Brunel University London Campus
September
Games Design
1 year full-time
2 year part-time
2024/5
UK £11,550
International £21,260
2:2
This masters is an innovative, unique and industry-facing course which provides you an opportunity to gain practical experience of the design and analysis of wargames.
We offer immersive teaching designed to engage you with a range of wargame types and formats. Which can be applied in a range of policy areas from public health and environmental disaster relief to defence. You will develop a toolkit of professional skills designed to equip you for a career in a range of sectors and industries. Through your modules, you will gain an understanding of the contexts in which wargaming can be utilised and apply this knowledge to inform your own designs.
As the first full master’s course in wargaming, this degree offers you the opportunity to gain key skills in an emergent field with a growing demand for knowledgeable graduates. Taking advantage of Brunel’s leading Games Design and Intelligence and Security Studies provision, you will develop skills sought after by employers and have opportunities to demonstrate these skills through your final project. This will include the opportunity for an ‘industry day’ where you will demonstrate and explain your games to industry and defence experts.
The programme will also offer you the opportunity to network and engage with industry and defence professionals via guest lectures, extra-curricular visits and opportunities to attend core professional wargaming events in the UK. Through this will establish important connections throughout your study and for future employment.
Have some questions? Contact the Programme Lead via email at iain.farquharson2@brunel.ac.uk.
You can explore our campus and facilities for yourself by taking our virtual tour.
The MA Wargaming and Resilience Planning is structured around a series of core modules and one optional choice, plus a final design project. The core modules deal with elements of games design and the specificities of wargames design. Running alongside these are an analysis and research module to equip you with appropriate qualitative research methods and understanding of data presentation and analysis from the games you design as well as the influence of organisational culture and learning on the assimilation of such data. Finally, a module on strategic thought will provide understanding of how strategic thought in various contexts can be applied to the development of wargames in simulating and analysing a range of challenges.
Optional modules are drawn from the College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences in order to provide insight into areas such as international development, migration and the law, postcolonial impacts on decolonised society and modern conflicts.
This course can be studied 1 year full-time or 2 year part-time, starting in September.
Please note that all modules are subject to change.
Read more about the structure of postgraduate degrees at Brunel
Graduates of this pioneering course have the potential to enter a range of industries as a result of the skills obtained. Opportunities for roles in professional wargaming range include working directly with defence and government departments such as the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and the Ministry of Defence. In addition, there are a range of private consultancy firms who undertake wargaming and simulation for a variety of government and non-governmental stakeholders.
Beyond the sphere of defence, opportunities exist to work in resilience planning for large organisations such as the NHS, British Transport Police, alongside NGOs and charities concerned with aid supplies or medical provision in the Global South.
2:2 or above in an Arts, Humanities or Social Science degree
If you require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK, you must prove knowledge of the English language so that we can issue you a Certificate of Acceptance for Study (CAS). To do this, you will need an IELTS for UKVI or Trinity SELT test pass gained from a test centre approved by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and on the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) list. This must have been taken and passed within two years from the date the CAS is made.
You can find out more about the qualifications we accept on our English Language Requirements page.
Should you wish to take a pre-sessional English course to improve your English prior to starting your degree course, you must sit the test at an approved SELT provider for the same reason. We offer our own BrunELT English test and have pre-sessional English language courses for students who do not meet requirements or who wish to improve their English. You can find out more information on English courses and test options through our Brunel Language Centre.
Please check our Admissions pages for more information on other factors we use to assess applicants. This information is for guidance only and each application is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Entry requirements are subject to review, and may change.
£11,550 full-time
£5,775 part-time
£21,260 full-time
£10,630 part-time
More information on any additional course-related costs.
Fees quoted are per year and are subject to an annual increase.
See our fees and funding page for full details of postgraduate scholarships available to Brunel applicants.
Teaching on this course is largely practice-based. In both design modules you will be briefed on a design concept or defined problem, and then undertake a series of design tasks based on addressing these problems or concepts. These modules will familiarise you with the three distinct types of wargame (education, analysis & decision support) to encourage a reflexive, informed approach to the study and design of wargames.
A mixed approach will be taken in the Wargames Analysis and Research Methods module, combining reflexive, practice-based sessions with traditionally based learning of key research methodologies applicable to the analysis of wargame data and its dissemination to stakeholders.
Other modules will adopt a range of discipline-specific teaching and learning methods. This ensures transdisciplinary learning and ensures you develop the ability to cross pollinate knowledge in the development of innovative approaches to wargames design and resilience planning. Following the Games Design utilisation of a 'Bauhaus approach' to unify craft, art and theory; the programme supports students in developing their own artistic, creative design practice whilst also ensuring they have the practical skills to realise their vision and the critical, theoretical knowledge to inform that design and understand its purpose.
Students are assessed through a mixture of practical design work and written assessments. To complete the MA, you will undertake a substantial design project accompanied by a write up.
Read our guide on how to avoid plagiarism in your assessments at Brunel.