Our Computer Games Development BSc offers more than just technical skills, it’s a gateway to the heart of the games industry. With a strong focus on industry engagement, students benefit from a curriculum designed to mirror real-world development environments, including access to mentorship, guest lectures, and collaborative projects.

Throughout the course, students have the opportunity to build experience and expand their professional networks through frequent events such as gaming industry insights trips and major gaming conventions. Students also take part in a variety of Game Jams and hackathons giving them the chance to develop their portfolios in fast-paced, creative environments.

Recently second and third year students from the course visited Vienna to take part in the sixth annual Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) International Student Competition for Immersive Game Apps.

The iLRNFuser Game Jam gives students across the world the opportunity to work in teams to engage in a hackathon-style game-development marathon. This year’s topic, Reading the World: Immersive Learning and Multimodal Literacies, aims to highlight the power of Extended Reality (XR) and gaming to foster global literacy and promote different learning environments.  

We caught up with Levroy a second year Computer Games Development student about his experience on the trip.

As a student on the Computer Games Development course, I’ve been fortunate to access a wide range of opportunities. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned so far is to always say yes when a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes along. As Mark Zuckerberg once said, “In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”

One such opportunity came through the network I’ve built with my peers—highlighting the real value of simply starting conversations. In preparation for an exciting trip, I assembled a team to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in just five days. This project was then submitted to the 6th iLRNFuser International Student Competition for Immersive Game Apps supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals—an initiative that offers the chance for recognition, publication, and funding. That potential for global impact was what truly inspired me to take part.

Day 1

Our group consisted of Course Leader Dr. Markos Mentzelopoulos, lecturers, third-year Game Development students, and a few of us from the second year, including myself. We began the journey slowly warming up to one another. For me, it was one of the first times I’d met many of the third-year students, and it turned out to be a great opportunity to learn from their experiences and insights.

The first day was all about bonding. We spent time getting to know each other better, and one of the most valuable outcomes for me was forming closer relationships with my lecturers and gaining fresh perspectives from those further along in the course. That said, the main focus wasn’t just socialising we prepared for the week ahead, discussing what we needed to accomplish and who we’d collaborate with to bring our ideas to life.

Day 2

On our second day, I began to realise that I was part of something truly memorable, an experience I would look back on for years to come. The morning started off like any holiday: breakfast, a meetup, and a relaxed journey to our destination. We arrived at the Fachhochschule des BFI Wien, Media Quarter Marx 3, a modern complex filled with offices and study spaces perfectly suited for collaboration.

We immediately dove into work, as the project ahead was both significant and tightly timed. I took on the role of group leader, organising the team into different roles while personally focusing on Project Management and Programming. I knew every successful team needed strong leadership, and my passion for the Game Jam made leading the group and driving the creation of a great product a responsibility I was eager to embrace.

After a long day filled with planning and teamwork, it was time to unwind and appreciate the beauty of Vienna. As a student at Westminster, I’ve learned that it’s not just the place you’re in that matters, but the people you share it with. Being surrounded by colleagues and lecturers who became friends made every moment special. Sometimes, the closest bonds form with those you least expect.

Days 3-4

These were the longest days of the trip. After a few late nights, still buzzing from the excitement of being in Vienna, fatigue from long hours of work and fun began to set in. But we pushed through, learning to manage our time and effort effectively, skills that proved crucial during this intense period. Looking back now, I realise how much that week shaped the way I approach work today, with efficiency and self-management becoming key parts of my routine.

This day’s morning was different from the rest. Instead of working in the university spaces at Media Quarter Marx, we visited Enhydra Games, an indie game studio built from the ground up by a small, passionate team. It was eye-opening to see how even small competitors can carve out success. For me, as an EU citizen, it was especially valuable to learn how startups operate within the EU and how regulations vary from country to country.

Soon, our team hit a major challenge. We wanted to develop a multiplayer VR (Virtual Reality) product entirely from scratch, a task we quickly realised would demand far more development time than we had. After some discussion, we decided to build our project using an existing multiplayer platform like VRChat, which was the smartest choice given our tight deadline. We spent countless hours simultaneously learning and building, an intense experience unlike anything I had encountered consistently before. This blend of rapid learning and implementation is rarely part of traditional university coursework and I’m grateful for the opportunity to develop this skill firsthand.

If I had to choose a word to describe Day 4, it would be perspective. I realised that approaching the project from a single angle would have led us to failure. The only way to succeed was to broaden our view, adapt, and collaborate with fresh insights. Since coming on the trip, we had our longest stretch of free time, which we chose to spend simply relaxing. Sometimes, all you need is a moment to pause and enjoy the world around you , nothing fancy, just simple. That day remains vivid in my memory, a reminder of the strength we found together through this incredible experience.

Days 4-5

Our final days were the most important of the trip. We had to present our viable product and take on board the feedback to identify what needed improvement, planning what would come next after the trip. A message that resonated deeply with the whole team was that great things take time. We knew our project wasn’t perfect yet, but it was a strong foundation—an idea that would require dedication and effort to evolve into something truly outstanding.

A huge part of how smoothly everything came together was thanks to the impeccable organisation led by our Course Leader and the team at BFI. Our last two days were as perfect as we could have imagined, from spending two hours on a punch machine, to opening Pokémon cards from a vending machine, and ending the night with karaoke on a lucky chance that the venue was open. But beyond the fun, the experience was flawless:

Looking back on the week, there was nothing we would change. Talking with the third-year students afterwards, one word kept coming up: magical. It highlighted that no matter how daunting or unfamiliar an opportunity may seem, it’s always worth embracing, and there is always something valuable to learn.

I love Vienna. I adore my colleagues. I have a newfound respect for my lecturers and everything they do. None of this would have been possible without being part of this course and a student at the University of Westminster.

Truly, an experience of a lifetime.

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About Westminster 

As one of the most diverse universities in the UK, we are a global university with London energy, with more than 19,000 students from 169 countries. To find out more about our Computer Science and Engineering courses, visit our website.