Bachelor of Game Development (Honours)

Join one the South East’s Asia’s most Recognized and Leading Universities in Game Development

UOW Malaysia KDU has always been recognized as one of the premier Game Development Institutes in Malaysia and is the forerunner for producing the best graduates in this field. As one of the earliest private educational institutions in Malaysia, we at UOW Malaysia KDU not only pride ourselves with delivering quality education, but we are also championing the nation’s digital content initiative in Game Development. As we continue to grow and evolve, UOW Malaysia KDU has now taken the role as one of the primary movers in the space of Game Development for both education and industry collaborations. The UOW Malaysia KDU Bachelor of Game Development Program is also one of the first programs  outside North America and Europe to be an Unreal Academic Partner. The Unreal Academic Partner Program recognizes universities and schools that have committed to providing high-quality educational opportunities with an experienced faculty, proven curricula, sufficient facilities, and resources to meet the demands of the global game development industry.

What is Game Development?

Game development is the processes, techniques, theories, and practices related to the creation of video games. Game development is a process that involves a combination of multi-disciplinary sets of knowledge and skills ranging from programming to psychology; and from artistic flair to business acumen. The game development process may involve just a single individual or a team of people working for a large development studio. Game development is a fusion of three major disciplines, namely Game Technology, Game Art and Game Design. Depending on the chosen specialization students will learn the skills and knowledge pertaining to storytelling, player engagement, ideation, game mechanics, world building, programming, testing, pixel art, concept art and cutting edge computer generated imagery (CGI). A typical Game Development Production workflow is as seen here:

How big is the Video Games Industry?

Video game have been around for decades, providing entertainment for children and adults alike. It has significantly evolved from the manic button bashing, reflex-intensive forms of arcade entertainment to a sophisticated form of digital entertainment with highly immersive worlds and near-photorealistic visual aesthetics. The video game industry has always been about innovation and pushing the boundaries of digital technology, with advances in new tactile devices, new visual experiences, and virtual technology in the works. As technology continues to improve, so do video games. Video game creation has become increasingly complex, and the cost of creating one can cost tens and even hundreds of millions, pushing game development into Hollywood movie territory in terms of production and marketing costs.

The video game sector is immensely large. In fact, it is larger than the movie and music industries combined. It is still arguably the fastest growing industries in the world economy today. The Video Gaming Industry is estimated to be worth US$178.73 Billion in 2021 growing by 14.4% from the previous year and is expected to reach US$268 Billion by 2025.

The game development landscape is not new in Malaysia. Not many Malaysians are aware, but Malaysia has been involved in Game Development since the early 90s. There were several Malaysian Companies that had been contracted for out-sourcing work on various Game platforms during that period. Now, Malaysia is home to over 85 game studios of which seven of them are renowned international studios including Sony Playstation Studios Malaysia, Larian Studios from Belgium, Codemasters and Double Eleven from the UK, Bandai Namco from Japan, Streamline Media Group and Virtuos. Malaysia is poised to be one of the biggest game development hubs in the region. In light of this incredible growth and with the pressing need for game developers with very specialised skills, UOW Malaysia KDU aims to cultivate high quality talents familiar with production processes and aware of what is needed to produce successful video games.

What will I study in Game Development?

The Bachelor of Game Development (Honours) program is specially crafted and development by industry professionals and pioneers. Students entering this program are presented with the opportunity to specialize in three distinct areas:

GAME ART handles the visual components of games. Game Artists have to learn how to create 3D and 2D art assets for various types of games ranging from simple pixel-based graphics to hyper-realistic graphics for total player immersion.

Art has come a long way from the first video games with little pixels to represents character or objects to today’s showcase of high-end visually stunning graphics. Game Artists today are a specialized breed of talents with not only an eye for visual aesthetics but also a strong degree of technical knowledge. Nowadays many games rely on hyper realistic graphics to pull players into an immersive and engaging world of digital games. Game Artist have to be good in their observation skills, have a sense of aesthetics and have a keen mind to explore the known world. if you enjoy drawing, reading comics, watching anime, appreciate art in various forms or medium; then the path of a Game Artist is indeed for you.

GAME DESIGN handles the gameplay, mechanics, level and world design as well as storytelling/narrative of electronic games. Game Designers have to learn how games function to construct experiences, including play mechanics, game balancing, social game interaction and the integration of visual, audio, tactile and textual elements into the total game experience.

Game Design is the art of crafting experiences. It is often the first step in making a game, but a game designer’s job doesn’t stop by just thinking of ideas. Game Design covers the gameplay mechanics, level design, narrative, documentation and interactions within a game. Game Designers also needs to know a little bit of marketing and business in order to monetize their games. There is no shortage of ideas for cool games, but ideas are free. Game Designers are tasked with taking that idea and turning it into something tangible and commercial. Game Designers have to be creative yet analytical, observant yet curious. They need to be able to propose a theory and put that theory to the test through rigorous playtesting and perform quality checks before the product is ready to be shipped.

If you love reading, have a creative mind and are interested in crafting worlds and experiences, then maybe Game Design is the path for you.

GAME TECHNOLOGY focuses on the technical aspects of Games such as physics engines, graphics engine, artificial intelligence and networking. Game Programmers have to learn the optimisation of mainstream algorithms such as path finding and sorting, and real-time 3D rendering for a ground-up games engine or modification of an existing engine. Behind every game, behind those dazzling special effects, the intriguing dialogues, or even the enjoyable game-play system, they are bound together by strict and complex lines of codes. These codes govern how the game functions, when certain sounds are meant to happen and more importantly, help makes the game play smoothly.

Students will explore new technologies like 3D graphics, animation, game mechanics, user interface designing for games, gaming software development, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and interactive design. 

What are the career options of a Game Developer?

The video game industry is a multi-billion dollar industry with many game development career options to choose from, both on the highly technical and creative sides of the field. If you have the commitment, skills and drive to immerse yourself in the world of video games, the possibilities are endless. The image shows some of the career possibilities in this fast-growing sector.

What type of skills do I need to learn Game Development?

Looking to be part of a team that can create an award-winning video game? To succeed as a game developer, you need to anchor your knowledge in either software programming, have a keen eye for detail and artistic flair or have a creative approach to storytelling and design. However, you will need the following set of skills aside from the technical, artistic and/or creative knowledge and skills you will gain in this program.

Problem-solving and Critical Thinking aptitude

Most if not all game developers have to overcome challenges and resolve technical, creative or artistic (game art asset) glitches nearly every single day. You will need tenacity, sheer grit and patience to help you succeed when you approach problems, debug code, solve 3D art issues and much more. Thinking out of the box and looking at things differently can prove to be a highly sought-after skill.

Time management and Personal skills

The art and science of crafting video games is a very complex and time-consuming task. There are many facets and layers in developing a video game. Most of the time, video game developers work within a huge budget and tight deadlines. Video games are not developed overnight. It takes several months of planning and even more years to produce an award-winning game. To thrive in such a high-paced environment, you would need to be able to collaborate with others, work well under pressure, and stick to deadlines.

Creativity

Creativity makes games what they are. Creativity should be your competitive advantage. In a market overflowing with creative ideas, you need concepts that are original and incredible to the virtual world. Regardless of whether you choose the artistic side of game development, the design and story-crafting side of it or even the technical programming aspect of game development – creativity is an advantage.