Games Design and Development BA (Hons)

This module is designed to introduce you to the skills and knowledge needed to develop and pitch a concept for a digital game, outlining all elements and taking account of ethical, situational, and legal contexts. Developing a games concept for a mobile, console or other digital game requires developing a blueprint for the ludology, aesthetics, and narrative of the game. Plotting out conceptually how your game will work requires an understanding of gameplay, mechanics, dynamics, elements, and assets. You will examine ludological and narratological approaches to concept development in games design and engage with new and emerging technologies as part of your concept development.

Compulsory

Game engines are where your ideas suddenly come alive, through interactivity, response and player feedback. Game engines allow you to rapidly prototype your ideas into a playable demo and test this on your audience, using their feedback to reshape and refine our game. This module is designed to introduce you to the skills and knowledge needed to develop, iterate, and refine a working game prototype, using a range of feedback to improve and enhance the player experience.

Compulsory

Gameplay is often described as the sum of what a player does and what a player experiences. The player experience is central to game design and comprises immersion, social presence, embodiment, interface and engagement among other things. This module is designed to introduce you to the skills and knowledge needed to critically engage with the design and phenomena of player experience across a range of platforms, contexts, and game genres. It examines the impact of ludological and narratological approaches on player experience and explores approaches to addressing ludo-narrative dissonance. The module addresses the implications of new and emerging technologies on player experience and engages with diversity and inclusion in the context of games design and development.

Compulsory

Game worlds are rich and diverse landscapes with physical, temporal, environmental, emotional, and ethical dimensions to support both storytelling and gameplay. This module is designed to introduce you to key tools and methodologies in the production of games art and asset development. You will develop your knowledge of a range of design software relevant to games development and explore professional creative approaches and working practices relating to your use in the context of creating and developing your game worlds.

Compulsory

Experimentation in concept development for digital games allows you to explore the creative application of your ideas and skills to better understand and assess your competencies in the broader production context. This module provides you with the opportunity to refine your practice by developing and executing a response to a self-initiated brief.

Compulsory

Professional experience through either project-led work or placement allows you to develop an understanding of your role within the games industry and to reflect on your skills and competencies. This module provides you with the opportunity to develop your professional practice in contemporary games design or development, through undertaking external briefs and/ or work placement opportunities².

Compulsory

This module² provides you with an opportunity to reflect upon and gain experience for an approved placement undertaken during your programme. A placement should usually be at least 26 weeks or equivalent; however, each placement will be considered on its own merits, having regard to the ability to achieve the learning outcomes.

Optional

This module² provides you with an opportunity to reflect upon and gain experience for an approved international study/work placement undertaken during your programme. A work/study placement should usually be at least 26 weeks or equivalent; however, each placement will be considered on its own merits, having regard to the ability to achieve the learning outcomes.

Optional

The Research Investigation module will enable you to apply your skills and knowledge to conduct detailed, useful and instructive research for a thematic game project, gathering information and using this to draw conclusions in the context of your game brief. This module aims to develop your research skills, using a variety of research methodologies to discover, analyse and utilise information from a wide range of sources. You will embark on a process of discovery, researching your theme, professional practices, toolsets, and techniques. You will use this new understanding to inform your creative plans, recorded in a detailed game design document.

Compulsory

This module will enable you to synthesise your experiences of game design and development over the course of your studies, applying skills and knowledge to plan and produce a working, professional game prototype for a PC or console platform, working independently within a set theme. The module will enable you to refine the advanced practical and technical skills required to produce a working prototype of a game, from asset creation and management to creative coding. You will demonstrate advanced skills and techniques, developed over your period of undergraduate study, and refined in a series of workshops and seminars, exploring new toolsets and ways of working.

Compulsory

The Indie Game Project is an assessment -only module bringing together learning developed in Research Investigation and Advanced Game Design and Development. The aim of this module is to enable you to bring together knowledge and understanding developed across the semester into a single piece of assessment that is aligned with the overall course learning outcomes. A game project brief will be provided which requires you to bring together aspects of your learning into an assessed project.

Compulsory

In this module you will develop your ability to negotiate the challenges of working as part of a creative and technical team within and across disciplines in the context of the creative industries. This module addresses the collaborative culture of studio production across the animation, and games art, and games design and development pipelines and responds to the need for collegiate communication in a professional working environment. Starting with a negotiated brief, you will aim to produce work that will demonstrate meaningful planning, time management and high-quality output.

Compulsory

This module aims to immerse you into the games production process. Through an intensive studio-based project you will develop a games concept and build a live games demo product. The module will explore the practical skills required in the development of games whilst developing your collaborative leadership capabilities. You will be expected to work in collaborative inter-disciplinary teams to develop the necessary agile project management and cross-communication skills expected by industry.

Compulsory