Game Design & Development

Game Design & Development

Level
Language: English
Credits: 30 ECTS
Startmonths: Start: February
Locations: Groningen

Science and Engineering

Game Design & Development will be offered for the first time in February 2024. The programme consists of a project worth 10 credits and four electives of 5 credits each. You can find the electives that you can choose from below in the tab 'About this minor'.

Information on exchange

Project (10 EC)

Would you like to experience what it is like to work in a big team and create a game together? Do you want to learn how to use Scrum (and Scrum of Scrums) to structure a big company, so everyone can focus on their speciality? Then the Project Game Design & Development is for you: supported by coaches, you will design, develop and release a single game with the whole class. You will specialise in specific roles, such as management, production, development, art, game design or game marketing, and work in dedicated sub-teams to produce all the parts needed for a successful game launch. The project is individually assessed through a development portfolio and a Criteria Based Interview (CBI).

In this elective, you will focus on creating a portfolio ready animation(s). These could have any kind of application ranging from, but not limited to: short films, music videos, advertisements or an animated website.

Go wild and use the LED screen in the Spacelab to record a video doing a dance off against your own animated avatar! Use your work from Narrative Design and bring your story world to life! Take your creature from Creature Design and animate it for a gripping cutscene.

The goal is to comprehend the principles of animation such as sense of weight, timing and style, how to apply them to their chosen concept and explore animation techniques used in different industries.

For most of history, intelligence seemed a trait exclusive to biological life. But as machines increase in ingenuity and computing power, implementations of Artificial Intelligence (AI) come ever closer to the 'real' thing. Inventions we take for granted now seemed magical not long ago. The field of AI is evolving rapidly and revolutionising the field of Creative Media & Game Technology. New developments such as art and level generation, automatic upscaling of old textures, and deep reinforcement learning for AI have large impacts on the industry. The Artificial Intelligence elective prepares you for working in a field where new AI techniques and technologies come your way constantly. At the start of this course, you individually select an AI technology and explore its potential with research, implementation and experimentation. You create a prototype which implements the chosen technology, as well as material for a toolbox that helps future students working with the chosen technology.

Credits

Fictional worlds are filled with incredible creatures, ranging from flying reptiles that breath fire, to long-legged bugs that carry people around. These creatures bring their environments to live, especially when they seem like a natural, realistic fit there. In the Creature Design elective, you will design and build an awesome, unique creature. You will start with exploratory research including worldbuilding and sketching your idea in 2D. Finally, you will create your creature in 3D, producing an HD, portfolio-ready render of it. This course will give you all the tools to design a convincing creature, that could live in the world you have created. Give more depth and realism to your concepts, develop your 3D skills, and build up your portfolio as an artist.

Credits

Creating a game nowadays is no longer enough. Without thinking about how to make monetize your game, you have a very low chance on commercial success. This course deals with questions such as: can my game benefit from a free to play scenario or would a buy to play revenue model fit better. How ethical are the uses of micro-transaction and loot-boxes. How can we manipulate the player in spending money on your game and make him addicted to your game and should we do that (is that ethical)?

Credits

What drives you to keep playing: game mechanics or game narrative? Being able to connect your story to game mechanics creates an interactive experience that will grip your target audience. To do this, we will challenge your outlook by exploring diverse storytelling, theme, interesting characters, plot conflicts, world building, and other narrative design elements. The Narrative Design elective allows students to weave a strong narrative by looking at the entirety of their game to tell its story, including mechanics and features, while applying diverse perspectives. Ultimately, you will combine this knowledge to create a compelling Narrative Design Document with an accompanying Visualization.

Credits

One of the big issues facing games today is the amount of assets that need to be created for even the simplest of games. One way of combatting this is to use procedural generation of assets/worlds etc.The elective focuses on procedural generation of assets using different techniques. The idea is to use the computer to create assets that can be used in a game or in a rendered animation using "rules" set by the designer. An example could be city generation using modular parts created in a DCC, exported into an engine or 3d models created using geometry nodes in Blender.

Credits

The most natural way of learning is by playing. As a kid we already learn social and practical skills by playing games with others. Now education has caught up – we can use games to teach all kinds of skills and knowledge, such as training doctors to use new equipment, motivating children to learn about culture, or promoting healthy habits in teens. These kinds of developments are what we will be exploring. In the Serious Games elective, you will create a serious game to solve a real-world problem for an actual client. You will learn how to create and facilitate serious games to help others learn and grow. Throughout the course we will play serious games to get an understanding of the process, use, and outcomes of serious games, as well as how to make games that change the world for the better.

Credits

Over the past years Unreal Engine has become more prominent in the development of games, movies, and architecture. As one of the top tier game engines, Unreal Engine 5 has amazed the general audience with its open and real-time 3D creation tools. With its industry-leading lighting engine and nanite technology, game design is being pulled into the future. In the Unreal Engine elective, you will add vital skills to your portfolio that you can use in industries ranging from architecture visualisation, game development, series and movie productions. You will choose one of the offered templates and will design a product that fits within it, developing the product throughout the elective. Always wanted to learn Unreal Engine, but you've been postponing until now? Combat that and join the elective for Unreal Engine.

Credits

Before you can start

This minor is open to Hanze UAS students from Communication & Multimedia Design (CMD), Creative Media & Game Technologies (CMGT), HBO-ICT and exchange students. You should also have an affinity with Game Design, have experience with Unity or other game engines. You also have to be in the main phase of your study. A propaeduetic certificate is not required.

For questions about the content of this minor, please contact the coordinator via the ‘Contact & FAQ’ tab above.

Admission & application

Please check with your home university whether there is an agreement set up with the Hanze School that is offering the exchange programme of your choice. To apply for and be admitted for our exchange programme you should take the following steps

1. Be nominated by your home university

Once you have been nominated, your nomination will be checked by us and confirmed to your home university by email. You will receive your application link during our application period.
2. Submit your online application

Once you have been nominated by your home university you will receive a personal application link and the application instructions during our application period. The application is fully digital and documents do not have to be send by email or postal mail. Make sure you do not miss our application deadline!
3. Letter of Acceptance

Once you have submitted your application we will check your documents. If you have to re-submit any documents, we will let you know. We will be sending out Acceptance Letters from the beginning of May when you start in September and from the middle of October when you start in February.