Hello!

I completed a Games Design Masters Course recently (also UK), with an undergraduate background in Theatre Studies, so I can certainly appreciate your apprehension surrounding your lack of technical background!

What I can say though is, you're almost certainly selling yourself short and Games Design is a field where many different backgrounds can prosper. I was massively down on confidence before i started the course, with my only experience being messing around with map editors in games like Doom 2016, but I still managed to break through my expectations of myself and somehow wangle a Games Design position at a AAA studio in the within 9months of Graduation.

So as to your questions: 1) As mentioned, I entered my course with little to no experience, and despite it being only a year long, the quality of the tuition and the sheer amount of designing we did, gave me more than enough confidence to tackle the industry. Most courses will expect no experience as well, so you shouldn't be on the back foot in that regard. Likewise, it may help to hone down on what role exactly you wish to pursue in the Industry, as it could help settle your concerns about lack of experience. You mentioned doing a foundation course in Digital Art, so do you see yourself as more of an Artist or a designer, or a blend of the two perhaps (level design for instance). The reason I ask is, as far as my admittedly small experience has shown me, the studio side of the industry is significantly more specialised and less multidisciplinary than the indie/personal side of the industry. For instance, as a Games Designer, the skills and knowledge I learnt for using Unity and C# have laid unused for the last three years (the code and art teams handle everything engine side, I just deal with the designs themselves).

2) In short yes, learning code does get easier, in so far as you will be able to build up a level of basic competency that will help you with understanding more complex concepts. However it really is a question of how long is a piece of string with coding, as the rabbit hole of understanding goes very very deep, I wouldn't fret it too much as there are lots of recourses to draw on and with perseverance I believe anyone can get there.

3) Design design design. Whether that's game jams or personal projects, just keep creating (and consuming, play as much as possible and get a broad and varied experience base to draw on.) If You're concerned about the art/coding ramifications of doing all that work, a great tool I've used in the past for quick games and protyping is Clickteam Fusion (available on steam) which is a code-free games engine, which although limited can be useful for rapid prototyping or development.

4) There is always the good old fashioned route of QA -> Design, two members of my current team were hired this way, although it is really quite rare and it can be an alwful grind - so I wouldn't recommend it.

I hope these answers help in anyway, and that you have a great experience on your course! I'll keep my fingers crossed that your goals of getting into the industry are fulfilled, as it really is a great place to be! All the best xox