BSc (Hons) — 2025 entry Games Design

Behind every great advertisement, computer game, film, television programme, web episode, is a great story. As humans, we love stories – listening, reading, telling – we absorb them every day to learn about ourselves and to understand the world around us. What makes visual media so compelling is its ability to communicate this efficiently and effectively - sometimes one camera shot is all you need. During this module, you will explore storytelling and how to create enjoyable stories. You will discuss how this can be visually expressed using filmmaking grammar and basic film/television terminology. You shall develop visual communications tools and learn how they can be used to help create a great story. This module will give you a strong foundation in visual narratives and will underpin many creative projects you undertake during your degree and in professional media work. Work in these pre-production areas time, money and resources when preparing for the final production so this module develops skills that benefit the climate and the budget.  

Fundamental to all aspects of visual games design and digital media arts more widely is the conception and creation of the visual image. In this module you will develop your observational skills and fine tune the innate craft skill we arguably all possess to depict and portray using an array of image-making tools, with drawing and other mark-making at its core. It is a fantastic opportunity to get to grips with the theory and practice of drawing and image production. The module is designed for those both familiar with and new to practical image-making, the module will include a series of classic studio sessions through which you will be able to explore life drawing, still life, location drawing and imagination-based image-making. It will also introduce and develop digital photography as an artistic technique - both as facilitation and reference for your image-making and as an artistic end in itself. Through these exercises you will cultivate the observational abilities that underpin the specialist techniques of 3D modelling, character design, motion graphics, film-making and animating you will encounter later in your degree. Likewise, the module will also provide you with the chance to develop a portfolio of your own images, which will hopefully demonstrate your progress and improve your own confidence in seeing, depicting and portraying. Concept Art is a key module that sets the stage for digital applications of visual arts in video games and games design. As such, it connects to other visual arts and games design modules in your first year as well as to those that follow in later years of study including the Final Major Project at the culmination of the degree.

This module brings students up to speed across a range of 2D digital media. Students are introduced to photography with high-end dSLR cameras, being taught the key aspects of image composition, as well as getting the most out of the shutter speed, aperture and ISO controls. Although most students will have some familiarity with image editing, they are taken back to first principles, gaining an understanding of layers, selection techniques and so on, before being introduced to more advanced techniques such as masking, paths and adjustment layers. Having gained expertise with a bitmap image editor, students are introduced to vector illustration with an industry standard application. Although tricky at first, once the controls are mastered this type of program allows students to easily create and edit crisp artwork, patterns, typography and more that can be applied not just to games and games design but to multiple other applications across the broader creative industries and beyond. Students are also introduced to animating a scene using a timeline and encouraged to think about how 2D art can be imagined forward integrating into 3D engines to generate gameplay experience. Digital Graphics (2D Media) connects to other visual arts and games design modules in your first year as well as to those that follow in later years of study including the Final Major Project at the culmination of the degree. It also contributes to the acquisition of technical and specialist software skills across the first year of the degree, including such specialist skills in 2D applications as Photoshop and Illustrator. As such, this module helps develop essential digital arts skills that students will take forward to more advanced 3D modelling and animation applications in later modules.

Game Design Fundamentals presents an introduction to games design for students in their first year. Video games combine multiple modes and disciplines in their creation and realisation (play). There are moving visuality and cinematics aspects to think about, sound and music components, narrative, character and text concerns, the interaction of the player and the interface(s) that they will use to play the game, the structure of the game play, static art and presentation, pitching and marketing of the game and more. As such, game design is a dynamic field of artistic and work practices, processes and ideas that intersect and interact with each other, generally in an iterative fashion where developments in one aspect of a game's design alters other aspects and how all of these behave together. Across your degree, we will look to bring these threads together and explore the ways in which they can be most effectively and innovatively work to produce engaging and successful games. This module will therefore provide a grounding in games design theory and practice, looking at aspects such as game design documents, game mechanics, designing for levels, character design, interaction and gameplay and technology, as well as iterative prototyping techniques, internal economies, game design work practices, static and dynamic elements, scoring systems, narrative progression, and more. Game Design Fundamentals, along with other games design and games studies modules in the first year, will connect forward to broader and more specialised modules in these areas in the second and final year of the programme. It also contributes to the acquisition of technical and specialist software skills across the first year of the degree, including an introduction to game engines such as Unreal and Blender.

Having gained confidence in image composition and 2D art software, students are introduced to 3D graphics and modelling. Digital Environments: (3D Media) is an intensive introduction to industry-standard 3D modelling. Students begin with a solid foundation in low-polygon modelling, learning how to create models with good surface topology, before smoothing them in a controlled fashion with subdivision surfaces. Students are also introduced to NURBS, an alternative approach to creating smooth models, that has its own strengths and toolset. From there, students learn how to unwrap their models' UVs, apply texture maps, set up lights and cameras, and render their scenes, moving to the integration of 3D elements into footage, as well as the modelling, texturing and lighting aspects of designing 3D components and environments. Students will produce a textured 3D model as part of the weekly assignments. Digital Environments (3D Media), therefore, also introduces students to the essential principles of working in a 3D environment, establishing a grounding in creating and using 3D assets and environments to produce engaging interactive experiences that will feed forward into advanced applications in animation and environmental design in video games. Digital Environments (3D Media) connects to other visual arts and games design modules in your first year as well as to those that follow in later years of study including the Final Major Project at the culmination of the degree. It also contributes to the acquisition of technical and specialist software skills across the first year of the degree, including such specialist skills in motion graphics and 3D applications such as Unreal and Blender/Maya.

This 1st year module is concerned with animation and characters. Students are introduced to 2D character animation, using a 'bone' system to rig a character. The data produced is then refined, edited and applied to 3D characters that students design. Students will also learn the principles and applications of motion capture, animated visuals typically used in idents, TV / film titles, user interfaces and more. We look at a wide variety of examples and explore animation principles such as secondary motion and squash and stretch. Working in an industry-standard motion graphics application, students learn basics such as colour adjustment and masking, before moving on to advanced techniques such as rotoscoping, motion tracking and With the addition of a digital 'set', built from basic planes and a library of object models, students produce a short, animated story. The Digital Actor: Character Design & Animation will explore character animation fundamentals, character visualisation and previsualisation using up to date technological means and give students the opportunity to design, create technical specifications for and develop a 3D character within in a video game environment. The module connects to other visual arts and games design modules in your first year as well as to those that follow in later years of study including the Final Major Project at the culmination of the degree. It also contributes to the acquisition of technical and specialist software skills across the first year of the degree, including such specialist skills in 2D and 3D animation applications as Reallusion and other character animation software.

In the hands of the digital artist, computers and software are fundamental creative production tools. This module develops the core concepts of writing code, where you'll gain applied competence in computer structure, programming, and scripting systems, as well as the ability to use programming software to create audio-visual and artistic game applications. Students will gain an understanding in the fundamentals of programming, contextualised in the development of simple games as well as the use of scripting systems to control existing programmes and applications. Using the latest creative coding frameworks and techniques commonly used in the production of video games, students with or without any prior programming knowledge will develop skills and techniques enabling the rapid development of interesting creative programming, outputs from which may include simple games, interactive pieces, animations and screen artworks. Students will also explore the ways the basic programming concepts and applications can create complex game mechanics. The world of coding is constantly changing and the programming languages and specialist software you will use will also change as the programme reacts to new developments. Current indicative examples would include C#, Javascript, Python, Unreal, C++, Visual Scripting, p5.js, Processing, openframeworks and Touch Designer where students will be introduced to the coding and programming aspects of working with these tools as well as developing familiarity in their use and application to video games design. Need to Know Code! - Introduction to Game Programming, along with other games design modules in the first year, will connect forward to further games design and coding modules as well as a broader group of modules that utilise coding in them in the second and final year of the programme.

This module is central to your development in audio related engineering. It covers the fundamental concepts that underpin all professional audio systems, and introduces essential concepts that you will use across a wide range of the other modules, as well as throughout any career related to professional audio or video. It also will provide you with the theoretical understanding to support your practical sound recording activities, both within the programme and for a successful career in any area of the audio or video related industry. You will learn the basic principles of measurement of audio signals, and the principles behind the capture, manipulation, and transmission of audio in analogue and digital formats, as used in all professional audio practice. The module balances understanding of the underlying theory with application in professional contexts, and the coursework is intended to allow you to put the theory into practice. The module will also develop the academic skills necessary for the rest of the programme, introducing you to independent academic research methods, writing essays on technical topics, and appropriate citation of academic sources.

further build confidence and expertise in designing and presenting their creative work

This module develops the coding and programming knowledge and skills students developed in the first year and looks in more depth at gameplay programming and coding behaviours. On the module you will explore the possibilities, limitations and application of putting in place gameplay mechanisms and aesthetics for video game prototypes. You will study in more detail scripting techniques and the design of complex systems for video games and experiment with game engines to create engaging gameplay effects as well as using flowcharts and finite state machines and implementing these in the engine used. The development of workable and demonstrable gameplay mechanics will be a key output of this module. In addition, students will be introduced to game AI applications. The Play's the Thing: Gameplay Programming and Coding Behaviours takes students on the next stage of their programming learning journey into coding more complex applications for player interaction and system behaviour. As such, it connects forward to other games design and coding modules on the degree as well as a broader group of modules that utilise coding in them in the second and final year of the programme.

Writing for the screen, including the digital screens of video games, is a complex process that requires writers and producers to bring together different considerations of space, place, character, dialogue, motion and temporality as well as the performance of these. In this module you will build on the knowledge and skills you gained in your first-year modules in visual storytelling, screenwriting, games design, visual arts and animation and games studies to work more extensively with script and performance. You will also study narrative design in more detail, exploring the development of the interactive narrative design and working with the interfaces of storytelling, narrative structure, play, performance, mechanics and games design. Story Performance and Play also provides you with an introduction to working with professional actors. Exploring aspects of writing and producing for games and working with actors. Working with practitioners you will be introduced to the basic process of actors in terms of their movement, approach and vocal practice, enabling you feel confident working with them and enabling them to achieve peak performance. We will also consider some of the challenges of working with non-professional actors as performers within games contexts and how to adapt established acting and voice techniques to unlock collaboration and creativity. Students will produce an essay exploring the practice of working with actors and/or voice in games, a script or visual narrative for use in a game or games and work collaboratively to produce a joint project capturing performance for games. Story Performance and Play connects to other creative writing, games design and games studies modules in all years across the programme and acts as an important step in students' learning journeys in establishing the bringing together of scripting and performance ideas and methodologies with the technical programming, design, visual and sound art aspects that bring video games to life.

Video games as a form, or collection of forms, and entertainment genre have been around for a relatively short time, but the massive growth this sector has experienced since the earliest games of this sort emerged has cemented its importance in our contemporary experience in economic and in cultural terms. Alongside this, and the growth in other, often related, games forms, such as wargames, board games, game books, tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), collectable card games (CCGs) and more, we have also seen the rise of the study of games as a serious critical disciple: Games Studies. This constitutes a supra-discipline comprised of many disparate other disciplines (such as literature, sociology, psychology, economics, communications, politics, events management, computing and many more). As such, Games Studies helps us think about, analyse and contextualise video games and video games design and play in the light or our world and our experience, past, present and future. This module will help students define video games in the context of their history and relationships to other ludic, literary, arts and entertainment forms and introduce you to a range of key concepts, theories, modes and approaches that are central to the study of games and to the design of games and their theorisation of such. We will also consider how the study of video games impacts, develops and interacts with the design, development and production of games and of gaming cultures. On this module, students will develop a working understanding of the technological, artistic and cultural changes that have, and continue to, alter, develop and interact with video games. Using prominent and important video game examples alongside key critical texts, students will also explore games genres and gaming platforms alongside these developments. Games Studies, in its study and contextualisation of video games, will connect to the other modules locating and developing your understanding of games design ideas and principles as well as students' own work in the field in your second year and to other games studies and games design modules across your degree.

The games focused contemporary digital media that students study as part of the first and second years on the degree offers a diverse and applied array of forms, formats, approaches, technology, production techniques and delivery methods to ideate, plan and develop games design projects that engage participants and players in a variety of creative and commercial contexts. The Collaborative Project module is a milestone on the degree programme, offering the opportunity to apply the technical skills and creative practices you have developed on the course so far to design, develop and produce a more independently formulated piece of work in a freely chosen format/medium as part of a team. Students will produce a collaborative project with other students on the module in an area of the students’ choice, allowing then to develop in detail individual specialisations within the broader field of games design that they can take forward into the future careers. The brief for this group project is flexible and relatively open, a selection of simple starting points to elicit a creative and collaborative response which is defined not only by its content but also by the digital format and technology you will chose for its implementation and deployment. This combination of creative idea development plus applied practice of appropriate forms of expression and realisation and teamwork will form a solid basis for future artistic and professional practice in designing for video games, the creative industries and beyond. Each student group will be assigned a supervisor who will assist them in choosing their subject matter and creative and critical approaches, and who will provide advice, encouragement and formative feedback over the course of the research, design, implementation, testing, demonstration and writing-up process, as well as suggesting relevant reading material which may help inspire or critically locate the project. An agreed length/scope/word count equivalent should be negotiated with the student’s supervisor dependent on the form of creative project proposed.   The end of semester group submission will be accompanied by an individual critical reflective report produced by each student, which allows you to reflect individually on the project’s relationship to previous work in the field, form or genre, on the collaborative and design processes and thinking behind the creative choices made, and to locate and reflect on their individual contributions to the realised project.   As well as the final submission itself you will undertake at least one formative work-in-progress presentation during the module semester 1, and work on developing self-reflective skills through completing a progress log with you supervisor.   The module draws together and integrates the various areas, specialisms and skills students encounter and explore as part of the programme, including further opportunity to explore and develop new and extended coding and programming skills and expertise appropriate to the project. As such, the module connects to other modules on the undertaken by the students across their degree, allowing them to bring together and build from strands from earlier games related modules that they have particularly liked and excelled at, or act as a complement to other modules that the student has enjoyed but where they wish to use this project module as an opportunity to explore and develop their experience in a particular aspect of games design. Therefore, this module can connect with any of the modules students have studied across their degree, and allows them to tailor their pathway through the degree, and the degree itself, in their own way.

Gaming has existed as a mode of play and expression since the earliest times of human existence. In the latter part of the 20th and into the first two decades of the 21st Century (the period we will focus on with this module), there has been a vast expansion of the forms, modes and technologies employed in gaming and game play. Out of wargaming and board gaming practices (and often the interfaces of these) in the post-World War II era, increasingly complex and sophisticated character and narrative focussed Role-Playing Games (RPGs) developed as well as other narrative forms that connect gaming with interactive textuality, such as gamebooks, Collectable Card Games, online interactive fiction, video games and multi-player online gaming platforms. There has been, in the early 21st century, additionally, a large increase in the number of board games being produced and played, while wargaming also remains an active and vibrant aspect of gaming culture. An aspect of gaming that has sometimes fallen short, in ‘quality’ terms, though, is the writing that underpins both the rules systems and the ‘story’ component of games (background, character, description. narrative, dialogue, terminology, etc.) This is perhaps unsurprising as games have been primarily written by gamers rather than professional writers; many of these, of course, go on to develop their writing skills and become accomplished writers in their own right. More and more, though, creative writers are specifically incorporated into the game design and realisation processes (for both analogue and virtual gaming environments) to improve the quality of the gaming experience. In this module students will receive an overview of the gaming field and examine aspects of this that specifically pertain to writing for games. What approaches work well for games and gaming modes? How are these different from writing for and in other forms and media? What writing skills are particularly useful? Do we have the freedom to write outside of limiting industry constraints and models? What are the new forms of writing practice that are emerging in relation to games and gaming? We will also be interested in analysing games and gaming critically as cultural objects, and situating them within the broader context of contemporary cultural and literary theory. This is not a module that will teach students how to code and/or produce and design video games (or, indeed commercial analogue games). We will touch on aspects of game design, game production, gaming studies, critical digital studies, etc., but the focus for this module will be on writing creatively for games: writing gaming. Expert guest speakers from the gaming and independent gaming industries will be included in the teaching provision for this module. If students have specific coding, visual art or musical/sound art skills that they would like to bring to their exercises and assignments, they can certainly draw on these skills, but if they don’t, that is completely fine – none of these are required for this module. In each seminar we will first spend some time discussing the set texts and the techniques and standpoints employed by writers and other artists, before moving on to the workshop part of the session where students will produce work in accordance with the task set for that week, within and outside of the classroom. We will read and discuss a selection of pieces at the end of each class. This process will help students grow in confidence, both in presentational terms and in terms of delivering and receiving feedback on their work, in a safe and supportive setting. In addition, each week there will be a scheduled 2-hour gaming session where students will gather to explore individual and collaborative gaming in practice. Different approaches to gaming will be proposed each week, or students can opt to work during this time on longer gaming experiences and projects. At the end of the semester students will produce a creative portfolio of gaming writing, alongside a critical commentary reflecting on the creative work produced and using theories, concepts and practices studied on the module, OR an academic critical essay examining some aspect of writing for games OR a Game Demo alongside a critical commentary reflecting on the demo produced and using theories, concepts and practices studied on the module. Possible submissions for the creative portfolio include online interactive fiction (e.g. Twine, Squiffy), a gamebook text, a tabletop game text (board game, card game, wargame, Role-Playing Game), a game demo, a game setting, a game system, Game Design Documentation (GDD) for a proposed game, a 'creative essay', gaming portfolio as creative essay, a zine, a website for a game, etc. This module connects to other contemporary literature modules on the programme in the 2nd and final years where the emphasis is on 20th and 21st Century approaches to creating and examining literatures and our cultural responses to them. As such, it is part of the contemporary literature route that students can choose as a focus of their degree. As a hybrid creative writing and English literature module, it also makes up part of the creative writing pathway in the degree, connecting to creative writing modules in the 1st, 2nd and final years.  

The Final Major Project module is intended to provide students with an opportunity to produce a portfolio of highly polished games design materials accompanied by self-reflective critical commentary in an area of the student’s choice, allowing then to develop in detail individual specialisations within the broader field of games design that they can take forward into the future careers. This Final Major Project represents the culmination of the student’s creative work across the degree and will act, with other creative outcomes as portfolio work students can present to industry and for further study. This portfolio may consist of a major piece of design work (either a single extended piece of work or a collection of smaller pieces). An agreed length/scope/word count equivalent should be negotiated with the student’s supervisor dependent on the form of creative portfolio materials proposed. Each student will be assigned a supervisor who will assist them in choosing their subject matter and creative and critical approaches, and who will provide advice, encouragement and formative feedback over the course of the research, design, implementation, testing, demonstration and writing-up process. as well as suggesting relevant reading material which may help inspire or critically locate the project. This module also allows students to reflect at length on the project’s rigorous relationship to previous work in the field, form or genre, on the writing processes and thinking behind the creative choices made, and to locate the work productively in literary and theoretical contexts. As well as the dissertation itself students will undertake a formative presentation in semester 1, and work on developing self-reflective skills through completing a progress log with their supervisors. The module spans both semester 1 and 2 and allows for students to undertake broad ranging, large scope projects, encouraging ambition, risk-taking, detailed planning and professional execution. As such, this module is designed to help contextualise student creative design practice in the professional fields of the games industries and related sectors as well as for post-graduate study. The module draws together and integrates the various areas, specialisms and skills students encounter and explore as part of the programme, and presents further opportunity to explore and develop new and extended coding and programming skills and expertise appropriate to the project. This module connects to other modules on the programme undertaken by the students, allowing them to bring together and build from strands from earlier games related modules that they have particularly liked and excelled at, or act as a complement to other modules that the student has enjoyed but where they wish to use this dissertation module as an opportunity to explore and develop a different area that they wish to develop. As such, this module can connect with any of the modules students have studied across their degree, and allows them to tailor their pathway through the degree, and the degree itself, in their own way.

Behind every great advertisement, computer game, film, television programme, web episode, is a great story. As humans, we love stories – listening, reading, telling – we absorb them every day to learn about ourselves and to understand the world around us. What makes visual media so compelling is its ability to communicate this efficiently and effectively - sometimes one camera shot is all you need. During this module, you will explore storytelling and how to create enjoyable stories. You will discuss how this can be visually expressed using filmmaking grammar and basic film/television terminology. You shall develop visual communications tools and learn how they can be used to help create a great story. This module will give you a strong foundation in visual narratives and will underpin many creative projects you undertake during your degree and in professional media work. Work in these pre-production areas time, money and resources when preparing for the final production so this module develops skills that benefit the climate and the budget.  

Fundamental to all aspects of visual games design and digital media arts more widely is the conception and creation of the visual image. In this module you will develop your observational skills and fine tune the innate craft skill we arguably all possess to depict and portray using an array of image-making tools, with drawing and other mark-making at its core. It is a fantastic opportunity to get to grips with the theory and practice of drawing and image production. The module is designed for those both familiar with and new to practical image-making, the module will include a series of classic studio sessions through which you will be able to explore life drawing, still life, location drawing and imagination-based image-making. It will also introduce and develop digital photography as an artistic technique - both as facilitation and reference for your image-making and as an artistic end in itself. Through these exercises you will cultivate the observational abilities that underpin the specialist techniques of 3D modelling, character design, motion graphics, film-making and animating you will encounter later in your degree. Likewise, the module will also provide you with the chance to develop a portfolio of your own images, which will hopefully demonstrate your progress and improve your own confidence in seeing, depicting and portraying. Concept Art is a key module that sets the stage for digital applications of visual arts in video games and games design. As such, it connects to other visual arts and games design modules in your first year as well as to those that follow in later years of study including the Final Major Project at the culmination of the degree.

This module brings students up to speed across a range of 2D digital media. Students are introduced to photography with high-end dSLR cameras, being taught the key aspects of image composition, as well as getting the most out of the shutter speed, aperture and ISO controls. Although most students will have some familiarity with image editing, they are taken back to first principles, gaining an understanding of layers, selection techniques and so on, before being introduced to more advanced techniques such as masking, paths and adjustment layers. Having gained expertise with a bitmap image editor, students are introduced to vector illustration with an industry standard application. Although tricky at first, once the controls are mastered this type of program allows students to easily create and edit crisp artwork, patterns, typography and more that can be applied not just to games and games design but to multiple other applications across the broader creative industries and beyond. Students are also introduced to animating a scene using a timeline and encouraged to think about how 2D art can be imagined forward integrating into 3D engines to generate gameplay experience. Digital Graphics (2D Media) connects to other visual arts and games design modules in your first year as well as to those that follow in later years of study including the Final Major Project at the culmination of the degree. It also contributes to the acquisition of technical and specialist software skills across the first year of the degree, including such specialist skills in 2D applications as Photoshop and Illustrator. As such, this module helps develop essential digital arts skills that students will take forward to more advanced 3D modelling and animation applications in later modules.

Game Design Fundamentals presents an introduction to games design for students in their first year. Video games combine multiple modes and disciplines in their creation and realisation (play). There are moving visuality and cinematics aspects to think about, sound and music components, narrative, character and text concerns, the interaction of the player and the interface(s) that they will use to play the game, the structure of the game play, static art and presentation, pitching and marketing of the game and more. As such, game design is a dynamic field of artistic and work practices, processes and ideas that intersect and interact with each other, generally in an iterative fashion where developments in one aspect of a game's design alters other aspects and how all of these behave together. Across your degree, we will look to bring these threads together and explore the ways in which they can be most effectively and innovatively work to produce engaging and successful games. This module will therefore provide a grounding in games design theory and practice, looking at aspects such as game design documents, game mechanics, designing for levels, character design, interaction and gameplay and technology, as well as iterative prototyping techniques, internal economies, game design work practices, static and dynamic elements, scoring systems, narrative progression, and more. Game Design Fundamentals, along with other games design and games studies modules in the first year, will connect forward to broader and more specialised modules in these areas in the second and final year of the programme. It also contributes to the acquisition of technical and specialist software skills across the first year of the degree, including an introduction to game engines such as Unreal and Blender.

Having gained confidence in image composition and 2D art software, students are introduced to 3D graphics and modelling. Digital Environments: (3D Media) is an intensive introduction to industry-standard 3D modelling. Students begin with a solid foundation in low-polygon modelling, learning how to create models with good surface topology, before smoothing them in a controlled fashion with subdivision surfaces. Students are also introduced to NURBS, an alternative approach to creating smooth models, that has its own strengths and toolset. From there, students learn how to unwrap their models' UVs, apply texture maps, set up lights and cameras, and render their scenes, moving to the integration of 3D elements into footage, as well as the modelling, texturing and lighting aspects of designing 3D components and environments. Students will produce a textured 3D model as part of the weekly assignments. Digital Environments (3D Media), therefore, also introduces students to the essential principles of working in a 3D environment, establishing a grounding in creating and using 3D assets and environments to produce engaging interactive experiences that will feed forward into advanced applications in animation and environmental design in video games. Digital Environments (3D Media) connects to other visual arts and games design modules in your first year as well as to those that follow in later years of study including the Final Major Project at the culmination of the degree. It also contributes to the acquisition of technical and specialist software skills across the first year of the degree, including such specialist skills in motion graphics and 3D applications such as Unreal and Blender/Maya.

This 1st year module is concerned with animation and characters. Students are introduced to 2D character animation, using a 'bone' system to rig a character. The data produced is then refined, edited and applied to 3D characters that students design. Students will also learn the principles and applications of motion capture, animated visuals typically used in idents, TV / film titles, user interfaces and more. We look at a wide variety of examples and explore animation principles such as secondary motion and squash and stretch. Working in an industry-standard motion graphics application, students learn basics such as colour adjustment and masking, before moving on to advanced techniques such as rotoscoping, motion tracking and With the addition of a digital 'set', built from basic planes and a library of object models, students produce a short, animated story. The Digital Actor: Character Design & Animation will explore character animation fundamentals, character visualisation and previsualisation using up to date technological means and give students the opportunity to design, create technical specifications for and develop a 3D character within in a video game environment. The module connects to other visual arts and games design modules in your first year as well as to those that follow in later years of study including the Final Major Project at the culmination of the degree. It also contributes to the acquisition of technical and specialist software skills across the first year of the degree, including such specialist skills in 2D and 3D animation applications as Reallusion and other character animation software.

In the hands of the digital artist, computers and software are fundamental creative production tools. This module develops the core concepts of writing code, where you'll gain applied competence in computer structure, programming, and scripting systems, as well as the ability to use programming software to create audio-visual and artistic game applications. Students will gain an understanding in the fundamentals of programming, contextualised in the development of simple games as well as the use of scripting systems to control existing programmes and applications. Using the latest creative coding frameworks and techniques commonly used in the production of video games, students with or without any prior programming knowledge will develop skills and techniques enabling the rapid development of interesting creative programming, outputs from which may include simple games, interactive pieces, animations and screen artworks. Students will also explore the ways the basic programming concepts and applications can create complex game mechanics. The world of coding is constantly changing and the programming languages and specialist software you will use will also change as the programme reacts to new developments. Current indicative examples would include C#, Javascript, Python, Unreal, C++, Visual Scripting, p5.js, Processing, openframeworks and Touch Designer where students will be introduced to the coding and programming aspects of working with these tools as well as developing familiarity in their use and application to video games design. Need to Know Code! - Introduction to Game Programming, along with other games design modules in the first year, will connect forward to further games design and coding modules as well as a broader group of modules that utilise coding in them in the second and final year of the programme.

This module is central to your development in audio related engineering. It covers the fundamental concepts that underpin all professional audio systems, and introduces essential concepts that you will use across a wide range of the other modules, as well as throughout any career related to professional audio or video. It also will provide you with the theoretical understanding to support your practical sound recording activities, both within the programme and for a successful career in any area of the audio or video related industry. You will learn the basic principles of measurement of audio signals, and the principles behind the capture, manipulation, and transmission of audio in analogue and digital formats, as used in all professional audio practice. The module balances understanding of the underlying theory with application in professional contexts, and the coursework is intended to allow you to put the theory into practice. The module will also develop the academic skills necessary for the rest of the programme, introducing you to independent academic research methods, writing essays on technical topics, and appropriate citation of academic sources.

further build confidence and expertise in designing and presenting their creative work

This module develops the coding and programming knowledge and skills students developed in the first year and looks in more depth at gameplay programming and coding behaviours. On the module you will explore the possibilities, limitations and application of putting in place gameplay mechanisms and aesthetics for video game prototypes. You will study in more detail scripting techniques and the design of complex systems for video games and experiment with game engines to create engaging gameplay effects as well as using flowcharts and finite state machines and implementing these in the engine used. The development of workable and demonstrable gameplay mechanics will be a key output of this module. In addition, students will be introduced to game AI applications. The Play's the Thing: Gameplay Programming and Coding Behaviours takes students on the next stage of their programming learning journey into coding more complex applications for player interaction and system behaviour. As such, it connects forward to other games design and coding modules on the degree as well as a broader group of modules that utilise coding in them in the second and final year of the programme.

Writing for the screen, including the digital screens of video games, is a complex process that requires writers and producers to bring together different considerations of space, place, character, dialogue, motion and temporality as well as the performance of these. In this module you will build on the knowledge and skills you gained in your first-year modules in visual storytelling, screenwriting, games design, visual arts and animation and games studies to work more extensively with script and performance. You will also study narrative design in more detail, exploring the development of the interactive narrative design and working with the interfaces of storytelling, narrative structure, play, performance, mechanics and games design. Story Performance and Play also provides you with an introduction to working with professional actors. Exploring aspects of writing and producing for games and working with actors. Working with practitioners you will be introduced to the basic process of actors in terms of their movement, approach and vocal practice, enabling you feel confident working with them and enabling them to achieve peak performance. We will also consider some of the challenges of working with non-professional actors as performers within games contexts and how to adapt established acting and voice techniques to unlock collaboration and creativity. Students will produce an essay exploring the practice of working with actors and/or voice in games, a script or visual narrative for use in a game or games and work collaboratively to produce a joint project capturing performance for games. Story Performance and Play connects to other creative writing, games design and games studies modules in all years across the programme and acts as an important step in students' learning journeys in establishing the bringing together of scripting and performance ideas and methodologies with the technical programming, design, visual and sound art aspects that bring video games to life.

Video games as a form, or collection of forms, and entertainment genre have been around for a relatively short time, but the massive growth this sector has experienced since the earliest games of this sort emerged has cemented its importance in our contemporary experience in economic and in cultural terms. Alongside this, and the growth in other, often related, games forms, such as wargames, board games, game books, tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), collectable card games (CCGs) and more, we have also seen the rise of the study of games as a serious critical disciple: Games Studies. This constitutes a supra-discipline comprised of many disparate other disciplines (such as literature, sociology, psychology, economics, communications, politics, events management, computing and many more). As such, Games Studies helps us think about, analyse and contextualise video games and video games design and play in the light or our world and our experience, past, present and future. This module will help students define video games in the context of their history and relationships to other ludic, literary, arts and entertainment forms and introduce you to a range of key concepts, theories, modes and approaches that are central to the study of games and to the design of games and their theorisation of such. We will also consider how the study of video games impacts, develops and interacts with the design, development and production of games and of gaming cultures. On this module, students will develop a working understanding of the technological, artistic and cultural changes that have, and continue to, alter, develop and interact with video games. Using prominent and important video game examples alongside key critical texts, students will also explore games genres and gaming platforms alongside these developments. Games Studies, in its study and contextualisation of video games, will connect to the other modules locating and developing your understanding of games design ideas and principles as well as students' own work in the field in your second year and to other games studies and games design modules across your degree.

The games focused contemporary digital media that students study as part of the first and second years on the degree offers a diverse and applied array of forms, formats, approaches, technology, production techniques and delivery methods to ideate, plan and develop games design projects that engage participants and players in a variety of creative and commercial contexts. The Collaborative Project module is a milestone on the degree programme, offering the opportunity to apply the technical skills and creative practices you have developed on the course so far to design, develop and produce a more independently formulated piece of work in a freely chosen format/medium as part of a team. Students will produce a collaborative project with other students on the module in an area of the students’ choice, allowing then to develop in detail individual specialisations within the broader field of games design that they can take forward into the future careers. The brief for this group project is flexible and relatively open, a selection of simple starting points to elicit a creative and collaborative response which is defined not only by its content but also by the digital format and technology you will chose for its implementation and deployment. This combination of creative idea development plus applied practice of appropriate forms of expression and realisation and teamwork will form a solid basis for future artistic and professional practice in designing for video games, the creative industries and beyond. Each student group will be assigned a supervisor who will assist them in choosing their subject matter and creative and critical approaches, and who will provide advice, encouragement and formative feedback over the course of the research, design, implementation, testing, demonstration and writing-up process, as well as suggesting relevant reading material which may help inspire or critically locate the project. An agreed length/scope/word count equivalent should be negotiated with the student’s supervisor dependent on the form of creative project proposed.   The end of semester group submission will be accompanied by an individual critical reflective report produced by each student, which allows you to reflect individually on the project’s relationship to previous work in the field, form or genre, on the collaborative and design processes and thinking behind the creative choices made, and to locate and reflect on their individual contributions to the realised project.   As well as the final submission itself you will undertake at least one formative work-in-progress presentation during the module semester 1, and work on developing self-reflective skills through completing a progress log with you supervisor.   The module draws together and integrates the various areas, specialisms and skills students encounter and explore as part of the programme, including further opportunity to explore and develop new and extended coding and programming skills and expertise appropriate to the project. As such, the module connects to other modules on the undertaken by the students across their degree, allowing them to bring together and build from strands from earlier games related modules that they have particularly liked and excelled at, or act as a complement to other modules that the student has enjoyed but where they wish to use this project module as an opportunity to explore and develop their experience in a particular aspect of games design. Therefore, this module can connect with any of the modules students have studied across their degree, and allows them to tailor their pathway through the degree, and the degree itself, in their own way.

Gaming has existed as a mode of play and expression since the earliest times of human existence. In the latter part of the 20th and into the first two decades of the 21st Century (the period we will focus on with this module), there has been a vast expansion of the forms, modes and technologies employed in gaming and game play. Out of wargaming and board gaming practices (and often the interfaces of these) in the post-World War II era, increasingly complex and sophisticated character and narrative focussed Role-Playing Games (RPGs) developed as well as other narrative forms that connect gaming with interactive textuality, such as gamebooks, Collectable Card Games, online interactive fiction, video games and multi-player online gaming platforms. There has been, in the early 21st century, additionally, a large increase in the number of board games being produced and played, while wargaming also remains an active and vibrant aspect of gaming culture. An aspect of gaming that has sometimes fallen short, in ‘quality’ terms, though, is the writing that underpins both the rules systems and the ‘story’ component of games (background, character, description. narrative, dialogue, terminology, etc.) This is perhaps unsurprising as games have been primarily written by gamers rather than professional writers; many of these, of course, go on to develop their writing skills and become accomplished writers in their own right. More and more, though, creative writers are specifically incorporated into the game design and realisation processes (for both analogue and virtual gaming environments) to improve the quality of the gaming experience. In this module students will receive an overview of the gaming field and examine aspects of this that specifically pertain to writing for games. What approaches work well for games and gaming modes? How are these different from writing for and in other forms and media? What writing skills are particularly useful? Do we have the freedom to write outside of limiting industry constraints and models? What are the new forms of writing practice that are emerging in relation to games and gaming? We will also be interested in analysing games and gaming critically as cultural objects, and situating them within the broader context of contemporary cultural and literary theory. This is not a module that will teach students how to code and/or produce and design video games (or, indeed commercial analogue games). We will touch on aspects of game design, game production, gaming studies, critical digital studies, etc., but the focus for this module will be on writing creatively for games: writing gaming. Expert guest speakers from the gaming and independent gaming industries will be included in the teaching provision for this module. If students have specific coding, visual art or musical/sound art skills that they would like to bring to their exercises and assignments, they can certainly draw on these skills, but if they don’t, that is completely fine – none of these are required for this module. In each seminar we will first spend some time discussing the set texts and the techniques and standpoints employed by writers and other artists, before moving on to the workshop part of the session where students will produce work in accordance with the task set for that week, within and outside of the classroom. We will read and discuss a selection of pieces at the end of each class. This process will help students grow in confidence, both in presentational terms and in terms of delivering and receiving feedback on their work, in a safe and supportive setting. In addition, each week there will be a scheduled 2-hour gaming session where students will gather to explore individual and collaborative gaming in practice. Different approaches to gaming will be proposed each week, or students can opt to work during this time on longer gaming experiences and projects. At the end of the semester students will produce a creative portfolio of gaming writing, alongside a critical commentary reflecting on the creative work produced and using theories, concepts and practices studied on the module, OR an academic critical essay examining some aspect of writing for games OR a Game Demo alongside a critical commentary reflecting on the demo produced and using theories, concepts and practices studied on the module. Possible submissions for the creative portfolio include online interactive fiction (e.g. Twine, Squiffy), a gamebook text, a tabletop game text (board game, card game, wargame, Role-Playing Game), a game demo, a game setting, a game system, Game Design Documentation (GDD) for a proposed game, a 'creative essay', gaming portfolio as creative essay, a zine, a website for a game, etc. This module connects to other contemporary literature modules on the programme in the 2nd and final years where the emphasis is on 20th and 21st Century approaches to creating and examining literatures and our cultural responses to them. As such, it is part of the contemporary literature route that students can choose as a focus of their degree. As a hybrid creative writing and English literature module, it also makes up part of the creative writing pathway in the degree, connecting to creative writing modules in the 1st, 2nd and final years.  

The Final Major Project module is intended to provide students with an opportunity to produce a portfolio of highly polished games design materials accompanied by self-reflective critical commentary in an area of the student’s choice, allowing then to develop in detail individual specialisations within the broader field of games design that they can take forward into the future careers. This Final Major Project represents the culmination of the student’s creative work across the degree and will act, with other creative outcomes as portfolio work students can present to industry and for further study. This portfolio may consist of a major piece of design work (either a single extended piece of work or a collection of smaller pieces). An agreed length/scope/word count equivalent should be negotiated with the student’s supervisor dependent on the form of creative portfolio materials proposed. Each student will be assigned a supervisor who will assist them in choosing their subject matter and creative and critical approaches, and who will provide advice, encouragement and formative feedback over the course of the research, design, implementation, testing, demonstration and writing-up process. as well as suggesting relevant reading material which may help inspire or critically locate the project. This module also allows students to reflect at length on the project’s rigorous relationship to previous work in the field, form or genre, on the writing processes and thinking behind the creative choices made, and to locate the work productively in literary and theoretical contexts. As well as the dissertation itself students will undertake a formative presentation in semester 1, and work on developing self-reflective skills through completing a progress log with their supervisors. The module spans both semester 1 and 2 and allows for students to undertake broad ranging, large scope projects, encouraging ambition, risk-taking, detailed planning and professional execution. As such, this module is designed to help contextualise student creative design practice in the professional fields of the games industries and related sectors as well as for post-graduate study. The module draws together and integrates the various areas, specialisms and skills students encounter and explore as part of the programme, and presents further opportunity to explore and develop new and extended coding and programming skills and expertise appropriate to the project. This module connects to other modules on the programme undertaken by the students, allowing them to bring together and build from strands from earlier games related modules that they have particularly liked and excelled at, or act as a complement to other modules that the student has enjoyed but where they wish to use this dissertation module as an opportunity to explore and develop a different area that they wish to develop. As such, this module can connect with any of the modules students have studied across their degree, and allows them to tailor their pathway through the degree, and the degree itself, in their own way.