Students uncover the world of game design
In October 2025, we hosted 110 students from seven schools at an event, designed with young people for young people, to showcase the career opportunities available within the game design industry.
Organised by CSES in collaboration with Anglia Ruskin University and Culture Chelmsford (including Spark! Youth Forum), and supported by Essex County Council, Game On! was a half-day industry spotlight event held as part of the Chelmsford Science Festival.
In workshops, presented by industry professionals and academics expert in the field, students created an audio clip to accompany an action scene, thought about the development of games from the very first idea through to marketing the finished product, had a go at creating their own simple games, heard about a day in the life of a professional games developer and learned about the educational routes and skill-sets needed for success in the field.
After the event, Year 10 student Zoe said:
“I really enjoyed seeing the ways in which designing games can get broken down into different careers and roles. It's given me a better idea of what you can go into after university and made me more interested to go into it. I never really thought about it before. The talks have been so interesting.”
Kelvin, in Year 11, added:
“A great insight overall into careers. You hear about computer science but not this. It was so useful to hear about what a day in the life in the industry is like.”
Whilst Martha, Year 10, commented:
“It's a good introduction to the games industry. It was so cool to see the sound design software as we never get to see that usually.”
There are plans to repeat this event in Spring 2026 and to use this as a framework for a multi-day gaming ‘fringe’ as part of the 2026 Chelmsford Science Festival.
If you would like to contribute to these events, or have suggestions for how similar events might work for other industries please get in touch at