Games Development BA (Hons)

The BA (Hons) Games Development course is a multi-pathway, multi-disciplinary games making course that gives students fundamental skills in the core games development technologies and games production methodologies. The course reflects forward thinking industry practice in its approach to technical design as a growing discipline within games development alongside more established avenues such as games/technical art and games design.The course enables a firm grounding in the games development process and core disciplinary technologies alongside pathways that enable specialisation in one of those core disciplines:● Games Art● Technical Design (Engine Technologies)● Design & Production.The course engages students in well-defined industry skill sets to enable individual and team based games making. This includes; game engine technologies, scripting, production methodologies (Scrum, Lean, Waterfall), games (and software) development cycles, concepting and ideation, prototyping, documentation, 2D/3D art pipelines, character design, environment design, games culture and studies, game design fundamentals and team working. The course is designed using a Universal Design for Learning framework that has universal utility for the diverse cohort that Ravensbourne attracts. It supports the multiple learning inputs and outputs that students with challenges require to thrive, accepting that allowances for the increasing levels of neuro-diversity within the cohort improves learning outcomes for all. The three main precepts of UDL are: - 1 Provide Multiple Means of Engagement. Affect represents a crucial element to learning, and learners differ markedly in the ways in which they can be engaged and motivated to learn. In order to build engagement, there must be multiple options to foster both attention and commitment in all learners to address the unique variability in interest, effort and perseverance, and self-regulation strategies.- 2 Provide Multiple Means of Representation: Representation guidelines remind us to provide multiple formats when teaching to activate all students recognition networks.- 3 Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression: It’s imperative to engage students and represent content so it is accessible, but in order to determine if students have learnt content, instructors must assess learning using multiple strategies so students have options regarding the type of assessment and ways in which they can present evidence of learning.A games making course at heart, the framework encourages self-efficacy and team building through project work, encouraging creative and innovative outcomes to a broad range of games industry briefs including table top, TTRPG, mobile, console and PC based outcomes or through encouraging debate and action through a range of active industry and social issues. The distinctiveness of the course comes from games first approach putting making at the centre of teaching, pushing students to develop their own practice in a supportive and critical environment and to engage with the wider elements of games culture and practice.