Department of Game Studies
About Us
The Department of Game Studies started out as part of the Department of Multimedia and Digital Animation in the Faculty of Creative Industries, back in 2011. As the student numbers grew, so did the number of dedicated teaching staff teaching game studies. Realising that game studies was a dynamic and rapidly expanding field, the Department of Game Studies was established in 2012, dedicated to the pursuit of game studies and game development applications. To date, the department has successfully undergone and passed the MQA accreditation exercise for both the BA(Hons) Game Design and BSc(Hons) Game Development with flying colours.
Apart from academic teaching and administration, the department is also active in research and development in the field of game studies. The department also has close ties with the game developers in Malaysia, often having dialogue sessions, talks and exchanges wherever possible. In fact, we have had Codemasters Studio and Streamline Studios as part of our panel of industry advisors in the past and are currently engaged with Metromik Studios and we also seek prominent international level professors to act as our panel of external examiners, ensuring quality of our programmes and delivery. The department is growing from strength to strength as demand for this course if on the rise and Malaysia is looking at games as one of the areas for spearheading the development of this country. The future for studying games looks very promising indeed.
Our Mission
The aim of the game studies programme is to produce graduates with a high level of competency in the field of digital entertainment industry to meet the market demand and national expectation for such a course. This programme will prepare graduates to enter the digital entertainment industry possessing strong analytical and creative thinking skills. This programme will also inculcate a sense of professional and ethical responsibility in graduates.
- Produce graduates with the knowledge to propose, plan, use, design, and evaluate digital media or games related projects in a professional manner
- Equip graduates with skills and knowledge in business, education, digital media, graphic design, computer games, digital animation, web development, advertising, web publishing, etc
- Explain to students the importance of professionalism and to provide them with the opportunities to work on projects independently and collectively based on professionalism to achieve given project objectives
- Imbue in students the knowledge of creative and critical thinking and a scientific approach in solving problems related to computer programming and software application
- Expose students to practical issues such as ethics, culture, social, entrepreneurship and human relations in the context of disciplines related to the digital entertainment industry
- Train students to write and effectively communicate ideas and concepts related to the digital entertainment industry
- Equip students with entrepreneurial skills to plan, implement and manage projects according to established business goals or objectives
- Encourage students to focus on self-development and self-learning to keep abreast of the fast progressing digital technology and the digital entertainment industry in general
Undergraduate Programmes
The Department of Game Studies offers the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Game Design and Bachelor of Science (Hons) Game Development.
Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Game Design
This programme concentrates on the art and design aspects of game creation with some coverage of fundamental game programming. Students will learn a wide range of skills needed to work in the game industry. These include 2D conceptualisation, illustration, imaging to 3D modeling and animation, game engines as well as fundamental programing along with storytelling, game design, level design and game mechanics to name a few.
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman's Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Game Design is using Machinations to aid students in their game mechanical ideation, design testing while offering a better means to output graphical data for game testing and balancing purposes.
MACHINATIONS
Machinations is the browser-based tool to design and balance game systems.
Game designers can work collaboratively on their game systems, simulate outcomes, balance parameters on the fly, and showcase their ideas to the team.
All that, even before writing a single line of code.
Visit machinations.io
Bachelor of Science (Hons) Game Development
This programme concentrates on the game programming and technology aspects of game creation with some fundamental coverage of art and design. Among the skills students will learn are programming concepts, data structures, online networking, game graphics programming, virtual and augmented reality as well as fundamental game art and design subjects.