BA (Hons) Games Development Bachelor's degree at the University of Suffolk

Develop a game in teams with second year students following the development process used by professional game studios. Your senior team members will have prototyped the game's core loop extensively prior to this module, allowing you to contribute to a playable and refined game experience. You'll adopt an agile workflow and learn foundational game production skills like communication, quality assurance playtesting, and working with version control.

Design can be considered as 'the search for the best possible solution'. Throughout this module, students are introduced to the ubiquitous concepts that pervade many fundamental aspects of game design. These concepts are considered with reference to the player's interactive experience and contextually, in conjunction with associated tools, as a part of the iterative development process.

The module provides you with an introduction to a range of game development tools including; asset creation, game engines and development environments. You will be required to design and develop a small number of games, demonstrating their understanding of the tools covered.

Build a solid understanding of fundamental programming techniques, mathematics and algorithms through a series of games focussed practical tasks that put the theory and techniques into context. You will learn how to structure small scale programming projects and make use of best practices such as version control.

Learn how to design intuitive, accessible and inclusive game experiences by analysing modern games and designing your own. You'll get hands-on with key topics like onboarding (how to teach players without boring them), accessibility fundamentals (making sure your game works for as many players as possible), and inclusive design principles so players feel seen and represented in your game worlds. You'll also explore how your own design choices influence how players think, feel and engage with the

Learn how to develop AI systems for believable behaviours, you will implement a range of key technologies and algorithms, including behaviour trees, utility systems and path finding. You'll get to see how these can be used together by building them into a small game framework.

You will be introduced to systems design and the structural forms associated with sustainable fun, progression and replayability with reference to a cross section of genres and experiential goals. You will assemble and structure their designs into coherent game loops and will collate their design decisions into accessible game design documents.

The module provides you with an in-depth view into the architecture of game engines and their implementations. You will construct their own basic game engine, implementing core components such as rendering, audio, scripting and input.

Develop and manage a game in teams with first year students using development processes used by professional game studios. As senior members of the team, you are executing a creative vision that you will have prototyped prior to the game's production. You'll follow an agile workflow and develop practical skills in project management, from writing agendas and meeting minutes to risk exposure and task tracking. You'll also develop mentorship skills by coaching and guiding first year students as pa

Narrative cues provide access to a wealth of ubiquitous experiential rewards which typically reside beyond the remit of 'fun'. Throughout this module, you are introduced to the design work which informs the development of immersive worlds and identifiable characters. You are further introduced to the concept of, and components associated with, structural forms.

The module introduces you to the fundamental algorithms, theory, principles methods and techniques of 2D and 3D computer graphics. The mathematical underpinnings are covered in further detail from the level 4 Math for Software Development module. You will develop skills in implementing and developing computer graphic applications with C++ and standard graphics libraries (such as OpenGL) within a games programming context. The shader pipeline is also introduced, with you producing shader programs

Learn how to build level blockouts for games like Helldivers 2 and Assassin's Creed: Shadows using key level design principles from visual language (how your level communicates interactivity, access etc) to pacing (the level's tempo, rhythm and flow). You'll also learn how to create motivational gameplay in recognition of an intended playstyle by building on your knowledge of gameplay scripting with topics such as events, interfaces, and composition.

Within this module you are required to consolidate your existing game design and development skills into a single, independent piece of practical work that will be used on your portfolios to gain employment post graduation.

The Advanced Programming module is designed to fill the gap between the knowledge you have acquired from your other modules and the knowledge you will need in industry by providing seminars and activities on a range of small but important programming related topics.