The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is expanding its video game offering to include two new courses: an MA in Animation for Film and Games and a Certificate in Indie Game Development.
The former builds on the school's existing prestige in animation, but is “immersed in the core of training the next generation of creative technologists.”
Meanwhile, the Indie Game Development Certificate is designed for creators who want to start their own games business, and introduces areas such as game design, technical development, and marketing and distribution.
“Our MSc Game Design and Development students already collaborate extensively with other departments, including scriptwriting, visual effects, composition and sound design, to create games with a distinctive personality and character,” explained NFTS Head of Game Design and Development Andre van Rooyen.
“This interdisciplinary approach is the hallmark of NFTS. By expanding our digital offerings, we aim to create a robust ecosystem where students contribute to each other's projects. The benefits are mutual: games students gain access to customized content, while animation and other professionals see their work integrated into real-world production pipelines.
“These new course developments are in line with the upcoming expansion of Beaconsfield Studios – the home of NFTS – in 2026, which will feature state-of-the-art computer labs, collaboration spaces, virtual production facilities and accessible facilities for students with disabilities.”
Emmanouil Ayanniotakis, NFTS alumnus and lead designer at nDream's Studio Elevation, said his time at the institution was incredibly rewarding, not least due to the diversity of people attending the gaming courses.
“The student body here is so diverse, it’s amazing,” he said. “This is not only because there are many different disciplines in film, television and games, but also – especially within a games course – people have very different backgrounds. It's an interesting melting pot where you can express and come into contact with all sorts of very interesting and quirky ideas.”
He added that while it's certainly possible to learn game design from free resources such as YouTube, a “traditional” education like that offered by NFTS is invaluable.
“There are many resources and skills that cannot be obtained outside of an institution like NFTS,” Ayanniotakis said. “For example, the fact that I was with this very diverse group of students and we exchanged ideas daily, the fact that we had to work with so many different disciplines during the course. We worked with composers, producers, visual effects artists, modelers and actors. All of this is incredibly difficult to obtain outside of an institution like NFTS.”
