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Abertay launched its first Computer Games degree in 1997 and is a world leader in games education. Our academic expertise encompasses all core disciplines that support game development, including design, production, computer science, game technologies, computer art, and audio.
Abertay Game Lab is a practice-based research group made up of staff from the School of Design and Informatics at Abertay University. Our aim is to develop experimental games, applied games, and games-related cultural and public engagement events.
In addition to working with standard game development software, equipment, and materials, we also have a dedicated lab within Abertay’s Emergent Technology Centre.
If you are a business, public sector, or third sector organisation interested in exploring what games and play can do for you, please contact business@abertay.ac.uk.
Game development comes with a high degree of creative and financial risk.
Although free or affordable game engines have helped to speed up game creation and democratise development, the costs of producing and releasing completed games can inhibit experimentation with new game ideas. Often, it makes more business sense to work with an existing IP, develop games within prevailing genres, and release games with proven audiences and markets. This is where we can help.
Operating within a research environment, our team can help you mitigate the risks of R&D for new and experimental forms of play. We specialise in creative experimentation, including:
Click on the arrows above to see our portfolio.
This game invites you and two friends to form the ‘wave of life.’ Using your bodies, together you must tilt, wiggle and wobble each part of the wave of life to help roll colourful digital piñata across to safety.
A walking simulator parody and critique of VR that places the player in a sand-filled custom controller and VR headset. Players walk on the spot to traverse a 1:1 scale recreation of a real Scottish beach, represented in 2-bit colour.
A collaborative, survival horror installation played in a tent, which aims to create links between players through narrative devices, intimacy, and interdependent play.
Games and interactive media are increasingly used in areas beyond art and entertainment. Game designers have shown the value of games for diverse purposes such as education, training, political or social commentary, health, and scientific discovery.
Various terms are used, such as 'serious games', 'games for good', 'games with purpose', 'edutainment', 'newsgames', or 'game-based learning'. We use 'applied games', as this inclusive approach allows for consideration of any design problem/application, while still creating entertaining and fulfilling play experiences.
If your organisation is interested in applied games, we can work with you in several ways:
Click on the arrows above to see our portfolio.
An AHRC-funded VR collaboration with Poppyscotland that explored how game design techniques and immersive technology could be used to bring history to hard-to-reach audiences.
An ongoing collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and University of St Andrews that is exploring the use of games and immersive media in engaging with narratives of Scotland’s role in the triangular trade.
A serious game prototype that utilised game design techniques and technology to demystify and educate players about the diagnosis and treatment of Tuberculosis (TB). A collaboration with University of St Andrews.
An educational strategy game designed to inform teenagers about the genesis, evolution and progression of cancer. A collaboration with the School of Medicine, University of Dundee.
We regard games to be a vital part of contemporary culture. Games impact on how we explore artistic expression, social interaction, collective memory and engage with the environment.
We have experience and expertise in a diverse range of artistic and creative practices, including theatre, installation design, music performance, and curation. We can consult on or lead the development of:
Click on the arrows above to see our portfolio.
A hybrid, mixed-reality performance on Inchcolm Island, Firth of Forth, Scotland.
This 2016 exhibition aimed to explore the history of player interaction with digital games, and to examine this history within the wider context of culture, entertainment, and technology. A collaboration between Abertay Game Lab and Perth Museum and Art Gallery.
A hybrid, mixed reality performance that engaged with the living memory and heritage of the TIMEX factory in Dundee.
Check the @AbertayGameLab Twitter feed for the latest updates.
For more information about working with us, please contact business@abertay.ac.uk.