Bachelor of Arts in User Experience and Game Design

From the Academic Year 2020/2021 intake onward, the Bachelor of Arts in Game Design degree program will be renamed as Bachelor of Arts in User Experience and Game Design.

The Bachelor of Arts in User Experience and Game Design is a multidisciplinary degree that combines coursework in user experience design theory, the humanities, and social sciences to equip you with the skills to create meaningful and engaging interactive experiences.

Topics Covered
Academic Roadmap
Career Outlook

User experience (UX) refers to a user’s interaction with processes, services, or products. With good UX design, the end result should be an experience that is so seamless, useful, and uncomplicated. Imagine downloading an application for the first time and instinctively knowing how to navigate and use it. That’s an example of good UX and user interface (UI) design. Good game design is similar, offering users and players an experience that is fun, intuitive, and engaging.

As a student coming into this program, you will immerse yourself in the creation of both. In the process, you will learn to design and build immersive software such as augmented and virtual reality applications, responsive dashboard interfaces, and other engaging interactive systems and experiences. You will do so by conducting extensive research, evaluation, and user-based testing, creating wireframe documents to visualize your ideas, and finally rapid prototyping and iteration to bring these designs to life.

With such a wide range of design and technical skills in your portfolio, you will be able to pursue a career as a professional designer within the software and game industries, and beyond. Graduates from this program have gone on to become software developers, technical designers, UX designers, and game designers in the following companies:

gumi Asia
NCS
Procter & Gamble
Shopee
Singtel
ST Engineering
Ubisoft Singapore
…and many more!

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Topics Covered

Students in the BA in User Experience and Game Design program will focus on the following subjects:

Software design and development, including game mechanics and history, design for training and simulations, future design, design documentation, scripting and programming, 2D and 3D level design, character design, playtesting, user interface and user experience design, product management, and team game project implementation.
The humanities and arts, including writing, psychology, film, audio, architecture, drawing, and 2D and 3D art, with the option to study advanced topics in these areas.
Foundational math and science courses, including the fundamentals of scripting languages, mathematics, and physics.

Academic Roadmap

As a BA in User Experience and Game Design student, your design courses will cover a diversity of topics including game mechanics, user experience design, user research and testing, and 2D and 3D level design. You’ll also take coursework in cognitive psychology, scripting languages, economics, and communications, as well as a sampling of courses involving math, art, music, and basic computer science as they relate to the work of professional designers. On top of this, you’ll collaborate with your peers — and across disciplines — on a series of trimester- and year-long game projects.

View a sample course sequence

Study Trip — Overseas Immersion Programme

The Overseas Immersion Programme (OIP) is mandatory for students in the BA in User Experience and Game Design program. Students will study for one trimester at DigiPen Institute of Technology’s U.S. campus in Redmond, Washington, attending lectures, labs, and industry seminars. Students will interact with American professors and mentors while experiencing life in a different culture with their overseas peers.

Student Projects

Multidisciplinary team projects make up a core component of the BA in User Experience and Game Design curriculum. As a student in the program, you will work with your classmates on a series of original project ideas including games, training simulations, UI/UX prototypes, and design and wireframing documentation that will allow you to gain firsthand experience in contributing your design expertise while working as part of a larger creative team. These projects serve as a primary avenue for exploring your interests in software production, compelling narratives, and seamless user experiences. These are just a few examples of projects that our interactive design students have worked on.

Eon: Born of Light

A 2D underwater action-adventure game putting players in the role of a young sea monster exploring the ocean depths.

A neon-blue sea creature with horns swims up toward a hulking underwater robot which is aiming its guns toward it.

Second Scholar

An innovative puzzle game that ties the passage (or reversal) of time to the direction players move their character.

JOHN

A narrative-focused platformer about a day in the life of an office worker, John, as you navigate his innermost thoughts before making a big decision.

A flat, 2D character in silhouette holding a briefcase stands in a gray area with words in different colors around the screen

Career Outlook

As a graduate of the BA in User Experience and Game Design program, you will be well versed in both interactive design and game design theory, including user interface design, user experience design, usability, spatial design, system design, and behavior design. You will have the skills and collaborative experience to pursue any number of professional design roles across software, games, and other digital companies. This vast skillset also allows you to act as the bridge between designers and people from other disciplines such as programming, art, and content creation.

Potential Careers

VR/AR Developer

A VR/AR developer will work on the design of products which use mediums such as virtual reality, mixed reality, and augmented reality in the fields of training, simulations, architecture visualization, games, and education. The VR/AR developer will both design and use knowledge of programming languages to build rapid prototypes which go from high-concept implementation to fully functional products across several industries. They will also need to work on user experience design when it comes to camera, controls, and user orientation.

UX Designer

The work of the user experience (UX) designer can be seen across many industries, from games to business to museums and more. A UX designer seeks to make a product or experience more satisfactory and accessible for the end user, whether the end result is an intuitive mobile phone app or a more streamlined in-store checkout system. To get there, the designer will rely on a large set of tools and responsibilities, including user research, paper prototyping, wireframing, and usability testing.

Game Designer

Game design is a broad term that can encompass many unique job types. In general, a game designer works to create and refine the interrelated systems that make up a game-playing experience, from the mechanics of combat in a fighting game to the complex menu navigation in an online RPG. They often work closely with engineers and people from other disciplines to implement and fine-tune their design concepts.

Entry-Level Job Titles

Technical Designer
Software Developer
Application Developer
Game Designer
User Experience/User Interface Designer
Level Designer

Senior-Level Job Titles

Lead Designer
Creative Director
Director

Other/Related Job Titles

Producer
Product Manager
Technical Artist
Technical Writer

Who Should Pursue This Degree?

The BA in User Experience and Game Design program is for anyone who is deeply curious about understanding the behavior and psychology behind the design application in software development, user experience, games, and virtual reality and augmented reality, and who wish to learn skills and methods for designing these fun and engaging interactive systems and experiences.

As a student in this program, you will:

Design Original Games, Training and Simulation Programs, and Applications
Work as a designer on interdisciplinary teams to create polished design experiences with original systems and mechanics.
Develop the Skills and Habits of Professional Designers
Master the cycle of design, user testing, and iteration to ensure your work products are intuitive and effective.
Study Human Behavior from a Variety of Lenses
Learn about psychology, storytelling, and other subjects as they relate to interactive media and user experiences.
Craft Meaningful User Journeys
Understand the process of making interfaces, experiences, products, and technology accessible for humans.

Admissions Requirements

The BA in User Experience and Game Design program is ideal for students with a strong foundation in writing, communications, and psychology, and who are also interested in learning a wide variety of design topics ranging from technical design to future design, and traditional design methods coupled with technical skills of programming.

View all requirements