MA/MSc Virtual & Augmented Reality

This module will introduce you to Virtual Reality (VR), an immersive, 3D computer-generated environment which can be explored using Head Mounted Displays (HMD) and controllers of various interaction and tracking capabilities.

You'll explore the theory and practice, including understanding of human perception in VR, display hardware and interaction techniques. It will include techniques to interact with and manipulate objects, the animation of human faces and bodies and Embodiment – real time agency and ownership over a virtual body in VR. It will also involve an introduction to VR graphics, 3D audio, and Haptics. It will cover a variety of applications of VR and different creative approaches to narrative. You'll have the experience of creating a complete VR experience.  

This module will introduce you to a range of contemporary research in virtual and augmented reality and related fields. You'll be asked to read several research papers of your choosing and then focus on one paper to develop in a small group. In the first half of the course, the groups will work on a mini-research project with one or two given topics. You'll either conduct an experimental study based on existing VR applications or develop a simple VR application to address your research questions. In the second half, you'll choose a specific topic and conduct a literature review in groups. You'll then take turns to give short presentations about your chosen paper, in a seminar context. Finally, you'll develop a research proposal for their final thesis, including identified research questions, basic literature review, and a workable plan.

This module will introduce you to Augmented Reality (AR), the blending of virtual (computer graphics) content with real world elements. The module will cover the theory and practice of AR, including display hardware and interaction techniques. It will include techniques to augment objects, places and human faces and bodies. It will cover a variety of applications of AR and different creative approaches. You'll have the experience of creating a complete AR experience.

This module covers the basics of 3d modelling, texturing, rigging and animation. Students will learn how to use modelling software to create a range of 3D rigid body assets varying from buildings to vehicles to household objects to vegetation to roads and terrain, etc. Lighting and texturing will be taught as well as simple rigging and animation workflows.

At the end of the module, the students will be able to use Industry standard export pipelines, to integrate the assets they have created into simple prototype projects in a game engine (such as Unity or Unreal).

You will learn:

• Navigation in 3d space, primitives and hierarchies
• Hard surface poly modelling
• Modelling from reference and concept art
• Ligh8ng and simple shader workflows
• Animation principles, forward and inverse kinematics
• So; body modelling
• Simple low poly character, skinning and rigging
• Simple character animation, walk cycles
• Export pipelines using Ox and obj formats

In this module, you'll learn foundational game technologies through practical in-engine work.  We'll explore the concepts underlying the functioning of a typical videogame and the operational pipeline to produce interactive content in a game engine with a minimal amount of coding. 

The creation of digital games as well as interactive experiences of various natures needs to be supported by an understanding of the technical aspects as well as by the knowledge of a typical development pipeline.

The development of an interactive experience doesn’t stop at coding. but it involves a series of visual tools and technology that work in concert towards the final outcome. Whatever the game engine is used in a studio or in a project, the underlying skills and concepts needed to create a satisfying product are common. 

This module focuses on the understanding of the visual tools used in game engines and on the use of them to create an interactive experience and aims to give students the tools for easily move to different creation environments, by making them experience concepts like cameras, composition, interactivity, animation and greyboxing. 

The first part of the module will introduce you to the general elements of a game engine. One side is exploring how we visualise and animate objects with a computer and the other is how we formalise these elements through the concept of classes, instances and components. You'll also understand what a game loop is, and the difference between frame-based and time-based approaches. At the same time, you'll work on simulated physics, sensors and collisions. 

The second part will give you an understanding of the visual tools of a typical game engine, ranging from the UI builder to camera management and animation systems, to simple shaders and VFXs with a particular focus on visual scripting. You'll learn how to integrate and control these aspects with minimal code, and which hybrid visual/coding approach is best suited for creating small games and prototypes. 

The lab part of the module offers in-lab challenges and tutorials finalized to the creation of a final small interactive experience based on a given brief. 

This module covers the basics of multi-platform game development, using one of the most popular game engines in the world: Unity. You'll learn the fundamentals of C#, which is used to implement everything from your game logic to character controllers. 

At the end of the module, you'll be able to create your very own game and publish it on different platforms.

This module teaches you the basics of the theoretical and practical concepts of mathematics, algorithms and coding needed to understand and develop modern graphics applications for games, VR/AR and entertainment systems and graphics applications. 

The module is focused on mathematics fundamentals for 2D and 3D graphics, starting with concepts from Linear Algebra (with a focus on vectors, matrices and their applications in games, graphics and VR/AR), elements of procedural graphics, including L-systems and fractals are also introduced. 2D, 3D and 4D mathematics is covered, including homogeneous coordinates (to cover perspective projections and translations), and complex numbers and quaternions (useful in 3D rotations and animations).

This module covers the basics of multi-platform game development, using one of the most popular game engines in the world: Unity. You'll learn the fundamentals of C#, which is used to implement everything from your game logic to character controllers. 

At the end of the module, you'll be able to create your very own game and publish it on different platforms.

This module builds on the previous introduction to Modelling and Animation and engages the student in a range of harder and more expert problems. Students will be expected to build a rich 3D fantasy world of their own design, with objects such as fantasy buildings and architecture and assets suitable for importing into a 3D games engine world. Working from their concept art in a selected game genre, students will learn how to model characters within poly budgets, UV texture then rig them to create animated walk and run cycles with blended set key moves, using Inverse Kinematics, Physics, cloth, fluids and AI packages where necessary. 

Lessons will cover the following:

• Nurbs surface modelling and texturing
• SoN body modelling of human forms.
• Using industry-standard texturing workflows - Complex UV mapping and substance painter
• Using Constraints, deformers, driven keys, Kinema3cs and Spline IKs and vehicle rigging
• Complex Animation Walk and Run cycles, baked anima3on, trax editor and animation export
• Paint Effects, Particles, Dynamics, Dynamic Effects, Fluids and nCloth clothing

This one term long module (following the introduction module) is targeted directly at those who wish to work in the games industry. Technical and art positions at major or independent studios are difficult to secure, with many requiring tough tests and interviews. The approach is highly practical focusing on the key skills valued by employers in senior staff.

As well as focusing on the required programming the module also teaches the organisational skills required to work at a high level. Artists talking this module will benefit from knowing how the asset pipeline works.

This module is focused on the craft of game design and how to use player behaviour to maximise acquisition/retention. 

You'll study how to deconstruct games from a designer’s perspective allowing you to learn from best practice to build your own design patterns, reward cycles and hence optimise player enjoyment. We will cover how to rapidly prototype your designs using a game engine.  

We also cover design considerations for mobile, multiplayer and the use of analytics allowing you to make effective design choices.

The BBC 1960’s TV programme “It’s a Knockout” inspired the UK games developer Mediatonic to create Fall Guys. In the 1990’s, dolls houses provided the inspiration for Will Wright’s game The Sims. Kafka’s novel, ‘The Castle,’ was a major influence on the Japanese games designer, Suda 51. Thus, culture and history have had a major impact on games design innovation and provide invaluable source material and inspirational starting points for games designers and artists.

On this course, taking a games industry perspective, students will learn about the history of computer games development, art and animation, starting in Renaissance times with three-point perspective through to computer graphics in the 1960s and 70s and the emergence and growth of interactive entertainment from the games of the 80s and 90s to the VR industry today.

With a view to enhancing students’ “games design potential”, they will learn about Surrealism, Cubism, Pop Art, Dada, the History of Perspective, Computer Art, Rave Culture, Cyber Culture and Punk Rock. Creative research is then carried out by the student on these cultural themes to source ideas, images and designs that can be translated into innovative new games designs for mobile, console, VR and PC. This process uses standard games industry games design document templates.

The students then use the research methods and templates acquired to create their own original games designs based on cultural themes. Giving students a “cultural-based” games design strategy that they can use in their own games development practice to develop new and original gameplay mechanics and designs to set them apart from the competition.

A historical section of the course is games-industry-focussed, examining some of the world’s most famous games designers and also development trends and commercial drivers on an international scale and how research and creativity can be translated into commercial and indie games.

You will learn:

• Historical and cultural research methods to explore, find and select material suitable for conversion to computer games.
• Learn how to take the research outcomes and translate them into your original games designs.
• How to use and complete games industry games design templates to a professional standard.
• Create eight mini-games concept documents of your own design spanning all the cultural themes covered. This will include diagrams, sketches and drawings.
• Create a major games design document and video animatic within a fixed budget and development constraints. This will include diagrams, sketches and drawings.
• How to be an innovative games designer and researcher.

This module will introduce you to professional-grade game engines (such as Unreal) that can be used to build virtual worlds across a wide array of disciplines including games, computational arts, film, design and the sciences. You'll learn how to build and combine components of a complex 3D rendering engine, such as geometry, lighting, particle systems, 3D audio and user input, to realise your ideas.

Modern games demand a lot in terms of complex computer-generated behaviour and content. This is a single term module that teaches you a set of core concepts that you can use to build your own state-of-the-art AI systems. It focuses on practical techniques and architectures that can be directly applied in game development: pathfinding, reactive movement, behaviour trees, HTN planning, procedural content generation. It will also give you an understanding of more advanced AI concepts that are increasingly finding their way into games, such as Monte Carlo Tree Search and techniques from Machine Learning, such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs).

This module will provide you with an introduction to programming developing at a masters level. The module will introduce you to programming in the context of creative software development for creative or artistic practice. We'll cover a selection of topics, potentially including:  

• Procedural and generative drawing.
• Basic principles of programming - variables, conditionals, functions, loops.
• Compound data structures.
• Transformations and trigonometric functions.
• Basic algorithms and problem-solving techniques.
• Development of real-time, interactive software.
• Image processing techniques.
• Compound 2D shapes.
• Using external data sources.
• Using external libraries.
• Object orientated programming.

This module aims to offer you the opportunity to develop skills in applied audio and graphics programming through a series of lectures and lab sessions. You'll have practical experience with creative software development in the context of artistic practice. Sample topics delivered include:

• Using sensors and external hardware such as cameras.
• Generative algorithms.
• Approaches to data visualisation.
• Technologies and protocols for networked experiences.
• Use of diverse creative coding frameworks.

This module will expose you to state-of-the-art techniques, tools, and open questions related to creative uses of data, signal processing, and machine learning. The emphasis will be on developing hands-on skills using these techniques in creative projects, and on exploring the creative potential of these techniques. 

This module does not emphasise machine learning algorithm design or theory, or require you to implement algorithms in program code.

This will be useful if you have previously studied machine learning or data mining in a computer science context. The focus is on using data analysis, signal processing, and machine learning to work with rich media data. Many of the machine-learning techniques covered in this module are outside the scope of more conventional machine-learning and data-mining modules. For instance, we will discuss generative algorithms capable of producing new sounds and images in a given style; we will discuss “interactive machine learning” approaches that learn from very small sets of user-provided examples. 

This module also complements current offerings related to physical computing and interaction design. For instance, students can use techniques explored in this module to build richer interactions with sensors used in physical computing.

In addition, you'll identify and address ethical, social, legal and professional issues in machine learning, including how they manifest in the industry. 

This module will provide you with a detailed approach to iterative game design. From basic design tools to conceptualising, prototyping and playtesting an array of games, you'll learn how to create compelling game mechanics within playable experiences. Exploring how emotion, sensory experience, interaction design, framing and purpose unfold through game design, designers will grapple with the tools which make play compelling. Additionally, this class looks at the different kind of possible models for play such as cooperation, skill, experience, chance, whimsy, performance, expression and simulation.   

In addition to learning game design, you'll learn how to talk about and understand games. From designers working with a formalised ludic approach to artists exploring liminoid spaces within play, the range of approaches will be explored. You'll leave this class with a clear understanding of the state of games and play as well as with a lexicon on how to discuss work within this space.

What can game design learn from other forms of expression? How can we create successful playable spaces? How we can see game design in a broad way which goes beyond the digital? This module is a hands-on, practical game design lab which focuses on deep play and delivering meaning through the craft of play spaces. It explores the following topics: 

• learning how to critically analyze other forms of expression and bring those findings to games
• brainstorming, pitching and storyboarding experience design and deep games
• using metaphor in order to craft game mechanics which explore a certain topic
• experience design for spatial environments leveraging technology in multiple contexts such as theatre and museum installations
• rapid prototyping of games and playable experiences
• user testing and iteration to improve play experiences  

Leveraging student-driven experimentation, this module will provide you with an opportunity to rapidly prototype and explore different aspects of play, to craft meaningful game spaces and to understand how to bring non-game experiences to your creative practice. 

Physical Computing is of increasing interest to artists, musicians, choreographers, and other creative practitioners for the creation of novel artworks and for forms of computational interaction between these objects and people. 

There are many other applications of Physical Computing, for example in museums, ubiquitous and embedded computing, robotics, engineering control systems and Human Computer Interaction. A physical environment may be sonic, tangible, tactile, visually dynamic, olfactory or any combination of these.

The module will provide a starting point for you to build an understanding of microcontrollers, and how they fit into a wider computing and artistic context. It will cover basic physics, electronics, programming, and software engineering; alongside practical knowledge of tools such as laser cutting and 3D printing which are very commonly used in physical computing. This module will culminate in an extended project which will also give you an opportunity to plan a project over time, and make decisions as your project develops.

A large amount of data is available in electronic resources, both offline and online. This module will give a broad introduction to techniques for gathering data from electronic sources, such as databases and the internet. It will cover both fundamental ideas and the use of some of the most important currently available tools. The module will also present tools and ideas for more effectively using the internet to communicate, visualise and generate news stories. 

This module will address the fundamentals of working with motion-capture and theories behind digital embodiment. The principles explored in the module can be applied to a range of contexts that involve the human body in movement, such as video games, animations, interactive experiences, performances, social VR, training and rehabilitation, and much more. 

You'll explore both pipelines for capturing and using recorded motion data, as well as using mocap for real-time applications. You'll discover the full workflow from asset rigging to using the mocap data for animations and creating live interactions.

The module will include hands-on sessions working directly with motion capture systems, as well as guest lectures from researchers, artists and industry leaders.

The module is accessible to students with reduced mobility and assessments can be performed even on students who cannot physically wear the mocap suit.