You will study five compulsory modules which will deepen your skills in games design, art, and animation, in addition to teaching you the fundamentals of game programming and entrepreneurship.

There are no exams on this programme. Every module is assessed via coursework only, which also gives you the unique chance to develop a portfolio.

The student may choose to do an internship with a games or related company. They would use this as the basis for a reflective report. When choosing this option, the student would be required to make their own arrangements to obtain such employment.

Typical examples of final projects include designing and building a level of a complete ’first playable’ prototype game (or ’the vertical slice’) for PC, or consoles or mobile platforms, of a quality to be suitable to be shown to a publisher. Alternatively, the student may choose to create a tool or process suitable for games related workflow.

Prepares students to join the industry by helping them polish their portfolio. Work is done either in small teams, on a selected individual research project, or as part of an internship/placement.

This module builds on the previous introduction to Modelling and Animation and engages the student in a range of harder and more expert problems. Students will be expected to build a rich 3D fantasy world of their own design, with objects such as fantasy buildings and architecture and assets suitable for importing into a 3D games engine world. Working from their concept art in a selected game genre, students will learn how to model characters within poly budgets, UV texture then rig them to create animated walk and run cycles with blended set key moves, using Inverse Kinematics, Physics, cloth, fluids and AI packages where necessary.

You will study how to deconstruct designs from a designer vs a player perspective allowing you to build your own design patterns, reward cycles and hence optimise player enjoyment. We will cover how to rapidly prototype your designs using a game engine. Mobile considerations, multiplayer and the use of analytics is covered allowing the student to make informed design choices.

This module is taught by industry veteran Richard Leinfellner, who has more than 40 published game credits ranging from Programmer to Executive Producer.

A single term module focused on games design and how to use player behaviour to maximise acquisition/retention.

“Advanced Programming for Games” is the second part of this module, which can be optionally chosen if you are interested in deepening your game programming knowledge.

At the end of the module, you will be able to create your very own game and publish it on different platforms.

This module covers the basics of multi-platform game development, using one of the most popular game engines in the world: Unity. The module also teaches the fundamentals of C#, which is used to implement everything from your game logic to character controllers.

The module focuses on the skills needed to build a viable/investment-ready business plan and pitching it to investors/employers in a industry style Dragons Den. Topics include using LEAN rapid development methodologies & tools, assessing & mitigating real risks, copyright, business structure, writing compelling CVs as well as supporting students in obtaining work placements.

This module is led by Richard Leinfellner; an industry veteran with 30 years of experience making commercially successful games. Richard has held executive roles as Executive Producer & Vice President at Electronic Arts as well as CEO of Babel Media, he started his career as an assembly language programmer & co-founder of Palace Software in 1984.

At the end of the module, the students will be able to use Industry standard export pipelines, to integrate the assets they have created into simple prototype projects in a game engine (such as Unity or Unreal).

This module covers the basics of 3d modelling, texturing, rigging and animation. Students will learn how to use modelling software to create a range of 3D rigid body assets varying from buildings to vehicles to household objects to vegetation to roads and terrain, etc. Lighting and texturing will be taught as well as simple rigging and animation workflows.

You will also take 45 credits of modules from a list made available by the department, allowing you to focus your study on subjects you are interested in. The following is an indicative list of option modules available on this programme.

Option modules
Module title
Credits

Approaches to Play 1

Approaches to Play 1

From basic design tools to conceptualising, prototyping and play testing an array of games, this module will teach you how to create compelling game mechanics within playable experiences.

You’ll explore how emotion, sensory experience, interaction design, framing and purpose unfold through game design, and grapple with the tools which make play compelling. Additionally, this module looks a the different kind of possible models for play such as cooperation, skill, experience, chance, whimsy, performance, expression and simulation.

In addition to learning game design, students will learn how to talk about and understand games. From designers working with a formalised ludic approach to artists exploring liminoid spaces within play, the range of approaches will be explored.

You will leave this class with a clear understanding of the state of games and play as well as with a lexicon on how to discuss work within this space.

15 credits

Approaches to Play 2

Approaches to Play 2

What are the keys to creating successful playable spaces? What kinds of digital play experiences work in physical environments? Leveraging your ability to experiment, this course will give you the opportunity to rapidly prototype and explore the environmental aspects of play. 

Along the way you’ll be brainstorming, pitching and storyboarding experience design and physical games, analysing critical interventions using technology and play in public space and leveraging technology in multiple contexts such as theatre and museum installations.

You’ll also be looking at movement in physical play, using technology to enhance experiences, multi and cross sensory based experience design, current uses of emerging technologies in physical games and museum settings and the ways in which user testing and iteration cam improve play experiences. 

15 credits

History of Computer Games, Art and Animation

History of Computer Games, Art and Animation

The BBC 1960’s TV programme “It’s a Knockout” inspired the UK games developer Mediatonic to create Fall Guys. In the 1990’s, dolls houses provided the inspiration for Will Wright’s game The Sims. Kafka’s novel, ‘The Castle,’ was a major influence on the Japanese games designer, Suda 51. Thus, culture and history have had a major impact on games design innovation and provide invaluable source material and inspirational starting points for games designers and artists.

On this course, taking a games industry perspective, students will learn about the history of computer games development, art and animation, starting in Renaissance times with three-point perspective through to computer graphics in the 1960s and 70s and the emergence and growth of interactive entertainment from the games of the 80s and 90s to the VR industry today.

With a view to enhancing students’ “games design potential”, they will learn about Surrealism, Cubism, Pop Art, Dada, the History of Perspective, Computer Art, Rave Culture, Cyber Culture and Punk Rock. Creative research is then carried out by the student on these cultural themes to source ideas, images and designs that can be translated into innovative new games designs for mobile, console, VR and PC. This process uses standard games industry games design document templates.

The students then use the research methods and templates acquired to create their own original games designs based on cultural themes. Giving students a “cultural-based” games design strategy that they can use in their own games development practice to develop new and original gameplay mechanics and designs to set them apart from the competition.

A historical section of the course is games-industry-focussed, examining some of the world’s most famous games designers and also development trends and commercial drivers on an international scale and how research and creativity can be translated into commercial and indie games.

You will learn:

• Historical and cultural research methods to explore, find and select material suitable for conversion to computer games.
• Learn how to take the research outcomes and translate them into your original games designs.
• How to use and complete games industry games design templates to a professional standard.
• Create eight mini-games concept documents of your own design spanning all the cultural themes covered. This will include diagrams, sketches and drawings.
• Create a major games design document and video animatic within a fixed budget and development constraints. This will include diagrams, sketches and drawings.
• How to be an innovative games designer and researcher.

15 credits

Interactive Narrative and Digital Storytelling

Interactive Narrative and Digital Storytelling

This module gives students an introduction to the art and craft of producing interactive fiction and delivering it on the Web. A historical overview of the field, from early examples of interactive narrative in theatre through books and film to computer-based interactive narrative, provides context for you to explore making your own works of interactive fiction, using engines for developing each of choice-based and parser-based narratives.

You will be expected to play through historical and contemporary works, critically assess them for effectiveness, and contribute to the playtesting and assessment of peers’ work.

15 credits

Advanced Programming for Games

Advanced Programming for Games

This one term long module (following the introduction module) is targeted directly at those who wish to work in the games industry. Technical and art positions at major or independent studios are difficult to secure, with many requiring tough tests and interviews. The approach is highly practical focusing on the key skills valued by employers in senior staff.

As well as focusing on the required programming the module also teaches the organisational skills required to work at a high level. Artists talking this module will benefit from knowing how the asset pipeline works.

15 credits

Programming for Game Engines

Programming for Game Engines

This module introduces students to professional-grade game engines (such as Unreal) that can be used across a wide array of disciplines including games, computational arts, film, design and science to build virtual worlds. Students will learn how to combine various components of a complex 3D rendering engine, such as geometry, lighting, particle systems, 3D audio and user input, to realize their ideas. Coursework is project-based and students are encouraged to work in mixed artist/engineer teams.

15 credits

Augmented and Mixed Realities

Augmented and Mixed Realities

Students will learn advanced techniques for immersively combined real world with virtual contents including augmented reality, photogrammetry, motion capture, and computer vision. In the lab, they will be able to apply these techniques to create a mixed reality application that combines real and virtual content appropriately, and leverage the body in this experience.

15 credits

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality

The course will introduce students to Virtual Reality and cover a selection of the topics below:

• VR history and its place in broader media art history
• Introduction to VR hardware
• Examples of VR applications across creative disciplines
• Human Perception and the Psychology behind VR
• VR graphics
• 3D interaction (navigation, object interaction)
• Narrative in VR and critical approaches to VR
• Embodiment
• Technical topics: character rigging in 3D, 3D audio etc
• Design of VR experience as part of a creative practice

Students will gain practical experiences in the above areas creating VR applications. The technical focus of the module will be on coding for VR using game engines (C# in Unity), with opportunities for exploration of web-based VR (e.g. AFrame).

15 credits

Data and Machine Learning for Artistic Practice

Data and Machine Learning for Artistic Practice

This module will expose students to state-of-the-art techniques, tools, and open questions related to creative uses of data, signal processing, and machine learning. The emphasis will be on developing hands-on skills using these techniques in creative projects, and on exploring the creative potential of these techniques.

Specifically, students will learn about topics including:

• Representations and feature engineering for sensor data, audio data, image and video data, social media data, etc.
• Signal processing techniques for working effectively with this data (e.g., perceptual audio and video features, smoothing filters,
  onset detection)
• Communication protocols for working with real-time data (e.g., OpenSoundControl, Web Sockets, serial)
• Applications of classification to creative and interactive contexts: e.g., human pose recognition, activity recognition, semantic
  audio analysis
• Applications of regression to creative and interactive contexts: e.g., creating continuous gestural controllers and multimodal
  mappings (such as music visualisations, gesturally-controlled instruments)
• Applications of temporal modeling to creative and interactive contexts: e.g., gesture recognition, temporal analysis of music or
  video
• Current topics in signal processing and machine learning in music, art, and other creative industries (e.g., Google’s “Deep
  Dream,” chat bots, image style transfer)
• Tools for working with data, signal processing, and machine learning in creative projects, including tools for real-time data
  analysis
• Reasoning about fundamental questions in machine learning and data mining, including e.g., how can an algorithm learn from
  data? What feature representations should we use for a given problem? How do we know whether one algorithm is better than
  another?

15 credits