Soundtechnical skills and creativity are essential for the design anddevelopment of a successful electronic game. This prestigiousintegrated programme in Computer Games Design and Development(including an optional placement year) will involve development of thenecessary programming, content management and architectural designskills and provide students with a full development experience fromconcept through design and development to final implementation inpreparation for a development-oriented career in the industry.

 

Course Content

Thecourse is modular, with core modules defined in each year and pathwaysthat allow an increasing degree of specialism as students progress fromStage 1 to Stage 4. Modules are combined across the stages to reflectthe various themes within the degree. 

 

Stage 1
ThisStage is concerned with the development of core programming skills andthe exploration of issues surrounding the design and development ofcomputer and video games. A number of fundamental Computer Sciencetopics are also explored. Modules within this stage will include:

Principles behind game theory and game creation (including team-based game development)
Fundamentals of programming and algorithmic development
Theory and development of multimedia systems
Principles of computer architecture 

 

Stage 2
Withinthis Stage students refine their core programming competencies throughtaking a range of modules that explore issues of relevance to gameprogramming and Computer Science. Team-working and professional skillsare also developed through team-based game development. Modules withinthis stage will explore:

Games programming (using XNA)
Internet and network-based communications
Data structures and algorithm analysis
Sound and signal processing techniques
Principles of software engineering explored through team-based game development
Extended principles behind game theory and game creation
Professional development

 

Stage 3
ThisStage is concerned with building specific games programming skills.Students will be offered a range of modules that cover core areas ofgames programming, for example, audio programming, AI programming, gameengine programming, etc. Modules within this stage will explore:

3D Game engine design and development
3D Graphics and programming
Audio programming
Concurrent (multi-core) programming
Real-time physics programming
Live performance systems and interaction design
Sound recording/engineering
Artificial Intelligence
Agile and Component-based software development

 

Year of Professional Experience
BetweenStage 3 and Stage 4 students undertake an optional full year’s paidindustrial placement, the Year of Professional Experience.

Theplacement year is an opportunity both to put into practice theprinciples learned to date in the course and gain practical experiencein games design and development with an appropriate games developmentstudio where possible. Students will receive assistance in obtaining asuitable placement.

 

Stage 4
In Stage 4students develop specialism in games programming through the selectionof research based modules and the completion of a games developmentresearch project.

A number of these modules are closely linkedto the research and consultancy expertise of staff and evolve andchange rapidly to reflect some of the current, emerging, novel andexciting advances in computer and video game development. Based oncurrent research strengths the types of module to be offered wouldinclude:

Adaptive and self-learning
Artificial Intelligence
Reasoning under uncertainty
Advanced audio techniques for computer gaming
Sound/music interfaces and interaction
Advanced algorithmic analysis
Embedded software systems
Advanced computer vision techniques