1. Britta Pollmuller – Games Design
Rational - Games as Art and Design at AUT Digital Design
Background
Digital Design at AUT positions itself as a centre for digital innovation, and in recent
years has developed a strong industry reputation, and an emerging academic
specialism, in the field of visual effects, animation and recently games design.
Undergraduate Studies
The Bachelor of Design is designed to enable three pathways (Animation, Visual
Effects and Games Design) to be smoothly integrated into the programme structure.
The programme is a blend of centrally delivered papers intended to develop critical
creative and entrepreneurial thinking, and subject-specific papers that contextualise
this thinking in research-based, industry-focused projects.
Video games are both an expressive and persuasive medium, and in their broadest
sense contain a wide range of art, media and design practices such as drawing,
anatomy, animation, sculpture, digital imaging, film, narrative and FX’s, graphic
design and communications. Graduates with these core skills can seek employment
not only within the specific field of games and interactivity but also in an expanding
arena of new media industries. The Games Design pathway takes full advantage of
its position within a specialist art and design institution, and encourages students to
engage with the vibrant and creative culture of the academic community. A wide
range of cross course collaboration and shared study activities with other students
and staff are regularly organised to support and inform students’ unique educational
pathway in this field.
Philosophy
There are numerous University degrees and training courses emerging in games
related subject areas focusing on areas such as computer science, coding, software
instruction, game development but our philosophy is a unique one. The course is
primarily focused on Digital Games Art and Design viewed as many different
convergent media. We encourage our students to explore the creative potential and
trans-media nature of digital games across a range of fixed and mobile platforms:
console, web, mobile, computer, alternate and virtual reality etc. And whilst our
emphasis remains upon the mainstream sector we encourage student to become
innovators in new sectors of Digital Games. We believe in the synergy between art
and media practice and new technology and the opportunities for innovation and
originality this enables. The course develops core skills rather than teaching a
singular process, platform or technology. Innovation occurs when technical
proficiency is coupled with creative problem solving, organisational skills, and the
ability to communicate. Our intention is to stimulate and develop these core skills and
to ally them to an understanding of innovative interactivity and ‘ludology’. The term
ludology (from ludus, the Latin word for "game") refers to the study of game and play
activities. The course addresses the unique nature of games learning and maximises
creative potential by embracing an increasingly convergent media landscape. The
course seeks to encourage interdisciplinary experimentation and new media literacy
in the study and presentation of your creative practice as games artists and
designers. Students may eventually direct their new knowledge and skills across
various sectors and we will equip you with the wide range of skills needed to succeed
in both the games sector and across the wider creative industries.

2. Britta Pollmuller – Games Design
The course promotes a culture that acknowledges the diverse requirements of the
games sector and focuses on core skills that maximise employability. The teaching
environment is a creative studio and workshop setting that supports both hard and
software expertise alongside relevant art skills. The course encourages work-related
learning and work placements. Where such activities meet approved unit Learning
Outcomes, the assessment process can credit work you have undertaken. The
course promotes understanding of the roles of theory and practice, and as such
students will learn the key critical and historical constructs surrounding Digital Games
and utilise their understanding to help them achieve professional competencies in
their studio work. Students will become a multi-skilled specialist: a creative individual
with an appreciation of the technical rather than a technologist with an appreciation of
the creative.
Creative Gaming!
What is creative gaming? What are the trends in creative gaming? Can gamers be
creative in order to be successful? How can games be used to teach or promote
creativity, hence allow playful activities that encourages also creative thinking? How
to encourage creativity through game production? Can games offer a model of
creativity that allows for free expression and play, imagination and fantasy but also
encourage an understanding from a critical perspective? Creative Gaming will
promote debates about games as popular culture and as a dynamic form of
expression available to creative people. This explicitly allows a place for game
aesthetic properties, the ways in which games discourses links creativity closely to
cultural experience. This endorses the question, what kind of culture? Drawn to the
idea that we can have both criticality and creativity, popular and high culture, the
developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky's (1896-1934) has asserted that creativity
and play involve the imaginative transformation of cultural resources. How is this
replicated in game production and gaming? Gaming may be viewed as a cultural tool,
as popular culture or low culture as well as traditional culture or high culture and
therefore the course asks how we trace creative gaming within our society; therefore,
explores the argument about cultural values; the contrasting experiences of high
culture and low culture. We explore how people’s engagement with games does offer
some possibilities for liberation and progressive change, that creativity can be an
imaginative transformation of cultural resources and that people's creative work is
informed by their popular cultural experience, not damaged by it.
We hope, therefore, that the Game Design course will draw attention to how we can
think freshly about the creativity of gaming, how in addition we should understand
and accept game culture through the process of meaning-making and how we might
also allow access to more creative, cultural and critical learning through games.
We are interested in nurturing and extending research into the educational value of
these interactive electronic products and also the impact of the new learning spaces,
both real and virtual, they make possible. Duncan (2001) suggests that a shift from
art education to visual culture education is required because the arts have changed
and boundaries are blurring. There is no immediate crisis, but more needs to be done
in order to understand the digital revolution in relation to youth/popular culture and
contemporary culture in general.
The key message is that there can be a sense of balance between creativity and a
critical framework. Games have links to art and design, media, film and cinema,
social science and education studies: value can be seen in traditional as well as in

3. Britta Pollmuller – Games Design
popular cultures, and a multidisciplinary approach allows us to engage with gaming
critically as well as aesthetically.
Clement Greenberg argues that ideas, in the end, matter far more than the
technologies used to communicate them: 'The concentration on technology per se,
whether it features as part of the content, the development of a kind of digital style or
the emphasis on computational processes, thus draws so much of this 'cutting edge'
digital artwork back within the discourse of modernism. The machines are not
reducible to a set of technical parameters nor can the digital be considered solely in
terms of the formal qualities. The content and ideas expressed through digital art
should be addressed over and above the technology that supports them' (Addisson &
Burgess, 2012:165).
Art and Design, Theory and Technology
The three key defining areas of creative practice taught for Games Design are:
• 2D and 3D applications for games and digital arts
• Traditional art and design skills
• Historical and theoretical constructs and issues
Fundamental areas of specialist art and design and media knowledge such as colour
theory, composition, and lighting are highlighted in specific projects. Innovative
computermediated creation requires a foundation of strong visual research, enquiry,
and planning. Drawing is central to laying this foundation. For example: A distinctive
concept art and drawing programme is integrated in Year 1. The concept art and
drawing workshops introduces and includes a wide range of relevant concept art
practices.
The course recognizes the fact that immersive and innovative game play cannot be
achieved through software usage alone, and the papers also deliver theory so
students will gain an understanding of the history and context of games and wider
culture. Theory and practice, in tandem, will offer students new perspectives on their
subject area and encourage their aspirations to make an active impact on its future.
Technology plays a key role within the course and the games sector more widely.
Technology affects both modes of delivery, work processes and presentation. It may
be both a driver of innovation and creativity, and a barrier to it. Introductions to a
range of 2D and 3D software skills run parallel to each specific paper. Lectures,
taught sessions and workshops are supported by open access to 2D and 3D
workshops, these facilities are managed and run by technical support staff who will
enhance student’s learning experience. We believe a balance between creative
thinking, technological skill, and an understanding of core theories is the key to
innovative game design. This can be achieved by a clear focus upon all three skills
highlighted above.
Diversity
We are successfully challenging the traditional gender imbalance in the sector
through an increasingly gender-balanced cohort. Our students come from different
nationalities, ethnicities, and social backgrounds. We welcome applications from all
candidates regardless of disability, gender, ethnicity, or sexuality. The games design
pathway aims to encourage gender parity across the game industry by inspiring
young woman. For example mobile gaming and indie female gamers have the

4. Britta Pollmuller – Games Design
opportunity and option of making more appropriate games for their gender without to
have a studio hire, free thinking IP and less production cost.
Games Design
The computer and mobile games industry boom in New Zealand is raking in around
half a billion dollars a year in revenues. According to the New Zealand Game
Developers Association gaming has firmly established as one of the core sectors of
New Zealand’s creative industry. In 2013 approximately 31 million dollar came form
smartphone and online games, 448 full-time professional game developers in the
country – but 44 % of the studios claim that growth is stunt by skills shortage (Steve
Knightley, 2013).
In 2014 Paula Browing addresses that: “we need to make sure there is a next
generation of creatives are coming forward and have the right education and support
to enter the industry. Skills are in short supply and many businesses, especially in
the gaming industry have to recruit overseas to get the employees they need."
Digital Games have become an important innovative and economic part of our
contemporary culture, out-competing cinema in terms of revenue. At over £2 billion
in global sales, the UK's computer games sector is bigger than either its film or
music industries, and visual effects, the fastest growing component of the UK's film
industry, grew at an explosive 16.8% between 2006 and 2008. High-tech,
knowledge-intensive sectors and, in the case of video games, major generators of
intellectual property, these industries have all the attributes the UK needs to
succeed in the 21st century. 1
The report - Next Gen.: Transforming the UK into the world's leading talent hub for
the video games and visual effects industries - was published in February 2011 and
calls for courses that provide the most up-to-date, industry-relevant training in games
design and visual effects.
Around a third of the UK population access digital games, more than any other
European country. The UK games industry is the fourth biggest in the world and
“...consistently leads the way in technological innovation and world class products,
stretching the imaginations of consumers and creators around the world.” (ELSPA,
2008)
The sector has a core market of Games for entertainment but continues to develop
and diversify beyond the mainstream into areas such as Persuasive Games, Serious
Games and Alternative Reality Games. Digital games are increasingly used across
the creative industries and throughout wider culture. As a result of this proliferation
and increased status the opportunities and demand for innovative and highly skilled
graduates in this field increases.
Not to ignore the Indie Games developers who are making big money too. Minecraft,
Fruit Ninja, Temple Run are mainstream with multi-million recurring revenues and
billion dollar valuation.2
Rovio, the Finnish company behind Angry Bird franchise
doubled between 2011 and 2012, from 75,6 million Euros to 152.2 million Euros.3
The consumer wants more games and according to kickstarter the indie game
industry has gone mainstream.
1
http://www.skillset.org/games/article_8266_1.asp
2
http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/01/minecrafts-notch-on-earning-101m-in-2012-its-weird-as-f/
3
http://mashable.com/2013/04/03/angry-birds-2012-earnings-report/

5. Britta Pollmuller – Games Design
“The indie game movement is the most important transition this industry has seen
since the rise of the internet. Indie visionaries have single-handedly created the
casual game genre, brought back long-dormant genres such as the strategy,
adventure, and puzzle games, and have created entirely new concepts within
gaming. Indie games have spurred the growth of technology that has allowed serious
games and persuasive games to be created. Indie games are the ONLY games that
simultaneously satisfy the gourmand, the casual gamer, and the revolutionary.” -
Andy Schatz, Pocketwatch Games (Venture Africa)4
The AUT Games Design course advocates indie games and encourage designer and
developer to start their own indie studio or self-publishing game. It defines game
design in its creative, cultural and critical sense. The course is aimed at concept
artists, game designers and developers, seeking to break with convention and
stereotypes in contemporary, commercial and industry game design. The course
explores the new opportunities and raises awareness of the indie games industries
and students will be expected to respond to extend their creative, interpretative and
critical approaches and to think of a very different kind of a game – ambitious,
innovative and intriguing.
Structure
The course will encourage learners to deepen their conceptual thinking and technical
application through the development of their individual and independent practice. The
course is placing equal emphasis on enhanced learning situated in tools of
technology and enhanced learning situated in tools of thinking. In Year 1 students
acquire a richer view of what game design is offering and the consequent benefits
that may be enabled both personal and professional. Now game design enjoys a
close relationship with academia and the global games sector places an increased
emphasis on the recruitment of graduates who can demonstrate not only technical
skills and aptitudes, but also a wide range of aesthetic and conceptual sensibilities.
Students will use their artistic bravery for designing games. They will create game
concepts and prototypes as an individual and as teams, develop their graphical style
and express their stories through games. Students create beautiful environments and
characters and use these assets to develop immersive and fun experiences. From
2D platformers to 3D, students will devise and create their own interactive stories,
digital illustrations, concept art and games. Within their first year students will have
created their very own 2D game/-s.
*DD Studio I: Introduction to Game Design – What makes a GOOD Game? Students will explore
definitions of a game, the nature of interactivity and play and ideas of ludology (the study of games).
Students create an idea and concept around a 2D game using Construct 2. They will explore the term
ludology (from ludus, the Latin word for "game") - the study and theory of game and play activities. (This
paper is supported by Microsoft New Zealand.)
*DD Studio II: Games are not Movies - Interactive Storytelling - Storytelling and Game Design
Theme - A Hero's Journey - Students will develop a 2D Adventure Game using Construct 2. (This paper
is supported by Microsoft New Zealand.)
In Year 2 students may work on workplace simulated project/live project - creation of
game assets for a game level, working as part of a team on a game development
pipeline, collaborate with classmates to create an original and innovative game that
showcases their game art capabilities, create and produce parts of a level design in
accordance with a specific industry brief pitiching your prototype to a Dragons’ Den
4
http://www.gameacademy.com/blog/the-indie-revolution/

6. Britta Pollmuller – Games Design
(In partnership with Gameloft New Zealand) at the process of making and realising a
computer game and probably feature the following briefs, to make a pay-once or
free-to-play game a small game for Steam, Apple store or Android, to explore the
Oculus Rift and Unity Pro and to define, analyse and create an immersive interactive
experience. Another task may explore photogrammetry, which revolutionises game
making for small teams. (It is the accurate measurements of the environment and
objects within it from photographs and other non-contact sensors, such as ultraviolet
and thermal imaging. An alternative to expensive laser scanning, photorealistic
texturing.)
Serious Gaming: The use of games for meaningful purpose. Serious Games can
be digital or non-digital games, simulations, virtual environments and/or transmedia
experiences that provide elements for nonentertainment purposes. Serious Games
aim to instruct, simulate and provide effective, positive and creative learning for a
varierty of audiences and industries. Games are not exclusively for entertainment
and serious games are identified as a combination of learning games, entertainment
games and simulation games that highlights three key elements play, learn and
simulate (Martens, 2008).
Such games engage in activities through interactive and immersive gameplay or
encounters to inform, influence, for well-being, and/or experience to convey meaning.
The quality or success of serious games is characterized by the degree to which a
game can change human behaviour for the better. (Marsh, 2011). Non digital games
(examples here) have been used for therapeutic purposes but now digital video
game therapy should become the new research territory and focus. Whether
designed to entertain or to achieve more "serious" purposes serious games have the
potential to impact players' morality, knowledge, attitudes, emotions, cognitive
abilities, physical and mental health, and behavior. The question is how?
What types of game and what gaming fundamentals and component allows
accessible and enjoyable to players of all ages, and online worlds, which offer a
unique opportunity for narrative content and immersive remote interaction with
therapist and follow patients. Can rehabilitation be fun? Could we make rehabilitation
fun? The serious game research will help address the increasing demand for serious
games and is designed to encourage to extend creative, interpretative and technical
approaches and what is more to learn to think critically of a very different kind of
serious game: meaningful, innovative and valuable.
Serious Games will research the teaching and learning that will inform students’
unique critical and contextual pathway in this field, so to develop, diversify and
specify beyond the mainstream into areas such as Persuasive Games, Serious
Games, Virtual Realities and Alternative Reality Games. Students will go beyond
gaming software and explore the future of meaningful games in contemporary society
that could and should change human behaviour for the better.
*DD Studio III - Are you serious? Create a game that changes human behaviour for the better!
(Mobile platforms)
In this paper students will develop an increased awareness of personal specialism and professional
practice. Students will explore game design in more depth by developing two game prototypes and
appropriate ‘assets’ for it. At the end of this paper students will have two coherent prototypes and
portfolio content that displays your creative and technical abilities.
· Project 1 (50%): Group Project 'From Zero to Pitch'
· Project 2 (50%): Individual Project and Pitch to Industry/Gameloft Dragons Den Design Pitch

7. Britta Pollmuller – Games Design
*DD Studio IV - Immerse Yourself!
As part of this paper students research emergent and immersive gameplay and create an immersive
and emergent experience for the Oculus Rift. They develop Methods/Methodologies (techniques and
processes) that apply to their research question. Students experiment with VR/Oculus, Blender and
Unity and
Project 1: Create a "lost" location from ancient to modern times *(Not a fictional place and based on a)
Museum visit and/or historical research. - This is a commitment to historical research!) OR
Project 2: Create a 3D 360 degree documentary for the Oculus OR
Project 3: Characters to inhabit a narrative world seen through the Oculus.
In Year 3 Students will develop an indie game and interactive portfolio of game asset
art to an industry standard. Leading mentors from the games industry will work
alongside students, providing technical and critical guidance throughout the
production pipeline. Students will graduate with an extensive portfolio of games
you’ve designed and produced, interactive prototypes and visual and written
supporting documentation.
Year 3 Studio DDV and VI - The Incubation Project (FINAL PROJECT)
DD V (30 Points) - Project Proposal & Development & Prototyping
DD VI (45 Points) - Final Major Project & Evaluation & Exhibition
The Incubation project aims to encourage students to create and pitch their own game. They
will produce ONE game design project that consists of a practical project that will commence
in a business/career start-up, pitch, campaign and exhibition.
Project 1: Develop an Indie Game with and for Xbox (pitch to Xbox)
OR
Project 2: Develop an Indie Game for a Kickstarter Campaign (Set up a Kickstarter campaign)
Project 3: Greenlit on Steam
Concept, Prototyping and Publishing allows students to push their skills to take a
single line of inquiry, idea or theory and develop (investigate, challenge and test) the
concept of one INDIE GAME. Year 3 represents the culmination of the student’s
investigation and the final stage of the research strategy and realisation and
publication of the indie game design. This is a substantial piece of self-managed
work that embodies the integration of theory and practice, is underpinned by practice-
based methodologies and processes and is informed by the student’s exegesis.
Students receive regular support from tutors, peers and subject-specific group
tutorials as part of a constant critical dialogue to help create a professional and
critical understanding of their individual creative process. Other areas student may
explore are mobile devices which have become exceedingly dominant in our day to
day lives over the last decade: how mobile games have infiltrated the games industry
and questions whether or not they are here to stay. Student will investigate crowd-
funded games, how to expand the franchise’s audience without alienating fans as
well as the secret of monetising games.
The course is supported by game design professionals, indie developers, artists and
theorists who have played significant roles in developing digital game studies as an
academic discipline. Students will have hands-on experience creating either for
Apple, Android, PC, Xbox and Playstation.The course is supported by Gamelost,
XBox New Zealand and Playstation. Throughout the course students will engage with
industry which allow them to explore the technologies and trends most relevant to
game design as well as gain wider perspectives from other discipline areas such as
Visual Effects, Animation and Motion Capture.

8. Britta Pollmuller – Games Design
Extra Curricular Engagement:
AUT Games Research Lab and AUT INCUBATEE – Students can kick start their
career in game design and become part of an emerging digital economy.
Games Design Incubation at AUT will encourage and support current, graduate
and postgraduates students to start up their first creative, innovative and digital
businesses in game design, i.e. set up own business, do free-lance work, apply for
funding, research and write papers for conference in the specialist games design.
We will explore new business models and the opportunities which they offer the
game industry. It will highlight the development, franchising or monetising of indie
games and students are encouraged to start their own enterprise and game company
using crowd funding such as kickstarter. Biz (legal, marketing, PR, web development
and other miscellany)
Games Research Lab - Gaming as a Literacy: learning from computer games.
The room encourages the study of games literacy and popular culture – a new form
of game studies, game vocabulary which seeks to analyse and critique videogames
in their own terms. The room allows students to examine games as artefacts and that
games aren’t bad for you. They are actually making life better! ‘When people learn to
play video games, they are learning a new literacy’ James Paul Gee.
The AUT Games Research Lab focuses on games design and the effect they have
on society and culture. The lab encourages academic research and cross-disciplinary
collaboration: a multidisciplinary research hub for students to meet, play and examine
games as applied academic research.
There will be regular Incubattee meetings, events, talks and etc weekly in the Games
Research Lab. The game design incubator will nurture and grow start-ups in the
game design economy. It offers research space and services such as business and
legal advice to accelerate the development of new game design companies.