Students will continue their learning of the Advanced Games Design, and will continue to develop their understanding of:

Multidisciplinary game design and research

Game balance and tuning

Playtesting and iteration

Difficulty curves

Player progression

Games design pattern

Environmental storytelling

Paper prototyping

Gamification

Ethical impact of game design

Emerging technologies and trends

Designing for player engagement

Assessment Component 1 – (Learning outcomes 1, 2 and 3)

Pitching, planning and documentation weighted at 60%

Each student will create and present a pitch with accompanying planning documentation. Students will present their prototypes twice and their progress should be supported by evidence posted to the Digital Academy Forum.



Assessment Component 2 – (Learning outcome 4)

Prototype and report weighted at 40%

A prototype set within a games design field that solves challenges in a specific field; For example, player engagement. The prototype should include the following: 1) Clarity and consistency in development process; 2) Research and additional learning used to self-improve and critique own work; and 3) The final work presented. The report is a critical analysis of the processes undertaken in achieving the prototype.

2 x 3-hour Lecture / Support sessions.


Lecture session will consist of theory, methodology and good practice deliverable content.


Development Support sessions will consist of providing support to students and demonstrating technical applications of theory or providing examples of development/improvement to student work. Some sessions will also focus on running playtesting sessions for feedback and critique from staff and peers.

1. On successful completion of this module the students will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of games design research and industrial settings.

Reflection


2. On successful completion of this module the students will be able to demonstrate expertise and skills in advanced games design while evaluating and applying best practices within different contexts.

Learning


3. On successful completion of this module the students will be able to demonstrate a critical awareness and evaluation of current research, contemporary games design issues and new insights, and apply a range of advanced games design research techniques to analyse complex problems.

Analysis


4. On successful completion of this module the students will be able to communicate games design research and industry knowledge clearly and highlight contemporary problems and insights.

Communication

Access to Staffordshire University library

Provision as appropriate of case materials by tutor and / or external organisations.¿

The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available to support this module.¿¿

Games Development Software (Autodesk Creative Suite, Blender, ZBrush, SpeedTree, Substance Suite)

Game Engine Software (Unreal Engine, Unity)

Image Editing Software (Photoshop, Krita)

Video Editing Software (Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere)

Simulation Software (Houdini, Marvelous Designer)

Photogrammetry Software Meshroom

Suitable IDE (Visual Studio, Rider) SDKs

Motion Capture Studio & MotionBuilder

Wacom Tablets

Microsoft Office

Digital Academy Forum

Digital Academy Upload System

Lankoski, P., & Bjork, S. (2015). Game research methods: An overview. Morrisville, NC: Lulu.com.

Drachen, A., Mirza-Babaei, P., & Nacke, L. (Eds.). (2018). Games user research. London, UK: Oxford University Press.

Bromley, S. (2021). How to be a games user researcher. Independently Published

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game design workshop: A playcentric approach to creating innovative games. CRC press.

Harris, T. (2007). Collaborative research and development projects. Berlin, Germany: Springer.

RMIT University. (2015, August 27). RMIT University Centre for Game Design Research [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/7te_yGAzYJ8

Hunicke, R., LeBlanc, M., & Zubek, R. (2004). MDA: A formal approach to game design and game research. In Proceedings of the AAAI Workshop on Challenges in Game AI (Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 1722).

Kultima, A. (2015, September). Game design research. In Proceedings of the 19th International Academic Mindtrek Conference (pp. 18-25).

Online and more updated resources will be suggested during study.

Games are increasingly becoming the focus for research due to their cultural and economic impact on modern society. However, there are many different types of approaches and methods than can be applied to understanding games or those that play games. Advanced games design involves the process of design and create games, as well as exploring new areas of game design through research. In this module, we also use scientific methods to create and study effective and engaging games.