GD2D02 - Professional Practice (Games Design) 01 Sep 2018 - 31 Aug 2026 | Version 1

Associated Module Information

Module Code: GD2D02
Module Title: Professional Practice (Games Design)
Faculty: Faculty of Business and Creative Industries
Faculty Group: Games and Design
Faculty Sub Group: Games
Module Leader: Dann Rees
Module Team: Jackson Rolls-Gray, Jan Palka, Emma Marshman
First Intended Intake: SEP 2018 Final Year of Intake:
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 40 Credit Level: 5
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 101268 - computer games design
HECOS Code Weighting: 100

Document Version Information

Version 1
Valid From 01 Sep 2018
Valid To 31 Aug 2026

Module Aims

1. To familiarise students with the principles of working creatively under the restriction of pre-determined project briefs.

2. To provide insights into methodologies, procedures and day-to-day working practices within games production.

3. To provide students with an experience of working in a professional context, liaising with clients or employers, and contributing as an effective team member.

4. To allow students to gain further knowledge of the games industry by researching potential job roles and career opportunities.

Content Summary

Engagement with industry is seen as a key aspect of contemporary education. Within the computer games sector this is of particular importance as students need to be able to communicate ideas clearly and demonstrate their creative, technical and transferable skills.

Working on a client-mediated brief, students will create a game that fulfils the vision provided. Students will design and produce a game, which responds to the brief, fully utilising the resources and skills available to them. Working in teams, students engage with the project in a professional manner, holding regular team meetings and report individual progress as required by the producer.

It will be essential that good communication between team members is maintained throughout the assignment, as this is often a key reason why projects fail. Students will need to research the creative and technical aspects of the production, demonstrating a professional approach throughout. Procedures for resolving creative differences, work allocation, time management, resource allocation and team co-ordination will need to be established, as this will form a substantial element of the leaning achieved during this module.

A series of supervised team-meetings will support students with collaborative working practices and monitor the progress of each team. There will be an emphasis placed strongly on each student’s ability to manage workloads, prioritise tasks and organise work flows, demonstrating a positive contribution towards the team effort. These simulation exercises will provide students with opportunity to develop their technical competencies and communication strategies when working with others.

Students are encouraged to investigate more broadly the games development process and the job roles typically associated with games design. This is to enhance their ability to appraise their performance in preparation for future graduate employment opportunities

There is an expectation that students will demonstrate the ability to be self-directed acquiring new knowledge when needed and producing work to a pre-determined schedule throughout the module.

Students may also propose a relevant work-based placement as an alternative project.

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Project supervision 6
Supervised time in studio/workshop 42
Work based learning 70
Independent Study 144
Directed Study 90
Formative Assessment - Scheduled 16
Active/Simulation Based 32
Total Hours Selected 400

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Participate professionally within a team, accepting the need to work flexibly and taking collective responsibility for their own work and that of others.
LO2 Reflect upon the nature of professional practice within games design and identify the gaps between their current skills and the expectations of potential employers.
LO3 Reflect upon the way their role has contributed towards professional practice within the module, using this to identify future personal/professional development.
LO4 Develop and critically appraise an action plan of their experience and skills, reviewing it within the context of a graduate recruitment process and informed by their career plans and aspirations.

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Asynchronous Assessment Self Reflective Assessment 1 A reflection upon the module, and discussion about planning for future learning. 0 2000 20 No 40
Asynchronous Assessment Project Output 1 To include all practical artefacts from the production of the brief, annotated and discussed against project milestones. 0 N/A 80 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4
Self Reflective Assessment 1
Project Output 1

Reading List

Sellers, M. and Safari Books Online (Firm) (2017) Advanced game design: a systems approach. Boston: Addison-Wesley.

Clark, O. (2014) Games as a service: how free2play design can make better games. First edition. New York: Focal Press.

Pulsipher, L. (2012a) Game design: how to create video and tabletop games, start to finish. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company.

Macklin, C. and Sharp, J. (2016) Games, design and play: a detailed approach to iterative game design. First edition. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Banks, J. (2013) Co-creating videogames. London: Bloomsbury.

TIGA (2018). Available at: https://tiga.org/.

UK Interactive Entertainment (2018) Welcome to Ukie. Available at: http://ukie.org.uk/.

Creative Skillset (2018) Games - Creative Industries - Creative Skillset. Available at: https://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/games.

Reynolds, G. (2012a) Presentation zen: simple ideas on presentation design and delivery. 2nd ed., rev. & updated. Berkeley, Calif: New Riders.