Thank you for choosing to study Games Design with us. We are delighted to welcome you!
The Course Team
Key dates
Academic Calendar: Semesters
View key dates for this Academic Calendar for 2025-26 including when teaching starts and finishes and when you break for holidays.
Welcome and Induction
Your Welcome Week is an essential introduction to your course and the wider University, helping you to feel confident and prepared for your studies right from the very start.
It is important to check your Course Welcome Week for all the activities you are required to attend as part of your course induction. If any of your welcome activities are in groups, your course team will contact you before you arrive to let you know which group you will be in.
In addition, check the Student Events Hub for a range of fun activities. including the Students’ Union Welcome Fair, to help you make friends and live your best CCCU student life.
Your teaching timetable
UniTimetables provides an overview of all teaching activities for a course. If your course is taught in groups, it will display information for all groups, not just the group you will be assigned to.
Your individual student timetable will show you what modules and groups you are expected to attend via MyTimetable. This will be available for when your teaching starts.
Learn more about timetabling for new students including user guides and videos.
Getting started
Once your University IT account has been activated, you will be able to access our resources, including Library resources and relevant software. On our Blackboard pages (virtual learning environment platform) you will be able to find information about your course, as well as about supporting services and opportunities available to you.
At the beginning of your academic programme, you will be assigned to a personal tutor, who will provide you with academic support throughout the course and act as a gateway to support and development services offered elsewhere in the University.
Pre-course reading
The Games Design course introduces you to different pathways into the games industry. To get you started, we suggest that you begin exploring this exciting industry. Here are some useful resources that can help to prepare you for the course:
- Game Developer: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/
- Designer Notes podcast: https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/
- The Game Maker’s Notebook podcasts: https://www.interactive.org/Interviews/the_game_makers_notebook.asp
- Indie Pod Podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/show/7BfHEnyDMaNew0COSBlu1i
In this course you’ll explore a wide range of games from across the industry and it will be important for you to have an understanding of all the things a game can be. In preparation for starting your studies, it would be useful to take a look at as many games as you can from the list below, to get an idea of their rules, objectives, gameplay mechanics, what they look like, sound like, and feel like. This will give you basic understanding of a variety of genres and games that you’ll be looking at in your studies.
- Animal Crossing (Series)
- Art Academy (Series)
- Baba Is You (2019)
- Catan (1995)
- Civilization (Series)
- Doom (Series)
- Downwell (2015)
- Dungeons and Dragons
- Fall Guys (2020)
- FIFA (Series)
- Final Fantasy (Series)
- Gone Home (2013)
- Mafia/Werewolf
- Magic: The Gathering
- Mario Kart (Series)
- Minecraft (2009)
- Night in the Woods (2017)
- Papers Please (2014)
- Pokémon Go (2016)
- The Sims (Series)
- Street Fighter (Series)
- Wii Sports (Series)
- The Wolf Among Us
Try to add to this list if you can, from as broad a range of games and media as possible.
It is useful to note that the University Bookshop offers 10% discount on most titles in print and have some price-beating book bundles. They also price match Amazon on core texts recommended in the module handbooks you will receive when you start in September.
International student success programme
International students: don't miss out! Make sure you register for our international student success programme which provides practical advice on preparing to live and study in the UK.
Contact details
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