Program Overview

Games Arts MA

Overview

UCA’s MA Games Arts course builds on your existing talents to give you the knowledge and skills to create advanced art for games or for aligned industries.

What You'll Study

• Integrated Pre-Masters (if undertaken)
  • Our Integrated Pre-Master's course will prepare for postgraduate study by improving your academic and creative skills before your degree begins.
  • You'll build a portfolio of work whilst you explore your subject specialism and benefit from personal development tutoring that will support your academic growth and help refine your specialism.
  • If you need to enhance your English language skills you can opt to join a pre-sessional English course to improve your IELTS score as well.
• Term one
  • Launch
    • Your launch week is the chance get to know your peers and start working collaboratively.
  • Thinking, Prototyping and Practice
    • This unit examines games and the wider use of interactivity and gamification narratives through 2d, 3d, AI, VR and AR.
    • You will examine your own work through the lens of visual narrative, design, art principles and audience as producer.
    • You will explore and challenge the expanding discipline through a range of practice-based projects, and alongside this, investigate the social, economic, political and cultural opportunities offered within Games Art and aligned industries.
  • Games Research and Professional Contexts 1
    • In this hybrid unit, you will get the analytical tools to not only interrogate and interpret existing games and gameplay experiences in written and verbal form, but to apply what you learn to their practice in a reflective report.
    • You will learn to synthesise theoretical research methods and industry practices of game evaluation to provide a critically informed and reflective toolset for analysing and critically assessing games, gameplay experiences, and their practice.
    • You will learn about a range of methods for analysing video games on the level of their content and form drawing upon established research practices within the academy for analysing texts, images, and more recent Game Studies-specific approaches.
    • In tandem with this scholarly approach to research methods, the professional practice strand of this unit will provide you with industry and practitioner-led insights into how game design and art practices are analysed and assessed within the game development process.
    • Delivered by industry insiders from a range of career stages and focuses, this element of the unit will provide opportunities for students to understand and apply industry standard best practice for evaluating games.
• Term two
  • Opportunity
    • Opportunity week gives you the chance to work collaboratively to produce and replicate industry practice.
  • Exploration and Development
    • Through a wider knowledge and understanding of games arts and aligned industries you will further research and identify areas of interest aligned to your intended subject specialty.
    • These areas will be explored, developed, and prototyped aligning to industry practice and deeper subject understanding.
    • You will identify current and future technologies and addresses the deeper understanding and problem solving of those industries in a deeper understanding of the subject you have chosen.
  • Games Research and Professional Contexts 2
    • Building on the methodological and analytical skills developed in Games Research and Professional Practice 1, you will be introduced to range of key concepts, theories and debates providing a conceptual lens through which to critically deconstruct game form and content.
    • In addition, to this focus on game texts and concepts, topics will focus on players: on their experience of gameplay, on player cultures and identity and the role of game creators in shaping players as individuals and collectives.
    • Centrally, these questions of player identities and cultures will be framed via concepts of equality, diversity, and inclusion.
    • In this unit, you will also undertake a collaborative professional practice group project.
    • This is expected to involve groups of students across the games postgraduate portfolio collaborating on a project which may be based on an industry brief.
• Term three
  • Games Arts Major Project
    • This is your opportunity to showcase the skills and knowledge you’ve gained and employ in-depth research to enhance your social and cultural understanding, leading to a visual outcome in line with future and contemporary industry practices.
    • These will be aligned to their intended individual areas of expertise/interests.
    • There should be a critical approach to visual meaning, narrative and understanding of the chosen outcome.
    • Projects will be aligned to chosen professional level outcomes aligned to industry current and future pipelines.
    • All parts of the design process need to be fully documented and follow industry practices regarding the development of a project.
    • Individual, collaborative, cross course and industry collaboration is encouraged for the final project.
    • Outcomes will be underpinned by critical research and understanding.

Specifications

• Course information 2025/26 entry
• Course information annex for Integrated Pre-Masters 2025/26 entry
• Student regulations

Fees and Funding

Tuition Fees

• UK: £10,500 (2025/26)
• EU: £10,500 (2025/26) (see fee discount information)
• International: £18,000 (2025/26) (MA), £17,500 (2025/26) (Integrated International Pre-Masters course - Sept & Jan), £8,750 (2025/26) (Integrated International Pre-Masters course - May)

UCA Scholarships and Fee Discounts

• At UCA we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist you with the cost of your studies.
• Current UCA students and alumni may be eligible for a tuition fee discount.

Financial Support

• There are lots of ways you can access additional financial support to help you fund your studies - both from UCA and from external sources.
• Discover what support you might qualify for please see our financial support information.

Additional Course Costs

• In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course.
• The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials.
• These costs will vary according to the nature of your project work and the individual choices that you make.
• Please see the Additional Course Costs section of the Course Information Document for more details of the costs you may incur.

Opportunities

• Careers
  • Our students have previously graduated to find themselves within easily accessible pathways that have guided them to prosperous and fulfilling job roles within the games industry:
    • Concept designer
    • Game designer
    • Games developer
    • Multi-media programmer
    • Multi-media specialist
    • Software engineer
    • VFX Artist
• Further Study
  • You may want to undertake further study or research to specialise even further.

Entry and Portfolio Requirements

• For this course we will need to see your portfolio for review.
• You can either submit a digital portfolio or request an in-person portfolio review with the course team.
• View postgraduate portfolio advice

Standard Requirements

• A good honours degree or equivalent qualification in a related discipline
• Relevant work experience, demonstrating your ability to study at postgraduate level

Postgraduate Requirements

• Integrated Pre-Masters course
  • Our Pre-Masters courses require a recognised bachelor degree or 3 year diploma with a strong portfolio in a relevant subject.
  • Applicants will also need to meet any course-specific requirements.
• Masters course
  • For our Master’s courses, we usually require that you have successfully completed a Bachelor's degree at a recognised university.

English Language Requirements

• View more information for students from [Country]
  • [Country-specific requirements]

How to Apply

• Please use the following fields to help select the right application link for you:
  • My location
  • Select your location: UK / International / EU
  • I am interested to start in
  • Select entry year
  • I would like to study for
  • Select study option
  • Apply

Related Courses

• Game Engineering MSc at UCA Farnham
• Games Design MA at UCA Farnham
• Human Computer Interaction MSc at UCA Farnham
• Immersive & Virtual Reality MA at UCA Farnham