BA (Hons) Creative Computing Bachelor's degree at the University of Portsmouth

What will I learn? You’ll explore how code and design come together in creative technology. You’ll work with physical and digital systems that respond to people and environments. You’ll learn how ideas move from curiosity to concept to working prototypes. You’ll study key approaches in creative computing, including: Interactive design and user experience Physical computing with microcontrollers Creative coding for visuals and interaction Rapid prototyping and iteration Ethical and inclusive design thinking You’ll look at how artists, designers, and technologists use computation in different contexts. You’ll examine interactive installations, digital art, and experimental technology and consi

You'll develop skills in algorithmic thinking and foundational machine learning concepts for creative applications. You'll explore how to integrate technology into hands-on projects while critically engaging with machine learning.

You'll discuss research approaches and gain skills to strategise methods for independent study. You'll formulate plans tailored to your goals, create research proposals and hone your scholarly writing. Investigating your chosen career path, you'll identify opportunities, appraising your skills and interests. This experience provides a robust foundation to initiate an impactful creative project aligned with your aspirations.

You'll be equipped to assess ideation methods, manage resources, and integrate software, hardware and research. You'll reflect on group communication and practices. Through it all, you'll demonstrate sophisticated technical understanding and safe working.

Through a study exchange overseas, you'll manage tasks and projects relevant to your course, working independently or collaboratively as part of a team. The experience enables you to showcase your talents on a global stage while reflecting on your personal growth. With enhanced employability prospects, you return home with a new perspective to inform your practice.

In this module, you’ll explore fresh sounds, instruments, and audio experiences. Design and code your own audio software project that shows off your technical and artistic skills. Learn how to programme and use digital signal processing and computational music from expert lecturers. You’ll also check your work against your project goals and improve your skills. When you finish, you’ll have a portfolio piece that shows your programming artistry.

The module encourages the creation of artefacts that are technologically and culturally coherent, with a focus on design and development. Relevant theoretical and contextual knowledge will support and guide the understanding of these artefacts.

You'll gain familiarity with common code patterns and mechanisms for implementing interactivity, guided by code analysis and experimentation. Through programming challenges, you'll apply your skills to build small-scale yet engaging gameplay prototypes. This module provides the core technical knowledge to start realising your visions as playable game experiences. By evaluating different programming approaches, you'll develop the implementation skills to advance your game projects from concept to playable prototype.

You'll research industry trends, gaining key skills in UX, responsive design, and multimedia integration. Through practical exercises, you'll choose appropriate frameworks to prototype highly dynamic and usable websites. Working individually or in groups, you'll implement a fully functional rich media site. This comprehensive overview equips you with the knowledge to deliver cutting-edge, consumer-focused web applications using the latest tools and technologies.

Join a team of creative students and do a project together. Try new things and see how they can help you. You’ll also grasp how to use your skills with others. Sometimes you’ll be a leader, sometimes a helper. Talk about your ideas and learn from them. You’ll make something to show what you learned and share it with others. This module helps you gain new skills and understand other fields. You’ll be a smart and creative person, ready to solve real-world problems.

By evaluating concepts from algebra to trigonometry, you’ll grasp their integration and solve technical challenges to elevate product capabilities and optimise performance. You’ll develop your problem solving skills through industry-inspired exercises, as this module provides crucial analytical foundations that are transferrable to programming roles - where mathematical fluency intersects with code to create dynamic interactive experiences.

You'll research industry trends, innovating your own mobile app concepts. With design and programming skills, you'll build a working prototype - whether web, native or hybrid. This comprehensive overview equips you to make informed decisions on frameworks and features. You'll learn prototyping, UI design, data management and more. Working individually or in groups, you'll gain hands-on experience taking an app from idea to functioning product. By the end, you'll have a portfolio-ready mobile application, and the skills to thrive in this dynamic field.

You’ll choose learning tasks that add up to 60 hours, like internships, volunteering, research, or remote study that match your career plans. Workshops will help you make meaningful goals and think about what you’ve accomplished. Through this, you’ll grow the knowledge, skills, and qualities you need to thrive in the workplace. By looking at your growth through active participation and reading, you’ll become a perceptive, eager job-seeker who stands out.

You’ll pick up expert ways to make soundscapes and music that adapt to the player’s actions. Look at popular games to see what kind of sound they need, then create your own detailed sounds using recording, Foley, synthesis, and more. Compose catchy melodies and turn them into scores that adapt to the game. Get the right blend and finish for your sound and music to make them sound perfect. Bring your audio to life by putting it into game engines with middleware. Test and refine your work so it performs flawlessly. By the end, you’ll have an impressive portfolio of interactive audio pieces, made using professional methods. Your creativity will shine as you master the latest techniques in game

As a team, you will embark on a journey of entrepreneurship, starting with ideation and ending with the launch of your product or service. You will analyse complex factors influencing a successful launch, conduct thorough research to assess feasibility and gain valuable insights into marketing, manufacturing, and sales strategies. Working together on pitch presentations, you will discover your strengths as an entrepreneur or team member. This module provides transferable skills essential to thrive in creative industries, whether you plan to launch your own company or seek employment with top organisations. You will develop the mindset and abilities to spot opportunities and act on them, whic

Demonstrating project management and problem-solving skills, through critical analysis and experimentation, you'll produce a body of work that advances knowledge in your discipline. Communicating scholarly outcomes with impact, you'll demonstrate your knowledge and abilities, drawing together your learning into a compelling self-directed showcase. This is the culmination of your degree journey - proving your readiness for professional and academic challenges ahead.

Studying hacker culture's audacious, showy mentality, you'll analyse processes that revel in overcoming unnecessary restrictions. Through lectures and hands-on activities, you'll experience the motivations and pressures of this bold approach. Choosing creative constraints, you'll develop multimedia works showcasing your versatility under self-imposed limitations. This module inspires you to reimagine creativity as a rewarding, meaning-making process in itself.

You'll analyse algorithms and techniques and gain practical skills experimenting on an AI platform. This module builds your knowledge of AI domains, from knowledge systems to computer vision. You'll evaluate limitations and potentials of current AI tech, and consider the societal impacts, with options to code an AI application or write an extended essay. The module equips you for a society where AI transforms creative roles and every day life. And you'll emerge with contextual understanding and skills to responsibly apply AI innovations.

You’ll learn to use game data like player input, physics, and game states to design reactive soundscapes that adapt as you play. Explore how to create non-linear music and sounds that can be generated on the fly. Pick up industry skills in audio middleware to build systems that can mix and switch sounds dynamically. Make and produce your own music and sound effects that work well with interactive elements. Use coding to create your own audio plugins. Show off your technical and artistic skills with an interactive audio project in a game engine. This intense training in a specialised area will give you expertise that game studios really want. The module also gives you valuable experience in m

You will work on an artefact, either in a group or independently. These artefacts will allow students to demonstrate their understanding of the fundamental concepts of game systems.

In this module, you’ll create and program your own audio software, showing off both your technical skills and imagination. Expert lecturers will help you use object-oriented programming and key ideas in digital sound and music computing. You’ll also learn to assess your work, comparing it to your goals and recent studies, which will help sharpen your abilities to bring big ideas to life. When you’re done, you’ll have a super portfolio piece that shows your skill in coding. Here’s your chance to explore and craft fresh soundscapes.

Analysing works by contemporary and historical practitioners, you'll conceive and create an original installation, composition, or multimedia production incorporating innovative sound techniques. Presenting the finished project, you'll evaluate and contextualise your creative process and achievement. This module enables you to create an ambitious sound project while honing your critical thinking.

You'll research industry trends, gaining strategic insight to craft inventive IoT concepts. With comprehensive design and programming skills, you'll build a working IoT prototype - whether product, service or system. This hands-on experience equips you to drive the future of smart objects and environments. Working individually or in teams, you'll bring an IoT application from idea to functioning product, ready to improve lives.

By producing platform-specific demos, you’ll use suitable languages and asset optimisation techniques to critically assess hardware capabilities and audience priorities. You’ll gain insight into commercial programming challenges, and this will enable strategic consideration of economic factors when proposing content across emerging channels.

This module helps you apply your academic learning in practical settings, strengthening your professional development and future career prospects. Throughout the year, you'll reflect on your progress, build networks, and evaluate your experiences critically. you'll complete a placement assessment that includes a reflective portfolio and employer feedback, with ongoing support from careers and employability staff. By the end, you'll develop key graduate attributes like adaptability, independence, and self-awareness, preparing you to succeed in diverse environments.

Complete relevant tasks demonstrating your specialised skills and independence. Gain global perspective, reflect deeply on personal growth, and build valued transferable abilities for professional life after university. Return home with experiences that inspire your practice and understanding of art’s global connectivity.

Evaluating international contexts, you'll critically relate on-site activities to your disciplinary knowledge, gaining global insights. Working independently overseas, you'll complete relevant assignments, refining skills transferable to future creative studies and practice. Upon returning, thoughtful reflection will reveal your personal growth as you process new worldviews and cross-cultural competencies. This invaluable opportunity provides a chance to broaden your creative knowledge while developing adaptability as a global citizen.