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SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY Masters in Professional Practice (MProf)
GAMES DEVELOPMENT
Abertay University is the only European university to be ranked in the prestigious Princeton Review
Strong industry links
Highly employment relevant with professional accreditation
and Richard Hare who built highly successful businesses in California before returning home to Scotland, and Cobra Mobile which has sold millions of copies of iBomber series. Today Dundee’s game design community is mainly characterised by highly creative, smaller teams who have the freedom to release their games directly to players through the Apple and Google app stores.
The Scottish video game industry As a creative industry, the UK video games sector – and, in particular, that in Scotland – punches well above its weight: as well as being the largest games sector in Europe, the UK is a world-class location for video game development (source: TIGA).
Dundee now has over 40 different games companies, around half of all Scottish game developers. New groups are being regularly formed and reformed as artists, designers and programmers come together for different challenges and projects, inspired to create new experiences for players all over the world to explore and enjoy.
Scotland has enjoyed a long and significant relationship with the video game industry and Dundee is Scotland’s leading city for game design and development.
Abertay University Abertay is at the centre of Dundee’s thriving computer games industry and our reputation in the field of computer games is known internationally. Abertay University is the only European university to be ranked in the prestigious Princeton Review’s 2015 list of the Top 25 Schools to Study Game Design. In the graduate list, Abertay is the only non-US institution listed, and in the undergraduate list Abertay is one of only two non-US institutions.
The city’s relationship with the industry can be traced back to the manufacture of Sir Clive Sinclair’s ZX80 computer in 1980, and the legendary ZX Spectrum that followed. DMA Design, which was founded by former Abertay student Dave Jones, created Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto before it was sold, relocated to Edinburgh and renamed Rockstar North. The multi-million selling console versions of Minecraft are all made in the city by 4J Studios, while the renowned and hugely popular game design tool GameMaker: Studio is the creation of Dundee-based YoYo Games.
All of our computer games courses are delivered through our School of Arts, Media and Computer Games where we aim to educate our students to be the innovators and ground breakers in tomorrow’s computer games and digital media industries.
Other local successes include Outplay Entertainment, the social and mobile game studio created by brothers Douglas
We have strong links with major companies and through those links we ensure that people from industry are directly
involved in delivering part of all our courses. We offer a wide range of courses, ranging from games programming at the science and technology end, to narrative-based animation at the arts end.
under the guidance and mentorship of computer games industry representatives, students will develop professional skills and knowledge relevant to identified development roles within the industry.
Abertay’s courses are Creative Skillset accredited courses, more than any other institute, and the School of Arts, Media and Computer Games has itself been awarded Creative Skillset Media Academy status. Analysis of graduate destinations demonstrates that graduates of Creative Skillset accredited courses are getting some of the best creative jobs, and are more likely to get a job after their course (source: Creative Skillset). In addition, the Scottish Government designated Abertay University as the Scottish University Centre for Excellence in Computer Games Education. This important centre operates within the School.
Within the core curriculum, two modules provide the overarching framework: Innovative and Professional Development, and a Project. In the first, students research innovation topics and write papers. They construct a personal development plan, justifying their choice and selection of non-core curriculum elements to relate to their target profession.
MProf Games Development Our Masters in Professional Practice (MProf ) in Games Development was developed to provide an enhanced and different mode of education to that traditionally available to students: a key component being the involvement of professionals from the industry and associated communities of practice in both programme delivery and assessment of student work. Students learn within the Centre for Excellence, a studio-based environment specially designed to reflect the real-world industry enviroment. As postgraduate students, highly-talented individuals work within game development teams towards the production of innovative computer games solutions. Working closely with a team of full-time staff who are highly-experienced in both the games industry and in academic teaching, and
In the project, students work in mixed profession teams to create game prototypes that are sufficiently complete to attract production investment with a view to commercialisation. Throughout the process of prototype development teams are mentored and supervised by ‘real world’ game developers, drawn from the School’s Industrial Advisory Group. We consider this to be a ‘simulated workplace’ and it forms the primary arena for developing skills. The Industrial Advisory Group consists of representatives from some of the most significant and well known games developers such as Sony, Ubisoft and Codemasters, as well as education stakeholders such as external examiners and Creative Skillset. In addition, an annual conference is held for MProf degree students. At this event, keynote speakers present topics drawn from their industrial perspective and our students present their innovation papers for critical appraisal by industry experts.
Case study – Sophia George
Case study – Guerilla Tea MProf graduates Charlie Czerkawski, Mark Hastings, Matt Zanetti and Alex Zeitler founded Guerilla Tea after coming together during their studies. Their successes as a studio led to a partnership with Cancer Research UK to design and design Play to Cure: Genes in Space in collaboration with the charity’s scientists. When playing this fun and interactive spaceship game, people simultaneously analyse Cancer Research UK’s gene data, highlighting genetic faults which can cause cancer – and ultimately help scientists develop new treatments.
Sophia George joined the MProf Games Development after winning Abertay’s Dare to be Digital competition, and during her time on the course she also won the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award. Immediately after graduating she founded her own company to self-publish her BAFTA-winning game Tick Tock Toys, which was downloaded over 150,000 times worldwide. She then successfully applied to the Victoria and Albert Museum as its first ever Game Designer in Residence. During her residency in London, Sophia drew inspiration from Strawberry Thief, a William Morris furnishing fabric on display in the V&A’s Britain 1500-1900 galleries. Sophia researched her game between October 2013 and March 2014 in the V&A, before returning to Abertay University to develop the game with other Abertay graduates. As the player drags their finger across the screen, it leaves a trail for the bird to follow – and each section of the pattern it flies over then transforms from a pencil sketch to the coloured pattern.
Players must guide a fast-paced spaceship safely along a hazard-strewn intergalactic assault course to collect precious material called ‘Element Alpha’. Each time the player steers the spaceship to follow the Element Alpha path, this information is fed back to Cancer Research UK scientists – cleverly providing analysis of variations in gene data. Scientists need this information to work out which genes are faulty in cancer patients – so they can develop new drugs that target them, speeding our progress towards personalised medicine. Each section of gene data will be tracked by several different players to ensure accuracy. The game is available for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Animations and music from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra gradually bring Morris’ pattern to life in an experience designed for players of all ages. Strawberry Thief is available for free download on iPad from the Apple App Store. The University of Abertay Dundee is a charity registered in Scotland, No: SC016040.