Game Art MA

Modules

Development Practice 

You’ll deepen your knowledge of game development practice by working in interdisciplinary teams, employing specialist skills to devise small-scale artefacts. You’ll also carry out a personal reflective case study that will help to enrich and expand your practice. 

(30 credits) 

Concepts and Contexts 

You’ll focuses on the processes and techniques used in the visual development of games. Working within an iterative model, you’ll explore methods and tools that can help in the development of a compelling visual concept. 

You’ll research and prepare a proposal for a set of visual concepts while exploring different workflows and methods used within the industry. 

(30 credits) 

Modules

Crafting and Refining 

Building on the work of previous modules, you’ll cultivate key analytical and research skills to enhance your craft and practice as a game artist. Through a combination of lectures, workshops and self-guided study, you’ll explore differing workflows and methods across a range of disciplines, which will help you take a divergent, creative and critical approach. 

(30 credits) 

Game Development Project 

Working in multidisciplinary teams from across the Games Academy, you’ll design a game based on an original concept. You’ll then implement, play test, and refine a working prototype of your game. This process will help to enrich your knowledge of rules and parameters in structuring your game and its gameplay. 

(30 credits) 

Modules

Major Project

For the final stage of this Game Art MA, you’ll work on a major research and development project. Under the guidance of your supervisor, you’ll either work in teams or individually to devise, develop and execute your project. You can choose to build upon the material you’ve previously produced in other modules or develop a new concept. 

The work produced for this module is expected to be fully realised, polished and of a publishable quality. 

(60 credits) 

With regularly timetabled support sessions from our course team and project supervision throughout, you’ll learn to produce game art to a high standard, collaborating effectively as a member of a game development team and conducting cutting-edge research and development independently. You’ll gain stylistic and technical skills through practical, hands-on learning. Including: 

• Demonstrations 
• Studio practice 
• Project supervision 
• Lectures 
• Seminars 
• Practical workshops 
• Crit sessions 
• Tutorials 
• Guest speakers 
• Mentoring 

Assessment for the Game Art MA is 100% coursework. Learning is situated in an environment that mirrors the industry, helping to prepare you for working in a game studio environment. 

Assessments are composed of practical activities underpinned by critical analyses of the workflows and practices applied in the module to further support your learning. 

Module leaders and supervisors will be available to guide and support you through your assessments to enhance your relevant art, technical, and academic skill sets. 

We welcome applicants with varied qualifications, but typically you’ll need an undergraduate degree. Our typical applicants hold an undergraduate degree of 2:2 or above, or equivalent experience. 

You will need to upload one link to a digital portfolio or store that shows examples of approximately three pieces of work. It should contain high quality material that showcases your ability to work at master’s level.  

We’ll also welcome your application if you have formal or 'certified' learning (such as training courses not run by universities or colleges) and learning from work experience or self-study. This is called Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) and should have been gained within the last five years and be equivalent to the learning outcomes of our minimum entry qualifications. 

APL applicants using experience to apply should note there is an application fee for entry with advanced standing or with exemption from specific modules or credit. 

If English isn’t your first language, you'll need to demonstrate English language skills that are sufficiently developed for successful completion of your studies. We accept a range of recognised English language qualifications that are equivalent to the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic minimum score of 6.5 overall, with a minimum of 6.0 in Speaking, and a minimum of 5.5 in Reading, Writing, and Listening. 

International applicants who require a student visa to study in the UK must take a recognised language test that is approved and vouched for by the University. Our Applicant Services Team can help with any questions you may have about study visas or suitable language tests. 

Welcome to Game Art MA. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for postgraduate students starting in September 2027

Essential

• Pencils- Royal & Langnickel sketching pencil set – approximately £6.99

• Sketchpad- Daler-Rowney A3 series, a spiral cartridge pad – approximately £12.85

• Sketchbook- Seawhite black cloth cover sketchbook 140gsm portrait A4 – approximately £8.95

• Pencil case- Derwent Canvas pencil wrap - approximately £8.99

• Grey-scale markers, they can either buy them as a set or individually. Sets range from £10 - £14. Individual markers are approx. £3.50

Laptop

At Falmouth, you can use industry-standard computers and kit on campus, with some IT suites open 24 hours during teaching weeks.

The latest advice about which computers we recommend you buy for your course is available here: https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-computer-advice#readme

If you have any questions or want us to check your setup, just get in touch with us on games.support@falmouth.ac.uk

Headset with Microphone

You will need a headset with a microphone for some classes. We recommend purchasing a high-quality headset for your comfort. Manufacturers such as Sennheiser, Razer, HyperX and Corsair are rated highly by our current students. These can cost between £30 - £150.

Webcam

You will need a webcam in some teaching if you do not have a built-in webcam on your laptop. Manufacturers such as Logitech, Microsoft, and Razer are rated highly by our current students. These can cost between £25 - £100.

Internet Access

It is important that you secure sufficient access to the Internet as some materials are made available to you through our virtual learning environment. We recommend a fibre broadband connection if available, but a minimum of at least 5Mbps will be suitable for livestreaming content. If you have further questions, need more detailed advice or would like us to check the suitability of a particular model, then please email games.support@falmouth.ac.uk

Optional

• Watercolour- Windsor & Newton Cotman watercolour paints-12 half pans – approximately £16.30

• Watercolour brushes- Pro Arte professional artist academy paint brushes (set of 6) – approximately £7.99

• Acrylics- Daler-Rowney system 3 acrylic paint introduction set – approximately £15.38

• Acrylic brushes- Pro Arte brush wallet set – approximately £7.69

Pre-course preparation

A list of all the software we use can be found here - https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-software-list#readme

You should download Unreal 5 (UE5) - https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download

When installing an engine version, please use the one indicated in the table in the above link. We will be using that version of the engine in the upcoming session. We will be using UE5 in some of the Game Art modules, we would expect you to familiarise yourself with the Interface and some of the basic tasks in the Engine using a tutorial like the following - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-zMkzmduqI

We will exclusively use Photoshop for 2D Art. You can download a free trial here - https://www.adobe-students.com/uk/creativecloud/buy/students.html Once you register as a student, you will be able to sign-up to the following to receive a substantial discount: https://softwareregistration.falmouth.ac.uk/

For 3D Character Art, we will be using ZBrush, you can download Zbrush via the Maxon One App - https://www.maxon.net/en/buy/plan-pricing-for-students and then install Zbrush. As a student you are able to receive a discount which reduced the cost of ZBrush (and other Maxon software) to £66 for a year’s subscription.

For environment and prop art (and other 3D work) we use Maya and ZBrush. You can download a free trial at the following: https://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/maya/free-trial Once you sign-up register as a student, you can sign-up to receive one-year free educational access to all Autodesk products including Maya. Please note, this one-year can be renewed as long as you remain a student: https://www.autodesk.com/education/edu-software/overview?sorting=featured&filters=individual

Other Software

We use Substance Painter & Designer to create textures and materials. A free trial of Substance Painter can be found here: https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/substance3d-painter.html Once you register as a student, you can sign-up for a free license of Substance3D collection (which includes Painter & Designer) via the following: https://substance3d.adobe.com/education/

Please note, you must use the above software (and others recommended by staff) during your time at on the Game Art Programmes at Falmouth University. All the above software is installed on the PCs at the Games Academy and Design Centre, if you can’t afford the above pieces of software, we would recommend that use the PCs in our facilities.

Optional

Orientation exercise:

Select three interesting objects from around your home or local area. Photograph them, sketch and draw them using any materials you feel comfortable with. Think about their shape, scale, texture, colour, material and how they interact with light. Draw them again the next day. Then, when you feel you’ve a good understanding of the objects’ properties, take elements of each to create a new hybrid object. Name it and write a short backstory about that new hybrid object. You can do this as a written paragraph or as a comic strip or storyboard. Put all these in a portfolio, alongside the original photographs (printouts or show us the photos on your phone) and bring them along to Fresher’s Week.

Additional preparation advice:

We suggest that you do lots of drawing of characters and landscapes/environment studies. It’s important to start getting used to drawing/painting in art software like Photoshop (£16.22/through educational licensing) or Sketchbook Pro (free). Also, it would be beneficial to download the free trial of Autodesk Maya and work through its tutorials.