The document discusses the design of a holistic game development curriculum that focuses on transferable technical skills needed by the game industry. It emphasizes teaching skills like programming, mathematics, computer graphics, and physics that are applicable not just to games but other fields. The curriculum combines theoretical and practical learning, and adapts to changes in technology. It aims to avoid being too narrowly focused on games alone and ensures students develop long-term employable skills for both game and non-game industries.

1. Holistic Game Development Curriculum
Ben Kenwright
Abstract
This article discusses the design and implementation of a holis-
tic game development curriculum. We focus on a technical de-
gree centred around game engineering/technologies with transfer-
able skills, problem solving, mathematics, software engineering,
scalability, and industry practices. In view of the fact that there is
a growing skills shortage for technically minded game engineers,
we must also be aware of the rapidly changing advancements in
hardware, technologies, and industry. Firstly, we want a synergistic
game orientated curriculum (for a 4-year Bachelor’s programme).
Secondly, the organisation and teaching needs to adapt to future
trends, while avoiding tunnel vision (too game orientated) and sup-
port both research and industry needs. Finally, we build upon col-
laborations with independent experts to support an educational pro-
gramme with a diverse range of skills. The curriculum discussed in
this article, connects with a wide variety of subjects (while strength-
ening and supporting one another), such as, programming, mathe-
matics, computer graphics, physics-based animation, parallel sys-
tems, and artificial intelligence. All things considered, the develop-
ment and incorporation of procedures into a curriculum framework
to keep up with advancements in game technologies is important
and valuable.
Collaborative learning Computing education programs Contextual
software domains Virtual worlds software
Keywords: game development, education, curriculum, teaching,
degree, technologies, holistic, learning
Concepts: •Applied computing → Education; •Social and pro-
fessional topics → Computing education; •Software and its engi-
neering → Software organization and properties;
1 Introduction
Technical Game Skills Core skills are essential, such as, maths
and physics, which we use all the time (not just for game develop-
ment). These essential skills need to be taught well from the begin-
ning. This is coupled with the gaming industry’s growing technical
skills shortage. Not to mention, the game industry’s global contri-
bution is predicted to reach $113 billion by 2018 [Collmus et al.
2016; Cappelli 2015]. People often forget that the gaming indus-
try is such a fast-paced sector that is continually changing due to
rapidly evolving digital technologies. Essential skills not only in-
clude mathematics and computer graphics, but the ability to adapt
and problem solve - technical abilities which are desperately needed
by industry. In summary, when designing and teaching a technical
game curriculum, we need to think of the future - skills needed that
will push the next generation of entertainment, especially with the
Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for
personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are
not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies
bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-
party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact
the owner/author(s). c 2016 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).
SA ’16 Symposium on Education, December 05-08, 2016, Macao
ISBN: 978-1-4503-4544-6/16/12
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2993352.2993354
dawn of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) on the
horizon [Fowler 2015; Akc¸ayır et al. 2016].
Overview To meet tomorrows skills needs, we present a technical
game degree with a unified structure. Modules work in ‘synergy’ to
complement and energise the overall curriculum. We avoid piggy-
backing or lumping the game syllabus onto an existing curriculum
(i.e., adding a single game module onto a generic computer science
degree). At the same time, we want to ensure the bigger picture
is taken into account - that is, avoid being too specialised (tunnel
vision) with everything having a ‘game’ focus. That is to say, in re-
cent years, game development degrees have picked up a stereotype
(i.e., game engineers are only able to work for game studios), which
we want to avoid. Having said that, we want to teach transferable
skills and ensure long term students employability prospects. Grad-
uating students should not be bottlenecked into a game only career.
For example, mathematics, good engineering practices, and com-
puter graphics are valuable skills in multiple disciplines (medical,
banking, engineering, and robotics) [Hoidn et al. 2014].
As shown in Figure 2, the modules have well defined dependencies
- skills from each year feed-forward. This structure provides a sup-
portive collaboration between otherwise independent topics. For
example, mathematics and programming principles are essential for
computer graphics. The course has 20+ teaching staff directly in-
volved in lecturing, tutoring, and demonstrating (practical-lab ses-
sions). However, the course and modules are overseen by the pro-
gramme leader (high-level view). Not to mention, the course and
modules are constantly monitored through feedback from students
and lecturers to provide insight into the overall holistic energy of
the programme (feedback is through anonymous module question-
naires, student representatives, and national student survey results).
The university is located in the capital of Scotland (Edinburgh - City
of Culture) - an ideal learning environment for students; with inter-
nationally recognised studios on the doorstep (e.g., Rockstar and
Disney). Coupled with a whole range of experts involved in teach-
ing and research at the university. Not to mention, the university’s
active involvement with the gaming community (events), student
union societies, and access to specialist hardware/tools. This has
paid dividends over the years, since graduating students, in recog-
nition of their hard work, have won industry prizes and published
at conferences - as well as employability statistics, with students
going onto work at internationally recognized studios; and further
education (research positions/PhDs).
Figure 1: Strategy - Year-by-year programme strategy.
To give a brief overview, the course includes:
• solid mathematical grounding
• learning and application of the latest APIs, such as Vulkan,
OpenGL and DirectX to get the most out of the hardware

2. Figure 2: Flow Diagram - BSc Games Development Programme for 15/16. (Dotted lines indicating optional components for the year. Level
07 indicates the 1st year and level 10 the final 4th year).
• computer graphics and renderers (i.e., current and future tech-
niques - rasterization and raytracers), so that students understand
techniques used in modern games and applications
• analysis of game engineering techniques and development - map-
ping solutions to hardware while also providing a toolset for de-
signers and artists
• visual and physical effects, such as, realistic real-time simulation
of cloth, fur, and hair
• animation and behaviour modelling, including steering algo-
rithms and crowd simulation
2 Previous & Current Programme Structure
(Evolution)
The curriculum has been updated over the years to align with the
growing industrial needs and changing technologies. What is more,
while the course supports a wide range of skills, we structure and
align the subjects to complement one another. The game degree
began its life back in 2009, and has gone from strength to strength
over the years. With the course curriculum combining both the the-
oretical and practical aspects (such as, formal lectures, tutorials,
workshops, and practical labs), as well as, the integration of vir-
tual tools, such as Moodle.org and Progzoo.net. This is supported
by a custom game-lab where students have access to high specifica-
tion computers and specialist equipment (e.g., PS4s, PS3s, PSVitas,
and Oculus Rifts). All things considered, the curriculum’s design
pattern has and is founded on the strategy of achieving excellence
by exploiting a holistic oriented paradigm rather than a separate or
disjunct overview of the individual components (i.e., modules).
This paper’s contribution lies in emphasising the synergistic impor-
tance in game orientated curriculums for training students in tech-
nical transferable skills for both video games and other industrial
needs. In light of this, there has been other research that has fo-
cused on similar goals. This includes Peng [Peng 2015] who was
one of the first to presented an introductory view of video game
courses and how they need to embrace both technical and artis-
tic qualities, while Guimaraes and Murray [Guimaraes and Murray
2008] presented an overview of effectively teaching game curricu-
lum material in higher education. While our approach embraces
both a general and specialist view to ensure transferable and long
term skills are captured in the curriculum. For instance, we wanted
to avoid a curriculum that was too narrowly focused on games. As a
large majority of the skills and principles are applicable to multiple
areas, like computer graphics, animation, physics, artificial intelli-
gence, and security. In summary, our approach presents a stream-
lined education solution for a game development curriculum that
we hope will bring reform into current educational systems.
3 Programme Details
3.1 Curriculum
Our programme focuses on the technical aspect of game develop-
ment (i.e., compared to the artistic or abstract). We wanted to avoid
making the curriculum too ‘rigid’. For example, students who come
onto the course, with a solid background in mathematics, would
benefit more from doing other modules to enhance their knowledge
instead of repeating the mathematics material (see Figure 2). Fur-
thermore, student cohort sizes are usually limited to between 20-30
students (to maintain quality).
From the beginning, a concurrent view of learning is applied (ma-
terial is shared between modules to complement and enhance the
absorption). With this in mind, we encourage and develop the abil-
ity to ‘problem solve’ (less spoon feeding). This is supported by
the fact that we avoid teaching a ‘single’ programming language
for the entire degree - as the ability to work with different tools and
API (e.g., python, Java, C++, HTML) is important (learn new lan-
guages and ideas easily). Likewise, the skills taught in modules are
not just ‘game’ focused - and students need to understand that the
tools and techniques in the game industry are used in multiple dis-
ciplines (this gives a broader view). To put it another way, we want
to cultivate a range of essential skills.
As discussed, the programme covers a wide range of disciplines.
This is supported by expert (staff who are internationally recog-
nized in the field) who are able to provide resources and teaching
of the latest material (consistent and up to date curriculum). The
curriculum is split into four years as shown in Figure 4. Initial years
form the foundation of common (or core) computing concepts, such
as, mathematics, object orientated design, and computer systems.
We also run a number of short workshops for freshmen students to
integrate them into the programme (e.g., writing papers in LaTeX,

3. using version control, developing a website/portfolio, and reading
research papers). Furthermore freshmen students are encouraged to
join societies and attend events (e.g., gaming society), which pro-
vides opportunities to meet and interact with other members of the
university (i.e., other game development students, artists, sound,
and design students).
The third and fourth years of the curriculum are more specialised
and covers more game focused modules (e.g., advanced-game en-
gineering). Notably, the course takes a ‘bottom-up’ approach to
game development. Examining the low-level concepts and indi-
vidual components separately before bringing them all together to
construct games and tools. Compared to a ‘top-down’ approach
which examines completed games and reverse engineers them to
work downwards (i.e., pulling it apart and looking at the pieces).
In addition to programming and game design, the students also do
peer review, group work, presentations, exams, and technical writ-
ing on a regular basis. Students are taught to work independently
and collaborative (i.e., group projects), while working with other
departments (e.g., sound, art, and creative media students) to de-
velop interdisciplinary skills and promoting global understanding
(sharing and learning advanced digital technology and engineering
from other sectors).
To name but a few of the 20+ experts directly involved in the course
(teaching and supporting the students):
• Ben Kenwright - Programme Leader, Physics, Computer Graph-
ics
• Prof. Kenny Mitchel (also Head Disney Research UK)
• Kevin Chalmers - Programming Fundamentals, Concurrent &
Parallel Systems
• Andrew Cumming - Software Development, Algorithms & Data
Structures
• Kathryn Stewart - Foundation Mathematics
• Neil Urquhart - Software Development, Computational Intelli-
gence
• Alastair Soutar - Software Engineering Methods, Group Projects
• Sally Smith - Mobile Applications Development
Figure 3: Statistics - Recent recruitment and retention numbers.
3.2 Educational Resources
The course is not just about making games. There is the presence
and access to experts at the university (i.e., both professors and re-
searchers). Extra curricular activities/workshops are included for
students who want to go above and beyond (working on game con-
soles or small research tasks) (see Figure 5). The programme has
a maximum permitted number of students (i.e., quota) due to lim-
ited resources (i.e., size of the game lab and teaching hours). We
wanted to avoid ‘bulk’ teaching, which would sacrifice quality for
numbers - we wanted to ensure each student is supported through
their studies (see Figure 3). Limiting numbers enables us to avoid
void poor-quality training and a ‘sausage factory’ like course (i.e.,
students leaving with the inability to obtain a job with their qualifi-
cation). In 2015 the game-lab was extended to allow for additional
high-specification computers, study areas, computer and hardware
upgrades to account for the growing demand for the course. Often
the problem is not the number of people applying for the course,
which can be quite high, but the quality of the applicants (i.e., they
need to have a good grounding in mathematics).
3.3 Research (Honours) Projects
The final year (i.e., 4th year) honours project gives students a
chance to work on a substantial piece of work from start to fin-
ish (involving a poster, thesis and a viva at the end). The project
links researching a problem, collecting data/evidence to support the
problem, building a support case, documenting and implementing
a proof of concept solution/experiments. Previous project titles in-
clude:
• Soft body dynamics on the GPU using shells
• Game physics engine analysis and development
• Poxels: polygonal voxel environment rendering
• Fluid simulations in games
The honours projects are intense and challenging - however, they
provide a solid piece of portfolio evidence (crown) for the accu-
mulated students hard work over the years. On multiple occasions,
students have won prizes, gone on to do publications, and been ac-
cepted for talks/workshop events (share their experiences).
3.4 Academic & Industry Collaboration
Guest lecturers visit and give talks on real-world examples (i.e.,
both from research and past experiences working on shipped titles).
The course has an industry panel (steering committee) - a collection
of experts from industry (e.g., NVidia, AMD, and Disney), who
provide insight and advice on current and future teaching/research.
The industrial and academic collaboration is essential, as pointed
out by other universities courses [Mikami et al. 2010]. For example,
the course constantly engages with industry, NVidia Teaching Cen-
tre [NVidia 2016], Skillset Accreditation [Skillset 2016], British
Computer Society (BCS) [BCS 2016], Sony Playstation First [Sony
2016], guest lecturers, that provide access and insight into the latest
tools, technologies and state of the art techniques.
For example:
• Sony Playstation First Partnership - Access to commercial hard-
ware and software (e.g., PS3/PS4/Vita)
• Nvidia Teaching Centre - Support and equipment from Nvidia
and access to Webinars and online material. Input from experts
within Nvidia who are active within the industry, such as, Phil
Scott (NVidia)
• Collaborate with AMD (NDA Research Projects) - e.g., Also get
support from experts on the course from, such as, Richard Huddy
who is AMD’s - Chief Gaming Officer
4 Evaluation & Conclusion
The game industry has and will continue to grow. A strong curricu-
lum that builds life-long skills (i.e., technical problem solving abil-
ities) is significant and valuable. This should be supported by both
industrial and academic collaborations (not just theoretical) with
access to state of the art hardware and facilities. As we have dis-
cussed, the atmosphere of the course is also a crucial factor. Since
a positive and supportive environment with fall-back mechanisms
helps students (e.g., societies, study areas, and student support ser-
vices) to cope with the work-load (i.e., steep learning curves and

4. Figure 4: Examples - (a) Writing technical reports (LaTeX/Citations/Writing Styles), (b) interactive simulations, (c) game labs are organised
for social working (e.g., round clusters for events and discussion) - including white boards around all sides, high specification computers
(dual-monitors), meeting areas, and (d) access to state of the art hardware, Oculus Rift [Oculus 2016], Playstation development kits [Sony
2016], and Microsoft Kinect [Microsoft 2016] (integrated into games and demos).
tight deadlines). All things considered, as we have discussed in
this article, a unified view of the curriculum promotes synergy for
success.
The overall course attempts to provide a holistic focus to train and
support student to be their best. While the course is constantly push-
ing the bar higher, we also give students all the tools they need to
get over it (rise to the challenge). Not just to teach students to mem-
orize material but to develop life-long skills, such as, the ability to
adapt and problem solve. This is supported through a diverse range
of teaching techniques, both active and passive, group work, prac-
tical labs, tutorial sessions, and blended learning (i.e., technologies
with traditional classroom pedagogical methods).
In conclusion, universities across the United Kingdom are reviewed
based on published statistics which evaluate the effectiveness of the
universities as a whole, departments, and individual courses, in ar-
eas, of student satisfaction, employability, research, and facilities
(e.g., National Student Survey). In light of this, the course was a
leader in the school of computing across all the area (typically os-
cillating around the 90%).
5 Future Developments
Get students more involved in research (i.e., at an early stage) - high
academic value. Closer ties with industry (collaborative projects).
Open to the public (run events and have students share their knowl-
edge). Greater emphasis on ‘life-long’ skills - ability to adapt and
learn new tools and techniques. Integration of digital tools to en-
hance learning (e.g., virtual reality - such as, Oculus Rift and Mi-
crosoft HoloLens).
References
AKC¸AYIR, M., AKC¸ AYIR, G., PEKTAS¸, H. M., AND OCAK,
M. A. 2016. Augmented reality in science laboratories: The ef-
fects of augmented reality on university students laboratory skills
and attitudes toward science laboratories. Computers in Human
Behavior 57, 334–342.
Figure 5: Virtual Reality Room - Students have access to a whole
range of exiting and immersive media to help them with their studies
(i.e., projects and learning) - such as, a Virtual Reality Room - with
touch-screen devices around the room for collaborative working.
BCS. 2016. British Computer Society (BCS). URL:
http://accreditation.bcs.org (accessed: 26/05/2016).
CAPPELLI, P. H. 2015. Skill gaps, skill shortages, and skill mis-
matches evidence and arguments for the united states. ILR Re-
view, 0019793914564961.
COLLMUS, A. B., ARMSTRONG, M. B., AND LANDERS, R. N.
2016. Game-thinking within social media to recruit and select
job candidates. In Social Media in Employee Selection and Re-
cruitment. Springer, 103–124.
FOWLER, C. 2015. Virtual reality and learning: Where is the
pedagogy? British journal of educational technology 46, 2, 412–
422.
GUIMARAES, M., AND MURRAY, M. 2008. An exploratory
overview of teaching computer game development. Journal of
Computing Sciences in Colleges 24, 1, 144–149.

5. HOIDN, S., K ¨ARKK ¨AINEN, K., ET AL. 2014. Promoting skills for
innovation in higher education: A literature review on the effec-
tiveness of problem-based learning and of teaching behaviours.
Tech. rep., OECD Publishing.
MICROSOFT. 2016. Microsoft kinect. URL:
https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/kinect (ac-
cessed: 26/05/2016).
MIKAMI, K., WATANABE, T., YAMAJI, K., OZAWA, K., ITO,
A., KAWASHIMA, M., TAKEUCHI, R., KONDO, K., AND
KANEKO, M. 2010. Construction trial of a practical education
curriculum for game development by industry–university collab-
oration in japan. Computers & Graphics 34, 6, 791–799.
NVIDIA. 2016. NVidia Research. URL:
https://research.nvidia.com (accessed: 26/05/2016).
OCULUS, V. 2016. Oculus rift-virtual reality headset. URL:
http://www. oculusvr. com (accessed: 26/05/2016).
PENG, C. 2015. Introductory game development course: A mix
of programming and art. In 2015 International Conference on
Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI),
IEEE, 271–276.
SKILLSET. 2016. Creative skillset. URL:
http://creativeskillset.org/creativeindustries/games (accessed:
26/05/2016).
SONY. 2016. Playstation First. URL:
http://develop.scee.net/academic/playstation-first (accessed:
26/05/2016).