UDGAPRFY - BSc (Hons) Games Programming (including foundation year)

About the course, its strategy towards teaching and learning and towards blended learning/e-learning.

Your learning is organised around direct contact time and directed time, which takes place through lectures, tutorials, seminars, and laboratory work. You will investigate problems via lectures and tutorials, and you will implement solutions in the laboratory. You’ll use self-study time in addition to timetabled sessions for researching topics and reading around the taught material.

E-learning is embedded within each module design, in the form of video presentations and tutorials, and online discussion groups. We make particular use of Virtual Learning Environments for dissemination of materials, and occasional Internet-based user groups. This enables you to have asynchronous communication with your colleagues and tutors. Other information sources include library searches, the Internet, on-site interviews and opportunities to examine artefacts.

Transferable skills - Group work throughout the course will be seen as important in relation to your future working environment. A requirement of the games industry (and many other professional workspaces) is for employees to be able to work as part of a team. Tutors offer guidance on ways to enhance everyone’s ability to collaborate with colleagues by fostering clear communication skills, respect for your peer group and a good understanding of ethical issues surrounding digital media and online systems. Workshops provide an opportunity for you to develop some of the discipline-based skills required to work as a professional.

Portfolio - One of the key aspects throughout the course is the development of a cumulative portfolio. Initially, this is tightly tied to specific module teaching and assessment, but at a later stage you are encouraged to develop portfolio work independently, with increasing individual tutorial support. The emphasis of the course is to ensure you have a contemporary skill set. We support this aim through the use of visiting industry practitioners who offer lectures and workshops to students, as well as seeking advice from recently employed graduates, external examiners and games industry experts.

Your ability to work independently will also be fostered through a mixture of coursework assignments, unseen examinations, presentations and ultimately the design and development of significant artefacts during the course of the degree.

Course Aims
The main aim for this course is to provide students with a general education in the area of computer games programming in its full range of applications from console, mobile and web games to computer simulations. Students will develop an understanding of the need for involvement in order to solve a problem, the need for communications skills for clarity of problem understanding and solution propagation, plus awareness of the ethical responsibilities with which a developer must contend.

For a student undertaking a single honours award, the aims are to:

• offer a course which is relevant to the needs of industry and commerce and to expose the student to the latest developments in computer games applications;
• develop the intellectual and practical skills associated with the design and development of computer games from a technical perspective;
• develop the ability to communicate in terms of questioning, collaborating with others, presenting work, and logical representation (such as using graphical media) in order to specify, resolve and develop games across a wide range of genres.

Designing and developing computer games is an engineering-like study and as such, much of it is sequential in nature, with one subject building on another. The core modules are chosen with this in mind, while designate modules are seen as mutually supportive of the core material, while giving students the opportunity to explore different paths.

The degree aims to equip students with programming skills as specified by TIGA in association with the Computer Games Industry. The choice of modules is constrained and guided in years one and two, but there is freedom within the core modules in year three for students to explore areas of personal interest and build up a significant portfolio of work.

On completing the course students will be able to:

UL0. Demonstrate confidence, resilience, ambition and creativity and will act as inclusive, collaborative and socially responsible practitioners/professionals in their discipline.

LO1. carry out independent research and investigation;

LO2. be able to conceive of a challenge, analyse available data, and formulate possible user centred design solutions to a problem in the general area of application development and design;

LO3. have industry-appropriate knowledge of games technology, development tools and applications;

LO4. implement skills in a variety of contexts, programming languages and delivery platforms in order to deliver professional quality artefacts;

LO5. be aware of and adhere to professional practise with respect to programming methods and conventions;

LO6. be aware of the social and ethical issues associated with games and media development, software development and operation;

LO7. show effective oral, visual and written communication via presentations, reports and demonstrations;

LO8. work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team and develop the skills associated with team working, relationship management, communication, collaborative design and time management.

LO9. have opportunities for personal and creative development, through teamwork and discussion, reflection and feedback, artistic expression and building a portfolio of work.

The Computing benchmark statements have been taken into account:

Subject Benchmark Statement - Computing (including Master's) (qaa.ac.uk)

In these benchmark statements the word ‘computing’ refers to computer visualisation and interactive game and simulation development.

Cognitive - Students will be exposed to various assessment strategies, which are part of the development and evaluation of their cognitive skills. As the course progresses the student will be exposed to more complex and ill-defined problems which relate to the world of work.

Practical - Portfolio assessment is increasingly relevant within this type of course and is used throughout the degree. This represents a highly formative process. Subject specific skills are also assessed using a range of techniques, such as programming skill tests and via in-course artefact development.

Transferable skills - Skills are assessed through written reports, demonstrated software solutions, media presentations, oral presentations and students’ willingness to work effectively with other students via group work.

Knowledge - Formative assessment will be a regular feature of the semester, encompassing peer review, opportunities for QA (Quality Assurance), detailed feedback and guidance from tutors.

Summative assessment such as coursework, presentations and group work will require students to:

• model and provide optimal solutions for a given scenario;
• demonstrate an understanding of application work flow;
• write and present verbal and written reports on development and application-based approaches to problem solutions.

Summative assessment such as unseen examinations will require students to deal with:

• multiple choice tests;
• written examinations;
• essays and reports, usually of specified length.

A core (i) Work-Related Learning or (ii) Research-Related Learning module in Year 6 is a mandatory part of the Honours degree, timetabled during the semester.

This involves students either (i) working as interns or in a professional capacity for an external client, developing a resource using their existing skills; or (ii) working with a research-active academic to develop a resource for an existing research project. In either case, the student will demonstrate competence and good communication skills, and be assessed via a written report of the experience and a viva.

Year 1
CC3101 + CT3102

Year 2
MA3101 + CS3101

Year 3
CU4057 + CU4058
CU4061 + CU4055
CU4053 + CU4054

Year 4
MA4005 + MD5059
CU5064 + CU5050
CU5057 + CU5058

Year 5
CU5061 + CU5060
CU5066 + CU6061
CU6060 + CU6059

Year 6
CU6067 + CU6062
CU6063 + CU6P50
CU6066 + CS6W50 or MD6055 + SJ6067

Cores as specified in course structure diagram

Most summative assessment is at the end of modules, with several formative feedback points formally instituted over the course of the year. At these interim formative feedback points students reflect on their progress-to-date with their peers and course staff; seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. The feedback and student reflection are recorded and informs an action plan for the next period of study.

This system is highly individualised. From Level 3 to Level6, students are encouraged to participate in the School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the UG curriculum and this supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress through the year, to understand the professional environment of the subject-areas ahead disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

Therefore, throughout the modules and the course, in this way, students build bodies of work, including reflections on progress, achievement and planning for their future achievement of targets.

The course embeds reflective learning and personal development in its strategy to be diagnostic/preparatory; it does this in a number of different ways:

The main outcomes of the course are contained in the student’s portfolio of projects containing edited and organised versions of all the work the student has undertaken during the course.

It is used both for the purposes of self-reflection and evaluation, formal assessment and, in various versions, to apply for jobs or courses. Building the portfolio is a continuous enterprise. Every project, practical or intellectual exercise can be represented in the portfolio but also has to contribute to the document as a whole and in its parts. Students learn to reflect on their work both as a specific item and in the context of their own developing profile in their portfolio.

The main teaching vehicle on the course is the project where students distinguish and develop their particular skills, interests and abilities. A number of projects are set during the year, each of which addresses different criteria, and the student gains increasing responsibility for their definition, direction and development as the year progresses. Students learn to evaluate their project work against that of their peers through frequent interim presentations, pin-ups or ‘critiques’ as well as tutorials.

The course has been designed to take into account the reflective learning/personal development throughout all the course levels, from Level 3 to Level 4 (programming and games development fundamental concepts and basics) to Level 5 (advanced techniques and tools, and exploration of graphics, audio and XR programming), and finally to Level 6 (complete game/prototype artefacts development and implementation throughout an entire project workflow).

The design of the course was informed by Skillset Accreditation Guidelines for Computer Games Degrees with a technical pathway in 2019, and more recently,

TIGA http://tiga.org/education/tiga-university-accreditation

graduates and advice from our industry steering group members.

A process of personal development takes place throughout the course. In addition, formal arrangements are provided through the Careers Service and taught material is provided through portfolio development modules. Work placements are encouraged.

Graduates have taken up a wide range of careers, both within and outside the games industry. The emphasis on high level programming skills, emphasising the ability to perform complex graphical programming, means that the majority have found technical positions within a year of graduation. We have graduates employed as developers, designers, games testers and recruitment experts in major games companies across Europe, as well as those who have started independent companies and those who continue to develop games as a hobby while undertaking alternative programming roles in the financial, business or charity sectors. Some have chosen to continue studies at Masters and subsequently PhD level, other have been drawn towards teaching at secondary schools and colleges.

Completing this degree will open up many job opportunities within the games and entertainment industry. Upon graduating you could find employment as an animator, games developer, games designer, software engineer, visual effects artist, applications developer or a multimedia programmer.

Previous graduates have joined companies such as Sky, BBC, ITV, Sega, Lionheart, Rare, Rocksteady, Media Molecule, Football Superstars and Sports Interactive. Some of our graduates have also created their own businesses.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• at least one A level (or a minimum of 32 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC Subsidiary/National/BTEC Extended Diploma)
• English Language and Mathematics GCSEs at grade C/grade 4 or above (or equivalent, eg Functional Skills at Level 2).

Applicants who meet the UCAS points criteria but who obtained a D/grade 3 in English and/or Maths at GCSE may be offered a University test in these areas