  • Motion Graphics Design
  • Sound Design for Games
  • VFX
  • Virtual Reality Game Development
• Year 3:
  • Creative Practice Dissertation Project
  • Creative Research Dissertation Project
  • Game Assets and VFX
  • Games Assets Development
  • Portfolio Creation
  • Portfolio Research, Design and Social Media
  • Career Development Learning
  • Interaction Design for Non-Humans

Entry Requirements

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, students should have:

• A minimum of grades CCD in three A levels, one of which must be from a relevant subject (or a minimum of 88 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification).
• GCSE English and Mathematics at grade C/grade 4 or above (or equivalent).

Accreditation of Prior Learning

Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience gained prior to starting university could count towards the course at London Met.

Assessment

Students will be assessed primarily by coursework assignments, with ongoing formative assessments during class. Formative assessments will be a regular feature of the semester, encompassing peer review, with opportunities for QA, detailed feedback, and guidance from tutors.

Where This Course Can Take You

This degree program prepares students for a range of job roles, including concept artist, technical artist, graphics designer, technical asset artist, character/model builder, texture artist, character animator, environment artist, VFX artist, etc.

Additional Costs

Please note, in addition to the tuition fee, there may be additional costs for things like equipment, materials, printing, textbooks, trips, or professional body fees.