Game Development with Foundation Year

Kingston University

Designed for aspiring game developers, this module equips you with the core mathematics, physics, and artificial intelligence (AI) skills that modern game development relies on. Using a practical, engineering-focused approach, you’ll learn by doing. Rather than studying theory in isolation, you’ll apply it directly through hands-on design and implementation tasks, using it as a tool to solve real-world game development challenges. You will explore topics such as vectors, game motion and collisions, simulation, forces, game AI and data-driven decision making, applying them directly to interactive systems. By the end of the module, you will be able to combine technical insight with creative thinking to build innovative, intelligent and fun to play games.

This module will inspire you to think creatively about making games that are fun to play. You’ll explore the principles, methods, and tools used in the analysis and design stages of the games and software development lifecycle, with a strong emphasis on real-world industry practice. Through hands-on work, you’ll apply established game design techniques to conceptualise, develop, and refine engaging gameplay experiences, first individually, then collaboratively using an Agile team working approach to create playable game prototypes. Alongside building your creative and digital competency, you’ll strengthen essential professional skills such as pitching ideas, time management, and project planning. By the end of the module, you will have established a strong design foundation to support your portfolio development and future career in the games industry.

We designed this module to establish a foundation for key Programming Concepts. We do not assume prior experience of programming, as we know you will all have widely different levels of existing knowledge. The module is designed to be accessible to a beginner while still being exciting for an experienced coder. We are excited to be able to deliver this module using Kingston's own home-grown learning environment for programming, NoobLab. NoobLab gamifies your learning, making programming enjoyable and accessible for all existing ability levels – no other university offers this platform or unique approach to learning: You will learn a variety of programming languages. In the first few weeks, we will use visual blocks that will allow you to construct programs and focus on thinking like a programmer rather than getting bogged down in grammar and syntax. Then, with these skills established, you will learn Python, Javascript and optionally Java, solving Code Kata style programming challenges on a weekly basis. This will equip you to build a graphical card game as your capstone project for the module.

This module introduces you to modern game development, guiding you through every stage of the lifecycle from the initial concept, creating game features and mechanics through to implementation and play testing. You’ll develop core coding skills utilising languages like C++ and C#, learning to control 2D sprites, 3D models, and other essential game components. Through hands-on experience with industry-standard tools such as Unity and Visual Studio, you'll gain practical expertise in integrating assets such as sprites, models, and audio into fully interactive game worlds. By the end of the module, you will have created playable games using professional workflows, producing portfolio-ready projects that showcase your technical and creative skills.

This module is designed to allow you to master two pivotal techniques, artificial intelligence and 3D graphics rendering. This will serve as the cornerstone of your expertise in game development, enabling you to push boundaries by creating truly innovative and optimised game experiences. Instead of relying on high-level game engines, we will take you to lower-level programming, granting you a profound understanding of algorithms and techniques that underpin game development, regardless of which engine you happen to use.

This module teaches games programming using the two leading games engines – Unity and Unreal. In the first teaching block you will create a game in Unity, then in the second a game using Unreal blueprint as part of an agile games programming team. To make the games you will follow games industry best practice, including the use of Visual Studio and git as well as the game engines themselves. The module stresses the importance of portfolio building to aid employability, and also the requirement to develop software in a rigorous, professional way. It is taught with an emphasis on spending time actually making games - not just learning the theory - so there are plenty of workshops on developing your practical skills.

This module takes you on a journey from the underlying computer architecture through to modern computing approaches and methodologies. We developed this module to enhance your understanding of how modern computer systems are designed and used to meet the needs of today's computing environments.

You will learn the underlying principles of digital imaging in both its static and moving forms. The theory will be supported by workshops using professional imaging, and video editing software, as well as software tools for manipulating audio.

This module develops a range of skills in the creation of multimedia products, through the study and production of sophisticated content driven interactive material using industry-standard multimedia authoring software. You will also be taught to write computer code (script) to a high level using a scripting language in order to generate interactive content, animation, navigation and data storage/retrieval.

This module provides an immersive, studio-based simulation of creative industry practices where you work together in teams following an agile methodology to produce a computer game or media artefact. Within a professional, collaborative environment, you will be utilising advanced design and production techniques and tools including generative AI for rapid content creation, game and media design and prototyping. You use both creative and technical skills to produce, test, and publish a fully functional game or media product. This module links with the games inKUbator, providing students with an insight into the latest developments and opportunities in the creative and games industries.

This module provides you with the advanced programming skills that are sought for in the game industry. The module is taught as learning by doing and comprises both theory taught in class and applied work in the laboratory.

The Individual Project is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your skills in project management, research, analysis, critical thinking, technical skills and creativity, in relation to contemporary game development practices in industry. You will be designing and developing a game or some game technology including making use of artificial intelligence in games. Your Individual Project offers an ideal chance to specialise and develop in-depth knowledge and experience of a particular technology that excites you, building on your previous years of learning on the various core and optional modules on our Games course. The Individual Project is the capstone of your degree. Therefore, a good project will showcase your ability and aptitude for a chosen sector of the Games industry. It should form a significant part of your portfolio to impress future employers.

This module gives you a dedicated opportunity to develop your Future Skills Graduate Attributes. At the start of the module, you will be supported to self-assess your current skills profile. You will determine which attributes and skills you need to develop to support your career ambitions. In this process, you will be supported by a dedicated career coach, helping you explore a range of options that includes self-employment/freelancing, starting your own business, higher level study, and other professional graduate-level opportunities. Throughout the module, you will be given opportunities to engage with external mentors, to support reflection and to develop a professional network. You will undertake a tailored series of activities and projects, aligned to your goals, from a menu of development options. This could include short courses, enrichment activities and experiential learning options such as micro-placements. You will also be able to reflect on activities outside the University that develop your graduate attributes, such as work or volunteering.

Entrepreneurship is a major driving force in creating economic growth and this module illustrates how to work in an entrepreneurial fashion. At the heart of entrepreneurship is innovation, which can come in many forms. Sometimes this can be an incremental but generally gives significant improvement to the customer. Alternatively it is a new breakthrough or transformational innovation. Incremental innovation is aimed at increasing the value of a product or service, to add more value and thereby creating new and superior value chains. Breakthrough innovation often creates new categories of product, or transforms the historical ways of doing things. From this foundation, the module proceeds to explain how to develop a strategy, not only to satisfy the critical needs that organisations have, but also to explore the application and use of improved value chains using the concepts of corporate venturing (spin-out/intrapreneurship) and entrepreneurship (new venture creation).

While this module provides a foundation for careers in mobile application development, mobile is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and the skills taught also have applications in UX, web development and software engineering in general. Although there are no prerequisites, it is assumed that students have acquired a general familiarity with programming and software development principles through their previous study. The module is divided into two phases. In the first phase, students will be introduced to software development for the two major mobile platforms. This will cover development environments for these platforms, UI conventions, building and deploying simple applications. Students will then be introduced to cross platform development environments for mobile development. In the second phase, standard frameworks for mobile web development will be introduced. The phase is organised around a practical project. Students will choose one of the platforms on which to build a mobile application of their choice. This project gives students the opportunity to specialise and explore their chosen platform in greater depth, acquiring the knowledge and proficiency to be able to design and build complex mobile apps. Students will be encouraged to publish their apps in one or both (in the case of a cross-platform app) of the two major app stores, thus providing an introduction to mobile application delivery and distribution.

Students taking this module will have already developed proficiency in the use of a professional 3D modelling and animation software application, and so will understand the principles of modelling, lighting, texturing and rendering. This module will enable them to strengthen these skills and build a portfolio of 3D computer assets and 3D animation. They will acquire additional skills such as the use of 3D sculpting software, rendering using techniques such as global illumination and image-based lighting with a high understanding and skill. Students will be able to show their modelled work as a turntable animation using different rendering techniques. The principles of animation are introduced and students will learn how to apply these principles to 3D computer animation. This is a practical module where the majority of a student's time is spent working at a computer. Similarly, assessment is practically based with multiple choice tests to show they understand both basic and advanced theoretical techniques. Taught in common with CI5003 and cannot be taken if CI5003 has already been taken.