Having just finished a Degree with them, I do recommend the Open University. Aim for a Certificate first, then move on to a Diploma of HE and then finally a Degree.

If I were in your shoes(20! I was that young once!) I would start now and do a module at a time to complement your own self-taught effort. Whilst I wouldn't kill yourself trying to complete the Degree as fast as you can, I would get the ball rolling now, so if you do find you need a Degree, you will have less to do as you get older.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. ^_^

The problem with the Open University though is that they don't offer any games-related degrees at the moment and don't have any plans to start as far as I know, especially considering the changes in UK tuition fees over the last few years. They do have a couple of games related modules but they're just short courses and don't count towards any of their standard degree programs at the moment.

I'm an OU student at the moment but when I started I had the choice of either them or the UoL external program. The course advisor at the OU told me that whilst they don't offer any games-related BSc's, it would be possible in most cases to do an IT or Computer Science course with them and then move onto a games-related MSc afterwards with another institution.