Games Design and Creative Writing BA

Compulsory

• Games Design 1: Introduction to Game Design Core: Element 2
  This module introduces the basic principles of game design, first through board game design and then through the creation of a concept document. Sessions all feed directly into those assessments.
• Games Studies 1A: Introduction to Game Studies
  This module aims to introduce students to foundational concepts, themes and theories from within the field of Games Studies. The module will look at games and play using three perspectives: philosophy; media and cultural studies; and socio-cultural studies. The overall goal of the module is to develop the student’s understanding of foundational theories relating to the study of games and develop critical and analytical skills in the application of these theories to specific examples of games.
• Game Development 1A: Fundamentals of Prototyping
• Fiction 1: Introduction to Writing Fiction

  This module is designed to introduce students to the core elements and skills necessary for writing fiction. Aided by close reading and discussion of fiction by published writers, students will develop knowledge and understanding of core elements of the craft, such

  as character, setting, plot, dialogue, as well as key skills such as understanding audience, showing rather than telling, and writing to a specified word-count and brief. Students will practice these core competencies and also learn how to workshop their prose, developing skills for the giving and receiving of constructive feedback to enable redrafting of works-in-progress. Students will reflect upon their inspirations, reading and the development of their craft.

• Poetry 1: Introduction to Writing Poetry

  This module is designed to introduce students to the core elements and skills necessary for writing poetry. Aided by close reading and discussion of poetry by published writers, students will develop knowledge and understanding of core elements of the craft, such as the poetic line, working in form and free verse, sound and voice, as well as key skills such as concision and redrafting. Students will practice these core competencies and also learn how to workshop poems, developing skills for the giving and receiving of constructive feedback to enable redrafting of works-in-progress. Students will reflect upon their inspirations, reading and the development of their craft.

Compulsory

• Games Design 2: Mechanics & Economies
  The main aims of this module are to teach students the key concepts (including, but not limited to concepts of identification, representation, immersion, simulation, etc) and methods of analysis (including, but not limited to semiotics, aesthetics, literature, film, rhetoric, etc) that shape the interdisciplinary field of Game Studies.
• Games Studies 2: Concepts & Analysis
  The main aims of this module are to teach students the key concepts (including, but not limited to concepts of identification, representation, immersion, simulation, etc) and methods of analysis (including, but not limited to semiotics, aesthetics, literature, film, rhetoric, etc) that shape the interdisciplinary field of Game Studies.
• Professional Life

  This module aims to help you think about your future and take proactive steps towards realising your aspirations after university. At the heart of this module are four professional development activities, which you will be selecting, completing, and reflecting on. These could range from gaining work experience in a field that interests you, to volunteering, learning a language, completing business or skills development courses, publishing a website or articles on a blog, or gaining editorial or media production experience. You are encouraged to think creatively: providing that each activity is developmental for you and your tutor agrees, the sky is the limit.

Optional

• Games development 2: Methodologies and Practices
• Game Genres
  This module aims to teach students to recognise game genres through studying individual components that are genre defining. The module will look at these individual components in two phases. The first phase will look at specific thematic genres (such as horror, fantasy), which are present in film, television and games; and the second phase will focus on game-specific genres (such as role-playing games, sports and racing games).
• Games Branding & Communications
  This module aims students to specialise in communicating games to audiences, players, and the public by accompanying and following the design and production workflows. Students will also produce a portfolio that demonstrates their communications skills in professions accompanying the design of games and related fields, and will be assessed on both practical and theoretical components.
• Life Writing I
  This module aims to introduce, define and explore different forms of Life Writing eg Autobiography, Memoir, Personal essay, Narrative non-fiction, to investigate the intersections between fiction and non-fiction (and poetry), to experiment with writing in different forms of Life Writing using a range of literary techniques, and to engage with a range of Life Writing theory, particularly concerning the politics and ethics of writing lives.
• Ludomusicology
  This module introduces you to the academic study of sound and music for games. You’ll explore a range of key theoretical concepts related to musical aesthetics, semiotics, and appreciation, all with a medium-specific focus. Methods of analysis of game sound and music will also be explored, supporting the development of critical skills and creative practice.
• Setting and World Design
  You will learn the elements required to create and develop a coherent, structured setting appropriate for gameplay and gain an understanding of the creative process when working within a structured game environment (specifically one you have developed for yourself).
• Screenwriting I
  Screen Writing concentrates on the knowledge and skills that are needed to achieve at least competence in this area. It therefore aims to be a wholly practical course, which will prepare the student for the demands of this highly-competitive profession. It will make students aware of the current state of this industry and of what precisely is required in terms of craft and attitude to succeed.
• Fiction II: Writing the Short Story

  The short story is one of the most powerful and satisfying forms of writing to produce. This module focusses on writing and understanding intricate masterpieces in the short story form. We read a wide variety of powerful short stories together—by writers from across the globe, from the mundane and the moving to the strange and experimental— looking closely to help understand what techniques make them so effective, and how we can develop individual approaches to writing our own original stories in response. The exact structure changes each year, but some of the topics covered previously included: subverting and updating traditional fairy-tales; stories with unusual approaches to time; Weird Tales of the impossible and unexplainable; flash fiction; climate change fiction.

• Poetry II: Writing Contemporary Poetry

  This module is designed to build upon foundational skills and knowledge acquired on the first-year poetry module. You will continue to write in increasingly exciting new ways to

  liberate the poet within. You will also expand your awareness of work that is being produced in the current world of UK poetry, the manner in which new mediums and technologies are being employed, and the manner in which this work might challenge previous conceptualisations and traditions in the field. In conclusion, you will acquire crafting tips while trying out traditional and innovate ways to write. There is no expectation of a house style. Your own approach to poetry based on what you will have learned is all that is required. Be excited by your own work, and I (Daljit) will be excited in turn to read it.

• Writing Genre: Horror, Sci-fi and Fantasy

  This module focusses on three popular and enduring genres—horror, science fiction, and fantasy— which provide endless fascination for readers and practitioners alike. We will explore these genres via lectures, seminars (including writing workshops) and the study of classic and emerging writers from each genre. At the end, you will have written a body of work in each genre, with a core understanding of their key features. The module has featured discussion of writers such as Stephen King, Chuck Palahniuk, Angela Carter, Gwyneth Jones, William Gibson, Octavia Butler, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Brandon Sanderson, and more. Sub-genres and styles discussed include space opera, Grimdark, urban fantasy, utopian/dystopian fiction, cosmic horror, body horror, and weird fiction.

Compulsory

• Creative Writing Special Project

  This module is double-weighted and is your chance to pursue your own creative project with support from a supervisor. You’ll meet regularly with your supervisor to plan, draft, and edit your work, and there will also be Zoom sessions to support your learning throughout that focus on planning, researching, carving out time to write and more. Some students write the opening chapters to a novel and submit this along with an industry standard synopsis, having researched potential agents and publishers. Others submit poetry pamphlets, screenplays, collections of short stories, illustrated children’s books, YA novels, interactive fiction projects and more.

• Games and Creative Writing Joint Project
  This module aims to teach students to apply a comprehensive knowledge of the type of narrative and setting being designed, creating such appropriate to the game. Students will recognise and employ the formal, creative and aesthetic processes involved in the context of a large solo project.
• Games Studies 3: Theory of Games Design
  The main aims of the module are to provide you with the theoretical underpinnings to the fundamentals of game design. In understanding the principles and theories of games design, you will be able to combine your knowledge of game development and game studies developed over the course of the programme providing you with the conceptual vocabulary, methodological framework and theoretical understanding of the core concepts of design including (but not limited to) theories of fun, engagement, flow, and motivations of play.
• Major Project – Commercial Games
  In Commercial Games you will undertake their own production cycle putting into practice the skills they have learned on the course to produce a piece of work they can be proud of and potentially use as a portfolio piece. You will have the room to create a project that they take from concept to inception with guidance from tutors but ultimately in a self-managed fashion. This module will give you the support to create a design and prototype for a commercial game. You will have freedom to create a game style they want to focus on.
• FM3608 Major Project – Experimental Games
  This project will consolidate students’ understanding of conceptual game design practice and principles through the planning and execution of a large independent single game design that aims to push at the boundaries of the state of the art either in term of content, context or form, and will allow them to create a piece of work suitable for inclusion in a professional portfolio.
• Major Project – Game Assets
  This module enables students to further develop the principles covered in Asset and Story Creation 1 and 2, by developing the assets for a game over the course of an academic year. Students will be encouraged to develop a rich and cohesive game world based on a clear concept of setting. In order to meaningfully create game assets, students will need to make a game for them to be used in.
• Major Project – Team Project
  This project will consolidate students’ understanding of conceptual game design practice and principles through the planning and execution of a large game design based on the principal of designing a game for commercial release in a team environment. It will allow students to create a piece of work suitable for inclusion in a professional portfolio.
• Major Project – Traditional Games
  This project will consolidate students’ understanding of structural game design practise and principals through the planning and execution of an independent single game design for a tabletop, traditional game. It will allow students to create a piece of work suitable for inclusion in a professional portfolio.
• Major Project – Serious Games
  You will gain and understanding of conceptual game design practice and principles through the planning and execution of a large independent single game design that aims to educate or train the player in some way. You will also learn how to apply a comprehensive knowledge of the types of rules and parameters used to structure games and gameplay to judge what is appropriate for your chosen platform and game genre.
• Major Project – Film and Video Games
  The module provides an opportunity to look at the impact of video games in wider audiovisual media culture, particularly at the relationship between film and video games. As video games increasingly establish a dialogic interplay with the materiality, production, politics and aesthetics of film, the field of game studies expands requiring a theoretical re-evaluation that affects the forms and modes of the moving image. Mirroring the transmedia theoretical investment, the module provides you with the opportunity to conduct a video game analysis producing a video essay as part the assessment.
• Major Project - Practice-based Research
• Major Project - Research Dissertation

Optional

• Major Project - Commercial Games
• FM3608 Major Project – Experimental Games
  This project will consolidate students’ understanding of conceptual game design practice and principles through the planning and execution of a large independent single game design that aims to push at the boundaries of the state of the art either in term of content, context or form, and will allow them to create a piece of work suitable for inclusion in a professional portfolio.
• Major Project – Serious Games
  You will gain and understanding of conceptual game design practice and principles through the planning and execution of a large independent single game design that aims to educate or train the player in some way. You will also learn how to apply a comprehensive knowledge of the types of rules and parameters used to structure games and gameplay to judge what is appropriate for your chosen platform and game genre.
• Major Project – Team Project
  This project will consolidate students’ understanding of conceptual game design practice and principles through the planning and execution of a large game design based on the principal of designing a game for commercial release in a team environment. It will allow students to create a piece of work suitable for inclusion in a professional portfolio.
• Major Project – Traditional Games
  This project will consolidate students’ understanding of structural game design practise and principals through the planning and execution of an independent single game design for a tabletop, traditional game. It will allow students to create a piece of work suitable for inclusion in a professional portfolio.
• Major Project – Film and Video Games
  The module provides an opportunity to look at the impact of video games in wider audiovisual media culture, particularly at the relationship between film and video games. As video games increasingly establish a dialogic interplay with the materiality, production, politics and aesthetics of film, the field of game studies expands requiring a theoretical re-evaluation that affects the forms and modes of the moving image. Mirroring the transmedia theoretical investment, the module provides you with the opportunity to conduct a video game analysis producing a video essay as part the assessment.
• Games and Creative Writing Joint Project
  This module aims to teach students to apply a comprehensive knowledge of the type of narrative and setting being designed, creating such appropriate to the game. Students will recognise and employ the formal, creative and aesthetic processes involved in the context of a large solo project.
• Major Project - Practice-based Research
• Major Project - Research Dissertation
• Fiction III: Writing Modern Fiction

  This module aims to expand your understanding of all aspects of contemporary fiction. It will give you a solid grounding for your longer future creative writing projects, and also give you a chance to read and discuss a variety of fiction genres. You will analyse a range of fiction from a craft perspective which will deepen your understanding of how novels are constructed, and you can then apply this knowledge to your own fiction writing practice. Topics under discussion will also include the specific techniques involved in making your own writing more compelling such as story structure, characterisation, point of view, setting, and dialogue.

• Poetry III
• Life Writing II: Journeying the Self through Psychology and Expressive Arts

  This module gives an introduction to the field of psychology, exploring the basics of human behaviour and mental processes, important contributions to the field of psychology and the different approaches and goals of the various therapeutic orientations. Additionally, the module will introduce students to the field of creative writing for therapeutic purposes, including personal practice while studying examples of writing that illustrate the links between creativity and therapeutic outcomes. Some dramatherapy and art therapy techniques will be used during the workshop, although the primary focus is creative writing.

• Screenwriting II: Film and Television

  This module enables students to explore and develop the theory and professional practice of contemporary screenwriting. By the end of the module, students who participate in weekly assignments will produce a marketable pitch deck/series bible for a film or TV project, along with the first 15-20 pages of the script. The module is substantially practice-based and requires students to analyse screen works and scripts (including their own and peers’) from a screenwriting perspective.

• Creative Careers

  This module is focused on your professional development. It will enable you to understand the creative economy and the ways in which people develop careers within it. You will be able to plan your own career after graduation, to identify your goals and write the documents you will need to achieve them. Members of the Creative Writing department at Brunel along with visiting speakers will help you to become familiar with the creative industries through which writers reach their audience. By exploring all areas of your professional development, we will enable you to make a career plan for the next five years, to identify the opportunities and skills you will need and to research the choices you will make in the immediate future.