Games Animation at UCA

Bring your designs to life, give them character through movement and expression, and learn the fundamentals of animation on our specialised BA (Hons) Games Animation degree at UCA Farnham.

This dedicated course allows you to really delve deep into the technical and creative elements of animation for video games, while offering in-depth training as a 3D artist and designer. With our extensive facilities, including motion capture technology and VR capabilities, you’ll be able to animate and develop expressive characters who move and show feeling just the way you want them to.  

On this course, you'll get the best of both worlds, learning technical skills and 3D modelling for games, together with the key principles of animation. So, whether you want to be an animator, a motion capture expert, or work in VFX, this course is ideal for you.

Please note, there is no option to study this course with the Integrated Foundation Year or the Professional Practice Year.

Course entry options

Select from the following options to find out more about the different study options available for this course:

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Institution code
C93
UCAS code
W281
Campus
UCA Farnham
Start date(s)
September 2025
Duration
3 years full-time
Entry requirements

112 UCAS points
International equivalent qualifications

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Institution code
C93
UCAS code
Campus
Start date(s)
Duration
Entry requirements
Close
Institution code
C93
UCAS code
Campus
Start date(s)
Duration
Entry requirements
Close
Institution code
C93
UCAS code
Campus
Start date(s)
Duration
Entry requirements
Close
Institution code
C93
UCAS code
Campus
Start date(s)
Duration
Entry requirements
Close
Institution code
C93
Campus
Start date(s)
Duration
Entry requirements

Accreditations, partners and industry connections

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The Rookies

The Rookies is a leading platform for digital artists to promote their work and assists members in preparing for industry. We are proud to be ranked 25th in the 2024 Top 50 Creative Schools in the World.

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Discover the stories of our Games students

Course
details

Launch Week 
All launch weeks feature a range of activities, which will comprise an interdisciplinary Industry Guest Speakers’ Series offered to all students across the School of Games and Creative Technology.   

There will also be other activities, such as study trips and/or studio visits, and o local, Design Sprints, could also take place. 

Principles of Animation 
At the heart of this modules are a series of practical hand-keyed animation challenges which will support you in developing your understanding of key animation principle, and the core skills necessary for the creation of 3D computer animation. You’ll also be introduced to the motion-capture process, and the key concepts and theories relevant to your practice as a games animator. 

Equality Diversity and Inclusion 
The unit provides an opportunity for you to explore what is meant by equality, diversity, and inclusion and the implications of these concepts on your own creative practice. 

Board Games Design
You’ll be asked to use the fundamental game design skills and knowledge you learned so far and apply them to paper-based design. Working in teams, you’ll prototype and build a board game. Final games will be presented as a group at the end of the unit, giving you a chance to build on your presentation and pitching skills, too.

Opportunity Week 
Opportunity Week gives you the chance to try something a little different, broaden your engagement and your subject knowledge, such as Games Jams and Design Sprints. There may also be study trips and/or studio visits locally, in major hubs like London and even internationally for festivals, or trips museums, galleries and festivals. 

Technical Animation for Games 
This has two core focuses – the first to explore the process of preparing modelled game assets for animation through the creation of animation control systems, and the second to explore the use of animation systems within game engines to create interactive animations.  

Client Brief 
You’ll be asked to use your skills and knowledge to work on a client-facing brief. You’ll work individually or in teams to respond, building your collaborative skills. And you’ll focus on refining your presentation skills to ensure outcomes are shared successfully. 

Interactive Narratives 
You’ll study popular frameworks and theoretical concepts such as designing a plot, character, setting, dialogue, culminating in making your own interactive narrative. You’ll investigate narrative as a psychological and anthropological phenomenon, before understanding its most contemporary and experimental forms embodied in postmodernism, and finally, games as narrative architectures for exploration. 

ATOM Activities 
ATOM activities are tiny pieces of diverse individual learning that facilitate interdisciplinary exposure and give you the chance to learn topics that would not otherwise be scheduled on your timetable. 

PLE Digital Outcome 1 
Your PLE Digital Outcome is a purposefully edited, self-directed record of your constructive engagement with and presence on, digital media platforms across the year. Examples of this could be an online portfolio or blog/vlog, or social media activity. 

Launch Week 
All launch weeks feature a range of activities, which will comprise an interdisciplinary Industry Guest Speakers’ Series offered to all students across the School of Games and Creative Technology.  

There will also be other activities, such as study trips and/or studio visits, and o local, Design Sprints, could also take place.  

Character Animation for Games
This units builds upon the foundational animation skills acquired in prior units and further develops them within the more complex field of character animation

Opportunity Week 
Opportunity Week gives you the chance to try something a little different, broaden your engagement and your subject knowledge, such as Games Jams and Design Sprints. There may also be study trips and/or studio visits locally, in major hubs like London and even internationally for festivals, or trips museums, galleries and festivals. 

Performance Animation 
You’ll will explore the key areas relevant to character animation for cut-scenes, such as lip sync and facial animation, as well as the use of reference footage to deliver an emotional performance.  

Industry Brief 
You’ll use your skills and workflows to produce work for an industry brief, who will set specific parameters and conditions to be met by a deadline. This could include style guides, historic markers, format conditions, audience, and genre. 

You’ll work as individuals or in a team (depending on the brief) and develop new skills in engaging and communicating effectively with your fellow students, including your ability to respond to an industry focused brief. In addition, you will focus on refining your presentation skills to ensure that you successfully share the outcomes, reflecting on your output. 

ATOM Activities and PLE Digital Outcome 
These units are an extension of the Year 1 ATOM Activities and PLE Digital Outcome. 

Elective units
You’ll also be able to choose from two of the following elective units through the course of the year:

  • Conceptual Interdisciplinary
  • Immersive Media
  • Digital Storytelling
  • Hardware Projects using Arduino
  • Virtual Production Studio
  • Pervasive Game Studio
  • Creature Animation
  • Motion Capture Technologies
  • Environmental Storytelling

Launch Week 
All launch weeks feature a range of activities, which will comprise an interdisciplinary Industry Guest Speakers’ Series offered to all students across the School of Games and Creative Technology.  

There will also be other activities, such as study trips and/or studio visits, and o local, Design Sprints, could also take place. 

Final Major Project: Pre-Production 
Your final year allows you to develop a significant body of work that demonstrates your chosen pathway discipline, ideation skills, genre interests and your aspiration for your future role within the Games and entertainment industries. Work from this period of study will make up and define your graduate portfolio. This unit is all about developing your project proposal through which you will define the concept, scope, audience, and purpose of your Final Major Project. 

Final Major Project: Critical and Conceptual Influences 
This unit consists of a period of sustained, individually negotiated research which will help you develop an appropriate methodological approach towards your Final Major Project. You’ll produce a written piece that reflects upon and articulates a clear and sustained argument. 

Professional Practice 
You’ll identify, explore and develop professional promotional resources that highlight your strengths and your body of work. This will help you define and present yourself in a professional manner to external parties, in line with the conventions of professional practice and the workplace.  

Final Major Project: Production 
The culmination of your studies, you’ll follow through with your agreed proposal to produce a body of work that demonstrates your creativity, skill, knowledge and understanding of recognised games industry practices and pipelines, to a professional standard. Work from this stage will make up your graduate portfolio.  

You will take responsibility for your own development in anticipation of graduation and professional practice in the computer games industry, and you’ll be required to keep a development journal to document your technical skills and ideas, your process, and your ongoing critical evaluation and reflection. 

This course is designed to offer you (if eligible) the opportunity to study part of your degree aboard at a UCA partner university, while still earning credits towards your UCA degree.

For more information please visit the Study Abroad section

Course specifications

Please note, syllabus content indicated is provided as a guide. The content of the course may be subject to change in line with our Student Terms and Conditions for example, as required by external professional bodies or to improve the quality of the course.

Explore our gradshows

Each year, we’re privileged to be able to share our graduates’ incredible work with the world. And now’s your chance to take a look.

Visit the online showcase
Fees & funding

Fees & financial support

Tuition fees - 2025/26

  • BA course: £9,535

Tuition fees - 2025/26 entry

Tuition fees - 2025/26 entry

  • BA course: £17,500

Please note: The fees listed on this webpage are correct for the stated academic year only, for details of previous years please see the full fee schedules.

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.

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 details of the costs you may incur.

Facilities

Studios feature individual workstations, light boxes, Wacom tablets, line testers and batch scanners. Macs have the full Adobe Creative Suite as well as Toon Boom and Maya CG software. Students can also access sound and editing suites, a stop-motion studio with Dragonframe capture software, Canon DSLRs and professional camera stands, and stages pre-rigged with grips, stands and lights. 

View 360 virtual tour

Games studios, UCA Farnham

Games studios, UCA Farnham

VR motion capture studio, UCA Farnham

Games studios, UCA Farnham

Career opportunities

Our professional staff have close connections with alumni of the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, West Hollywood, as well as with new and established CG arts, animation and creative media opportunities.

Possible career destinations include:

  • Art directors
  • CG artists and animators for film and game
  • Concept artists
  • Creative project managers
  • Creative writers
  • Freelance creatives
  • Post-production designers
  • Pre-production artists
  • Production artists
  • Production managers.

Graduates have gone on to work at companies such as:

  • Double Negative
  • Framestore
  • The Mill
  • Glassworks
  • Squint/Opera
  • Butch Auntie.

Watch the interview with graduate Urvashi who after graduation worked in industry and then has also continued onto a postgraduate course at UCLA in America: Interview For UCA

You may also like to consider further study at postgraduate level.

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Entry & portfolio requirements

For these courses you will be required to submit a digital portfolio and if you’re a student from the UK, attend an Applicant Day. This can include personal work with traditional or digital media, sketchbook drawings, and relevant coursework.

Further information on specific portfolio requirements and how to submit your digital portfolio will be sent to you after you’ve submitted your application.

View more portfolio advice

 

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