MA Game Art

At Escape Studios, there are two main types of feedback on your work: formative and summative.

Formative assessment

This is one of the most important aspects of your work. There will be many opportunities to receive feedback from your tutor, studio assistants and peers during your modules. This will often be oral feedback on your work, sometimes on a one-to-one basis, sometimes in a group feedback session or daily. All of this should help you build on your strengths and develop your skills as you progress through the course.

The majority of modules contain at least one piece of practice or ‘formative’ assessment for which you receive feedback. Formative assessments are developmental and any feedback you receive for them do not count towards your overall module mark.

Summative assessment

This will be specifically designed to measure how well you meet the learning outcomes of the module. They will usually involve a task to meet a brief set by your tutor and will allow you to demonstrate the knowledge and skills that you have learned during the module. You’ll need to decide exactly how to complete the task, choosing particular techniques and approaches, and making decisions on the aesthetics and style to meet the given requirements.

Each module will have a practical element (usually a practical project, where you make something) and a written element (usually a journal or blog, where you reflect on what you’ve made). Sometimes there is also a presentation (where you demonstrate your work). All these elements are essential to your development by showing that you can deliver to a required level and also that you understand why you can and how you could improve.

Summative assessment breakdown:

For four of your modules (Game Art – Foundation, Game Art – Advanced, Game Art – FX and Technical Art, and Game Production Project), your assessment will be split into two parts:

• Product – 60% – you will be required to create a product to a specified brief
• Retrospective/Presentation – 40% – you will be required to provide critical analysis of your own work
  

For your Game Collaborative Project, you will be marked as follows:

• Proposal – 20% – you will be required to produce a full pre-production design document
• Product – 50% – you will be required to create a product as a part of a team
• Retrospective – 30% – you will be required to provide critical analysis of your own work

The assessment methods employed in this programme have been developed to mirror industry practice as far as possible. We balance feedback from tutors and industry experts. It is crucial that, as a student, you learn how to accept and work with feedback from your superiors and peers, as this will be the norm when you work in industry. You also need to develop a keen self-critical eye, to be able to step back from your work and see what you could improve, and to have the ability to look at yourself and your working practices, and make changes where necessary.

For more details about assessment, please check the programme specifications. 

Your overall workload will be divided between teaching sessions and independent learning.

During your course, you’ll be able to develop your knowledge and skills in a number of ways. Some of this will be closely directed/supervised by your tutors, at other times you’ll be free to organise your own study with guidance. All your scheduled study time, except for some information sessions and presentations, will be in groups of around 12. For your team project, you’ll be working with a smaller team, collaborating to meet a shared brief. This will give you ample opportunity to get the support and assistance that you need.

The first three modules have a high contact time (180 hours for each module), as this is where you will be learning the knowledge and skills associated with your particular subject, directed and informed by your tutors’ expertise and experience. These will normally involve a large part of each day with your tutor and studio assistant, following demonstrations and working on set exercises to help you develop your craft.

The Collaborative Project and Production Project modules will have a lower contact time (15 hours for the Collaborative Project and 30 hours for the Production Project), with your tutors taking on the roles of supervisors or studio leads. You’ll meet with them regularly to get feedback and help you stay on the right path, but these modules are much more about you managing the learning experience to meet your objectives. You’ll be free to organise your work either as a team or an individual to best suit your project requirements.

Each module has its own area on the OLE (Online Learning Environment) where you will find all the information about the module and resources provided. Some of this information will be dedicated to the module, other elements may be shared across different modules and some may be external assets that can help with your further study. There may be links to videos, online journals and ebooks, and you should take advantage of these to enhance your development and take it beyond the studio experience. Tutors may highlight some of these during their sessions, so make sure you listen out and follow up on their advice.

You will also have an access to a variety of materials to aid you in your learning. Our OLE platform offers an online module focused on improving your study and research skills and academic writing. Finally, the online library also offers an extensive range of literature on both study skills and academic writing.

For further details, go to our Learning Resources page.

Students with additional needs or disabilities are supported by the Student Services team.

Overall workload

This programme has flexible start dates which may vary from year to year. It is divided into two stages. Stage 1 comprises modules to a total of 120 credits and Stage 2 comprises a 60 credit Production Project module. Students must successfully complete each module in order to be awarded the specified number of credits for that module. One credit corresponds to approximately ten hours of 'learning time' (including all classes and all private study and research). Thus obtaining 180 credits in an academic year requires 1,800 hours of overall learning time.

The first three modules are taught in intensive blocks of 6 weeks each, giving a total of 18 weeks. During each of these modules you will spend around 30 hours per week studying in tutor-led sessions or practice supported by studio assistants. The final two modules are more self-directed. The Collaborative Project will take around 12 weeks, during which you will have around 15 hours of feedback sessions with your tutor. Finally, you will spend around 18 weeks on the Production Project, including around 30 hours of feedback sessions with your tutor.

Each 30-credit module on the course requires students to commit 300 hours of study, with one 60 credit module which requires 600 hours of study. Some of these hours will be formally supervised in the learning environment and others will involve students carrying out private study.

For more details about modules, credits and workload, please check the programme specifications.