Programme Specification Every taught course of study leading to a UAL award is required to have a Programme Specification. This summarises the course aims, learning outcomes, teaching, learning and assessment methods, and course structure. Programme Specifications are developed through course validation and are formally approved by UAL Validation Sub Committee (VSC). They are available to prospective students through the course web page, and must be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure currency of information (for example, following any modifications or local developments). Awarding Body Professional, Statutory or Regulatory Body (PSRB) University of the Arts London (UAL) N/A Teaching Institution London College of Communication Final Award Length of Course MA Games Design 4 Terms / Full Time Date of production/revision August 2017 Master of Arts Games Design is a full-time practice-led course that explores both the practice and theory of games design in a critical and experimental context. You will investigate the production of game experience in an era with unparalleled opportunities for skilled game designers. MA Games Design will enable you to understand and articulate the unique value of game experience to an increasingly interested design industry and allow you to understand the value of your game. Building on LCC's resources, in digital, timebased and interactive media alongside printmaking, graphic design and visual communication, the course encourages experimental and reflective practice that echoes the cross media nature of the design, communication and media industries. You will critically examine the concept of play to conceptually frame the practice of games design. You will produce playable prototype gaming experiences and use games design as a means to test critical ideas from broader culture. You will also explore how games design principles are being used more generally and how these ideas impact upon our increasingly digital culture. You will graduate with a fundamental understanding of what a game is, how one is made, how one can be tested conceptually alongside an understanding of games as significant cultural artefacts. To support the integration of theory and practice practical projects and technical workshops will be run in tandem with theoretical and critical seminars in order to support the relationship between theoretical and practice based learning key to study at MA level. 1
Professional practice is further supported through the development of a portfolio of work and digital skills that place you in a position to work as a games designer in both small independent studio context and also ensures you can contribute in a larger games production environment. The course also supports you in progression to research at MPhil/PhD level. The design of the course meets the terms and conditions for the award of the title of Master of Arts in Games Design as approved by the University of the Arts London. Course Aims The aims of the course identify the rationale underlying the student s educational experience and own personal achievement from studying on the course and its affect upon the student s long term achievement and career. This course aims to: Build your individual capacity to develop as a leader in the field of games design by providing you with the opportunity to develop as a professional practitioner. Provide you with the opportunity to produce games that use critical ideas to develop innovative and culturally astute practice enabling you to use ideas emanating from other domains of knowledge in designing game experience. Enable you to produce games designed using processes widely used in industry and professional practice by providing you with the opportunity to work with a range of media in the production and dissemination of games. Enable you to understand games as cultural artefacts that are at the forefront of new and distributed collective experience. Provide you with the opportunity to identify and develop your individual area of expertise within the field of games design. Enable you to solve problems with self-direction and originality, in the production of experimental games by developing your ability to work with game experience in a self-directed and brief-led context. Develop your ability to employ rigour in the analysis, synthesis and evaluation of games design theory and practice, through the completion of a major project. Course Outcomes 2
The course enables the student to demonstrate the following subject knowledge and understanding, intellectual and academic skills, practical subject skills, key attributes and transferable skills. The outcomes that you will have demonstrated upon completion of the course, are: Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the field of games design through advanced practice. (Subject Knowledge, Experimentation, Technical Competence, Communication and Presentation) Demonstrate an advanced understanding of critical ideas that frame experimental games design through visual presentation and written reflection. (Research, Analysis, Communication and Presentation) Address advanced critical perspectives through game prototypes. (Research, Analysis, Subject Knowledge, Communication and Presentation, Collaborative and / or Independent Professional Working) Present complex ideas to diverse audiences in the context of professional practice. (Communication and Presentation, Personal and Professional Development) Present coherent arguments and advocate for particular game concepts. (Personal and Professional Development, Collaborative and / or Independent Professional Working) Use relevant digital and non-digital tools, platforms and processes to produce advanced game prototypes at an advanced level. (Experimentation, Technical Competence) Understand the potential of a range of software, media and workshop tools to develop complex ideas and deliver game experience at an advanced level. (Experimentation, Technical Competence, Communication and Presentation, Personal and Professional Development) Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the value of games design for other domains of knowledge and the broader design and media industries. (Research, Analysis, Subject Knowledge, Communication and Presentation, Personal and Professional Development) Learning and Teaching Methods: Provide a summary of the relevant learning and teaching methods for the course (i.e. lectures, seminars, independent learning). Lectures/Large Group Learning Workshop and Seminar Learning Academic Tutorials Individual and group critiques Individual project work Self-Directed learning 3
Assessed Assignments Technical Workshops Demonstrations Scheduled Learning and Teaching State the notional learning hours and provide a percentage breakdown of timetabled teaching and learning activities per level. This is the percentage of your time spent in timetabled learning and teaching. You are expected to study for 1800 hours over the duration of the course; below is the amount of time which is timetabled activity. The rest of your learning time will be self-directed, independent study. 28% Assessment Methods: The Portfolio of Work: This contains creative design and associated developmental artefacts produced in the process of engaging with set design briefs. This will also include live research and development blog and/or sketchbook documenting your iterative design and development process and any other specific elements required by the unit. Prepared writing: This includes academic writing i.e. thesis and dissertations, reports, critical and reflective writing any other specific forms required by the unit. Crits and presentations: Oral presentation and personal presentations of creative work are used in formative assessments on all studio units in the course to ensure you are confident about your work and get the benefit of seeing the work of your peers in a critical context. Reference Points The following reference points were used in designing the course: The College Learning and Teaching Strategy The College Assessment Strategy The UAL and College approach to Personal and Professional Development 4
Feedback from current employers in the games industry The Learning and Teaching policies of the University of the Arts London University of the Arts London Level Descriptors Framework for Higher Education Qualifications Art and Design subject benchmark statement Feedback from current students Consultation with staff team Programme Summary Programme structures, features, units, credit and award requirements: The course is divided into four terms. Each course is divided into units, which are credit-rated. The minimum unit size is 20 credits, with each term totalling 60 credits. The MA Games Design course structure involves five units, totalling 180 credits. The course is set within the college credit framework. See course diagram below for a breakdown of units and credit ratings. Distinctive features of the course: Explore Games in their Broadest Sense: The course considers games from a wide range of mediums. Knowledge and experience of games design is applied to tabletop games, digital games, social games, installation games and everything in between. The course looks at the unique and shared properties of the multifaceted aspects of the subject. Games as cultural artefacts: The course understands games as an increasingly important part of the cultural life of contemporary society. This relatively new appreciation in the canon of cultural activity is important, as it is an area where our increasing connectedness is being harnessed in radical new forms of collective cultural experience. The course provides both a practice based and critical framework with which to understand and act in this fast evolving cultural arena. Play: The notions/concepts of goal, challenge and obstacle are critically evaluated and assessed when exploring the motive forces of play in game design. This focus means that technical experimentation rests on a rigorous design understanding that is unique to games design rather than relying on cinematic tropes and/or fantastical narrative conceits. Critical Gaming: The course explores ideas from critical theory through the practice of games design. In practice this means exploring of ideas such as alienation through social technology within a game. The wider social and cultural impact of games both as artefacts and tools of experience are 5
investigated through this critical framework. Serious Games: Games have transformed from being only a pastime, which in itself is still an important area of study, to having serious applications. This recent change increases their industrial relevance. Gamification of tasks, such as training, learning or for the purposes of increasing customer interaction or reducing someone s perception of pain during an operation have serious consequences and the ethical issues that need to be considered are explicitly explored. Future leadership of the games industry: The course aspires to create the future leaders of the games industry specifically by coupling the rigor of academics study, cultural awareness and critical thought with a methodological, technically astute and practice-based design approach. This aims to produce practitioners who are able to understand the potential of game experience and to become leaders who change the trajectory of the games industry. Games Design as creative discipline & experimental practice: The course explicitly recognises games design as a creative discipline. This is in recognition of that fact that games designers have carved out a careers building their own games for a range of platforms, environments and user types. The course is also firmly rooted in experimental practice and the course ensures that you are equipped with both a technical and critical skillset that allows you to produce a broad portfolio of innovative game prototypes. As a games design student at LCC you will also be able to take advantage of initiatives such as our games incubator, which see s students provided with funding to take casual games to market quickly upon graduation. LCC Graduate School: The course is part of the wider LCC graduate community offering access to cross disciplinary visiting speaker and Graduate community events in one of the largest PG Design and Media departments in Europe. MA Games Design students are offered access to the Graduate School Industry Mentoring Scheme, which encourages and supports postgraduate students transition from education to industry. The scheme places students and graduates (up to one year) of all disciplines with industry professionals to support their development as they enter the creative industries. Throughout the year, the Graduate School also runs a series of Industry Round Tables, putting students in front of a group of peers and professionals to share experiences, explore careers and forge connections. UAL & LCC: The University of the Arts London and the London College of Communication maintains strong industry links and delivers a world-class environment within which to study games design. You can access resources ranging from our Stanley Kubrick archive or our industry standard production resources in addition to the largest specialist library within the university. The School of Design currently has links with the BBC, Sennep, All of Us, IDEO the V&A, Creative Review, Gamesys, Channel 4, Eye Magazine, Imperial War Museum, Tate, Bloomberg, Pentagram, Samsung and is the host of London s first Maker Faire. It is this environment within the School of Design at LCC that distinguishes the course and ensures that you will benefit from 6
this long established network and move with confidence into your chosen field. Recruitment and Admissions Admission Policy/Selection Criteria Applicants are expected to demonstrate sufficient prior knowledge and experience of and/or potential in games design and/or coding and design practice to be able to successfully complete the programme of study and have an academic or professional background in a relevant subject. Candidates also need to demonstrate knowledge of the world of visual culture and be able to engage in critical discussion. Entry Requirements Applicants will need to demonstrate sufficient prior knowledge and detail experience of and/or potential in games design, and/or coding and design practice to be able to successfully complete the programme of study. Applicants also need to demonstrate a good knowledge of visual culture and be able to engage in critical discussion. Entry requirements (Home/EU/International) Applicants are expected to have an honours degree in a subject such as games design, animation, illustration, visual communication or graphic design or a closely related area, and present a portfolio of image-led work and project proposal. The course aims to appeal to art and design graduates who are interested in expanding their experience by investigating emerging areas of games design practice. However, we will consider applicants who have graduated from other related disciplines. Coding experience Entry onto the course requires that you have some experience of coding. This maybe HTML/CSS/JavaScript or others such as actionscript, Java, C++ etc. Your level of experience can be quite low, as we will upskill applicants where needed, but you need to be comfortable with learning code and understand key concepts such as 'for loops' and 'conditional if' statements. This level of experience would have been gained by studying an undergraduate multimedia course in art and design, pre-university qualifications in computer science, multimedia and/or web authoring or advanced self-taught practice of coding through free services such as codecademy.com. Alternative entry routes We welcome applicants with relevant professional and vocational qualifications, or mature students who do not have formal qualifications but do have relevant experience in industry. Students applying to this course will be expected to demonstrate a specific interest in this area of study and should have a commitment to engaging with games design. Students applying on the basis of their previous experience or wish to enter the course through the Accreditation of Experiential Learning (AEL) or Accreditation of Certificated Learning (ACL) processes and will be guided by our admissions staff. 7
Language requirements (International/EU) All classes are conducted in English. If English is not your first language, we strongly recommend you let us know your English language test score in your application. If you have booked a test or are awaiting your results, please indicate this in your application. When asked to upload a CV as part of your application, please include any information about your English test score. You can check you have achieved the correct IELTS level in English on the Language Requirements page. http://www.arts.ac.uk/lcc/courses/support-forinternational-students/ Deferring an offer: Applicants holding an offer for the coming academic year are permitted to defer their place to the following academic year, e.g. 2018/19 place deferred to 2019/20. International applicants should first meet any offer conditions and pay the deposit in order to defer. In all cases, deferred places will be held for one year. Making a deferred application: Home/EU applicants are permitted to make a deferred application, for example to the following academic year instead of the next, e.g. to 2019/20 instead of to 2018/19. Immigration regulations prevent International applicants from making a deferred application. Course Diagram Insert a course diagram which includes; units and their credit values, plus credit values per year/level, category of units (i.e. core or specialist), progression routes, years/levels of the course, any other relevant characteristics that distinguishes the course 8
Course Diagram 17/18 MA Games Design Autumn Term (Term 1 10 Weeks) Spring Term (Term 2 10 weeks) Summer Term (Term 3 10 weeks) Undergraduate Summer Period (14 weeks) Autumn Term (Term 4 10 weeks) Week 0 week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6 week 7 week 8 week 9 week 10 week 11 week 12 week 13 week 14 week 15 week 16 week 17 week 18 week 19 week 20 week 21 week 22 week 23 week 24 week 25 week 26 week 27 week 28 week 29 week 30 week 31 week 32 week 33 week 34 week 35 week 36 week 37 week 38 week 39 week 40 week 41 week 42 week 43 week 44 week 45 Week 46 Freshers Week week 47 1.1 Desigining and Prototyping(40 credits) 1.2 Understanding Gaming Experience (20 credits) Christmas Break S S 2.1 Critical Play & Experimental Development (40 credits) 2.2 Collaborative Unit (20 credits) S Easter Break 2.1 Critical Play & Experimental Development (40) con'd S PG Summer Break Independent Study/Writing Up Period Induction Week PG Overlap Period with new year intake Sept 2018 Formative assessment points will be indicated by your tutor in your unit handbooks or assignment brief 3.1 Final Major Project & Thesis (60) S = Summative Assessment Point (Your Assignment Brief will give you details on the deadline date, time and how to hand in your assignment) 3.1 Final Major Project & Thesis (60 credits) PG Shows S 9