Study Abroad Case Study: Game Architecture and Design

For the longest time I can remember, I’ve always wanted to make games. I looked into studying at home in Ireland, but found the game development courses were very vague and not tailored to the actual games industry. I looked into studying in England and while the quality is most definitely there, the fees alone were out of the question for me.

That’s when I looked further afield to mainland Europe, and the first program to pop up was the International Game Architecture and Design course at NHTV Breda in the Netherlands. There were three major reasons I chose the games program at NHTV:

  1. Tailored to an actual industry
  2. Provides an education that trains you as a specialist within certain fields
  3. Entire program run by industry veterans.

I myself wanted to specifically study game design, but prospective students have the opportunity to follow programming, visual art, audio and production. In this way, by the time you graduate in four years you will be a specialist in your chosen field and tailored to the actual industry. Another very attractive concept is the intake procedure, as prospective students need to complete an intake assignment before they even set foot in the door. This way the lecturers can get an idea of the student’s motivations, skill level and willingness to get into the games industry.

Studying abroad was also not a big leap. The main reason being that the entire course is in English, with lecturers from all over including Ireland, England, Scotland, Australia, US and more. Dutch culture is very easy to settle into too, as 99% of the population speak English as a second language so the language barrier was very low.

I would say to anyone who has a strong desire to get into the games industry to seriously consider the games program at NHTV, because the skills and experience you gain will significantly raise your chances of getting into an already competitive industry that is globally worth €50 billion. It’s for that reason that I have absolutely no regrets leaving home to study abroad.

To find out more about studying International Game Architecture and Design at NHTV visit the NHTV Breda website.

Gerald Regan, Game Design and Production student

NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 3917, 4800 DX, Breda, The Netherlands