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ADGS 2026
View our Abertay Digital Graduate Show 2026 student gallery.
View our Abertay Digital Graduate Show 2026 student gallery.
This year's Abertay Digital Graduate Show (ADGS) is our most expansive and innovative showcase yet! We're thrilled to present over 180 honours projects from the brightest minds at Abertay. As you explore our student directory, conveniently organised in alphabetical order by first name, prepare to dive into a world where creativity meets cutting-edge technology.
From the vivid imaginations behind stunning concept art and character design to the intricate processes of animation and applied games, each project reflects the unparalleled talent of our students, pushing the boundaries in programming and game design, UI/UX, motion capture, and 3D modelling. They've also ventured into the immersive realms of virtual and augmented reality and are pioneering the use of emerging technologies.
Every project in this gallery showcases the skills and dedication of our students, and offers a glimpse into the future of digital arts and technology. We invite you to immerse yourself in this journey of innovation and creativity at ADGS.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Gravebound
Gravebound is a 2.5D Action RPG prototype that investigates the translation of high-fidelity 3D "Souls-like" combat into a fixed-camera isometric perspective. The project focuses on maintaining the mechanical depth characteristic of the genre—including strategic stamina management, precise hitboxes, and telegraphed enemy patterns—within a constrained visual plane. By integrating mature narrative themes with a responsive combat system, the research evaluates how spatial awareness and "game feel" adapt to this perspective shift. Ultimately, the project demonstrates how technical precision and atmospheric storytelling coexist within a structured 2.5D environment.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Project Armadillo
Project Armadillo is a 3D platformer prototype based on a robust movement system where the player can roll down sand dunes to reach incredible speeds, then use said momentum to launch off the top of the dunes, allowing for greater speeds and heights to be reached and for solutions to puzzles to be open ended in ways the player may not expect. The prototype is focused on the movement only.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Cassava: Caribbean culture in cartoons
This project will tackle the effects of post colonialisation on the Caribbean. The narrative will follow a group of characters revolting after a wealthy ruler seized control of their land. I will be displaying a slice of the story, illustrating the main protagonists and antagonist as well as a look into the landscapes of the setting. It’s aimed towards people with Caribbean heritage as Caribbean culture has been underrepresented in wider media and my aim is to highlight characters that young adults can find themselves in.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Moonlit Offering
A 3D environment exploring the importance of immersive design and world building for storytelling in open-world games. Additionally, researching how 3D art pipelines are documented and implemented in an industry-standard workflow for real-time game engine applications.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Wave Function Collapse and How Design Constraints Affect Map Diversity
This project is about Wave Function Collapse and how implementing custom constraints may affect the level diversity. The custom constraints are added to allow for level design principles to be included within a procedural generation algorithm. When using procedural generation, you have to give up control in favour of replayability. But by adding design constraints, you can take back some of that control, at the cost of cutting out levels that do not fit those constraints. The project aims to find to what extent level diversity is affected by design constraints, and if there is a way to mitigate them.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Procedural Generation of Competitive FPS Maps
This project demonstrates a selection of map layouts for a "bomb defusal" style game mode in a multiplayer FPS game. These maps have been created using procedural content generation, specifically a search-based algorithm. By creating a set of rules that each map should seek to follow and designing a fitness function to encourage newer generations in the right direction, the algorithm can procure an endless amount of different maps for players to engage with.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Enhancing Grass Rendering through Mesh Shaders
Traditional grass rendering techniques make use of a typical vertex shader based pipeline to first load in a grass blade model and then manipulate each vertex individually to accurately place and animate the blade. If a blade is past a threshold of distance to the camera the model can be swapped for a lower detail one to increase performance. The project investigates a modern approach of dynamically generating grass geometry from within a mesh shader which, among other things, enables the grass to have a continuous decrease in detail as the distance from the camera increases.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Procedural Sword Generation
A Procedural Sword Generator designed to create unique weapons based on user‑defined parameters. This project demonstrates how procedural generation can streamline and enhance asset creation by producing a wide variety of high‑quality, customizable sword designs with minimal manual input. By adjusting attributes such as blade shape, material, and ornamentation, users can quickly explore a broad design space. The goal is to highlight how procedural techniques can support artists and designers, speeding up iteration while still allowing for creative control.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
AI-assistive copilot control scheme for the Soulslike genre
The analysis of the effect on player engagement within the Soulslike genre of games when an assistive Control scheme is used to alter the difficulty of the game, allowing for a more controlled experience and a lowered skill floor on first entry. Presented using a custom-built gameplay experience based on the Dark Souls trilogy in Unreal Engine 5 and a traditional AI assistant that analyses current gameplay, altering assistance provided for specified gameplay features based off the data collected and the user's personal preference.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Les Misérables: Adapting The Barricade
This project is an adaptation of the climatic barricade scenes from Victor Hugo's novel, Les Misérables. An environment has been created which adapts the themes and plot of the original text in the form of environmental storytelling and evocative narrative design. This project explores adaptation theory, as well as showcasing a narrative built into an explorable environment. Players can move around and interact with the environment that has been created in order to connect with and understand the adapted themes from the original text.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Claim the Dungeon
For my project I've developed and produced a deck building game titled 'Claim the Dungeon.' The game reimagines four Role Playing Game (RPG) classes as mechanically and aesthetically distinct card game factions, with inspiration from the Art Nouveau era.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Crunch Culture in the Games Industry
An analogue board game utilising mechanics design to create a player experience based on that of working within a crunch environment. Aimed at those interested in joining the industry to inform them around the issues they may face.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Path generation for isometric games
To assess the suitability of several algorithms for generating cave-like pathways in isometric game environments, the following techniques were evaluated:
• Drunkard’s Walk: Produces pathways by repeatedly selecting and carving into random neighbouring tiles.
• Perlin Worms: Uses noise functions to generate numerous small, organic-looking tunnels that are then merged into larger pathways.
• Diffusion-Limited Aggregation (DLA): Forms expansive paths by allowing random walkers to explore the map and “stick” when they collide with an existing starting area.
• Cellular Automata: Creates cavern layouts by applying rule sets that convert tiles into open spaces based on the state of their neighbouring tiles.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Bloodweaver: The Fool of Hearts
A concept art portfolio consisting of a visual development document, a narrative and worldbuilding wiki, and a document of final designs consisting of one character, two weapons, three creatures, and props. Set in 13th century Britain with a dark fantasy twist, the development process explores themes of emotionalism and how design can portray feelings of horror and grief.
Inspired by games such as Bloodborne, the designs are appropriate for a 3D Action Role-Playing game with deep exploration and gritty boss fights. The final design pages feature turn-arounds and pop-outs that would be suitable for 3D modelling purposes.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
The Emotional Train Wreck
My project is an art book for an original short film that explores four different art styles each conveying the story of a different character expressing a different emotion and how each art style conveys each emotion effectively.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Designing a character for a long-running game
Since the release of Genshin Impact in 2020, it has had regular updates introducing new characters, regions, and combat mechanics. Certain mechanics are character and region specific and all have different synergies with other characters. Thus, the game is constantly evolving.
This project aims to create a character to fit into this expanding world; a story to mesh with existing characters and also combat abilities to make them a "meta" character, suitable for facing the more difficult content. This involves considerations in the different potential teammates, and which characters they might be competing with for the efficiency in clearing content.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Real-Time Raytracing: An Analysis of Advanced Direct and Indirect Illumination Sampling and Neural Denoising
This dissertation investigates the effectiveness of advanced optimisation techniques for real-time ray tracing, aiming to achieve near path-traced indirect illumination at interactive frame rates. It examines the integration of ReSTIR Direct Illumination and Dynamic Diffuse Global Illumination (DDGI), analysing their unified sampling strategies, visual fidelity, and performance trade-offs. The study also evaluates NVIDIA’s DLSS Ray Reconstruction as a neural denoising solution for mitigating stochastic noise introduced by spatiotemporal sampling, assessing its impact on image stability, realism, and computational efficiency.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Virtual Pet Companionship
A single player adventure-simulator game project that centres around befriending and developing the player’s relationship with a virtual pet. In this game, the player meets a creature which needs their help, unable to take care of itself. At first, the creature does not trust the player, but it may start to as the player can interact with it in various ways. They can care for their pet through doing tasks such as feeding and brushing it or entertain it by playing with it. By completing various activities and progressing through the game, the player’s bond with their pet grows stronger.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
An Evolution of Hands-Off Artistic Spatial Design in Game Environments
A project where I investigate the evolution of environment design in open world video games from the past 20 years to anticipate trends within its design. The environment created and shown is of a fantasy world, where some people live within the sky ages after an apocalyptic event made the surface incredibly dangerous. However, parts of the old world can be seen and still influence the environment, those brave enough venture forth to find powerful and forgotten relics of a past long ago.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Designing a video game concept for a book narrative
My project is a visual style guide using the storyline and descriptors from a book series named “the Bone Season” to create a video game concept that explores the ways that art as a media form can be used to adapt storylines from books as opposed to live action film and tv shows. I focused my project on character art and environment designs of the main characters and locations set within the Bone Season, ensuring accuracy towards the original material and communicating the personality and description of them through their designs.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Creature Design of EVE-2b
Exploring and researching creature design through the lens of the genre of speculative evolution. Speculative evolution, or ‘Spec Evo’ for short, is a genre of fiction that focuses on a hypothetical world or future and how the animals will evolve to fit. The viewer can explore it through the medium of a Wikipedia site. Mixing both creative writing, 2D art and 3D renders in an interactive format that immersive the reader into the future and onto the far-off planet of EVE-2b.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Physics-based procedural lightning generation
This project uses the dielectric breakdown model (DBM), which describes how air and other materials turn from electrical insulators into conductors, to generate lightning shapes that are rendered onto a computer screen. Users control different parameters that affect the lightning generation, such as the eta (which controls how much the lightning branches) or the size of the volume that the lightning is generated within. A focus of this project has been to optimise the solving of the DBM step, creating a version of the program that allows for larger and more complex shapes to be created in a shorter time.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Apparatus
This project explores a 3D game environment set in an early steampunk world controlled by a social-media–like system that determines people’s identity and status. Citizens rely on heavy steam-powered devices that can only be recharged at centralized charging stations owned by those in power, creating dependency and strong class divisions. The environment uses architecture, atmosphere, and spatial design to show these themes rather than direct storytelling. By contrasting polished, wealthy areas with harsh lower-class districts, the project reflects modern society’s focus on image, validation, and curated identity, encouraging viewers to question how social systems shape who we are.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Minecraft: Game, Tool or Engine
My project is a playable level in Minecraft that's an authentic recreation of the Hermitage in Dunkeld. The level has been designed to feel good to play whilst also having a distinct visual aesthetic. Everything in the level has been custom designed to look accurate to the location while staying within the constraints of Minecraft. Minecraft blocks will be used for their colour and texture, not what the block is intended for in the base game. My dissertation will explore alternate game engines, outside of the standard Unity and Unreal Engine, and what negatives and positives come with them.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Multiplayer Game Balancing: How This Can Be Done
A prototype version of a local multiplayer competitive platform fighting game, played with controller support, with a variety of characters with different skills and abilities. This project has been used to find the most effective methods of game balancing to find out which methods of balancing will create the most balanced and fun game (analysing game data and statistics, ie winrates, elimination/death ratios etc; player feel, ie how balanced the game feels rather than having the most balanced data; or a mixture of both).
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
N.O.A-BSP
Navigation, Orientation, Auditory - BioSonar Ping (N.O.A-BSP) looks at creating a tool to aid in accessibility for the blind within virtual 3D environments via the use of an echolocation inspired tool. The project is a game demo that is designed to be played with the screen off and with enough accessibility options to still immerse and aid players. The aim for the player is to make their way through levels with challenges such as mazes and audio puzzles. some of this project's accessibility options include N.O.A-BSP, A voiced NPC guide, text to speech and adjustable audio settings.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
The Frayed
In my concept - The Frayed - the world of Thera has been corrupted through its own hubris when it comes to use of the divine power of thread. As a world governed by creation, I thought it would be apt to make one of the explorable areas be a textile factory, a place of both manufacture and worship. I want to blend the aesthetics of steampunk machinery and gothic facades to realise this factory. I will be focusing on creating the 3D environment of a Boss Fight Arena and the 3D models of the Boss Type Enemy, while iterating in 2D for these concepts.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Construct
A tabletop wargame with a progressive narrative campaign rules system where through user testing the goal of preventing or lessening the effects of "snowballs" or out of control players who take a sudden lead over everyone else.
Looking through the lens of balancing the game and introducing mechanics to give players an opportunity to catch up the project aims to ensure a well balanced, fun and engaging system for all players no matter where they start playing in a campaign.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Back In My Dollhouse
Back In My Dollhouse is a 2D animated horror short inspired by the famous director, Wes Anderson. Through research into Anderson's approach to direction, atmosphere and characterisation, I explored how his symmetrical compositions and cinematography could be translated into a horror setting. I have studied what makes an effective horror short using the five C’s of cinematography to guide my visual storytelling. The film follows a girl who wakes in her childhood bedroom. The house feels familiar, but something isn’t right. As her reality fractures around her, the truth emerges. Her world is miniature, and she is trapped inside a dollhouse.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Borrowed Lives
A short motion comic style trailer for a hypothetical multi media franchise. The trailer showcases the world and factions, exploring human identity, story, and character design through a cinematic lens. The invention of teleportation unknowingly separated humanity from their souls. Now, in the future, mankind is a shell of its former self, grasping to maintain what little power they have left. As humanity fights amongst itself, each teleport and each death sends soulless humans into the domain known as The Garden. Lacking a soul, the husk’s brains decay, leaving them feral, violent and unable to truly die. For the sake of life itself, humanity must be brought to their end and their inadvertent creations will bring them to it.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Tera Nihil
This project focuses on combining cultural heritage with contemporary fashion to explore how cultural backgrounds can blend with individuals' personalities and tastes through fashion, reimagining different ways someone's heritage can be uniquely expressed. This is explored through the lens of small faction leaders as fashion subjects in an apocalyptic, creature collection video game setting; it includes their creature companions that are also culturally tied. The aim is to show how a range of global cultures can be respectfully portrayed without trading away character personality or distinct, engaging designs.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Procedural Sword Generation
A plugin has been developed for Unreal Engine 5 that allows developers and players to procedurally generate swords to use in their games. The aim of the project is to determine if procedurally generating both mesh and gameplay attributes results in the creation of weapons that have behaviour matching their appearance. Using the interface, the user can either randomise all of the mesh parameters or edit each one individually. The generated sword can then be used in the provided test environment to determine the effectiveness of the plugin.
BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology
Generating destructible rigidbodies using marching squares
My project is looking to create objects generated by the marching squares algorithm that can act under rigidbody physics, and can be recalculated when they are modified. This means that objects and terrain can be generated and affected by in-game interactions, and those objects can then create physical objects that separate and are calculated separately in the physics simulation. My artefact aims to explore the performance considerations of this algorithm in a testing environment, as well as comparing it to a similar algorithm used within the game Noita, to see the feasibility of the generation method within games.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
The Overconsumption of AI
My honours project is an illustrated e-book that presents a future world where artificial intelligence controls daily life. Through detailed 2D drawings of characters, environments, vehicles and props, I explore how advanced technology could create a growing divide between rich and poor. In this imagined society, the wealthy enhance their bodies and minds while others struggle to find work and purpose. The project is designed to be engaging and suitable for a wide audience, encouraging viewers to reflect on the value of human creativity, equality and real human connection in a technology-driven world.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Breaking Faces: Designing Friction in User Interfaces
The project explores Nielsen's Usability Heuristics and discusses the context of their application within games and the effect they can have on the player experience. The artefact is a range of six interfaces, each intended to break a usability principle and propose a situation in which designing against the principle could provide a more engaging and positive player experience. Each interface is displayed with a short description of the principle it is intended to break, how it does so and why it could be effective in the hypothetical game it would be used in.
Learn more about Charlie's project ➡
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Guided Edge
Guided Edge is a 3D fast-paced parkour game, which reworks player guidance techniques and integrates new environmental cues to a replica section of Mirror’s Edge to sustain player flow and immersion.
Learn more about Chris's project ➡
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Utilising Imitation Learning in Competitive Fighting Games
The project extends on an existing fighting game, where imitation learning has been used in place of the existing deterministic behaviour of the computer players. This hopes to improve the realism of the computer opponent's behaviour in the game's single player content, providing a much more accurate experience to playing against another person, and allowing players to better grasp competitive concepts during the game's onboarding process.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Flow
This project will explore the capabilities and content of multilayered videogames, presenting as a “game within a game.” The player begins in a realistic, household environment, here they will have to complete household tasks, before they are allowed to access the in-game games console. The tasks are intentionally low challenge, low engagement and include repetition. This is meant to emphasise how often a person can feel boredom throughout daily life. Once chores are finished, the player is given access to the in-game games console, and it serves as a “reward” to the player.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Games, Disability and Public Space Represented
The project shows how video games can represent disability through games, how accessibility can be built into the design from the start and how games can be used to educate about real lived experience.
BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology
Performance Doesn’t Grow on Trees
Geometry in video games is typically rendered using a triangle-based approach. This approach doesn’t map well to tree foliage due to its sparse nature. This causes significant drops in performance with a high volume of trees at a distance as hardware struggles to compute triangles as they approach sub pixel sizes. This project looks into the feasibility of point-based rendering for trees which places geometry as pixel sized dots instead. The success of this project is based on performance, visual fidelity and the ability to integrate into existing workflows and applications.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
The Collector
An exploration of ancient beliefs and gods with new technologies. Creating high-fidelity characters using modern techniques and how these can help shape gaming.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Reinforcement Learning Applied in Games
An interactive simulation that lets you play with a realistic, six-legged robot that "understands" how to move. Rather than using pre-programmed animations, this robot learned to walk through a process called Reinforcement Learning, essentially teaching itself by trial and error, similar to a living creature. As a user, you have the control of moving a goal anywhere on the map and watch the robot figure out how to get there. Because it uses real physics, the robot reacts to every bump and slope differently, making every single interaction a unique and unpredictable experience.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Proelium
Explore a new combat mechanic for swords in this game where you can attack from all directions! Set in the 15h century, and taking inspiration from real life sources such as translated combat manuals, this project aims to see how accurate you can make swords whilst retaining an authentic feel and a fun and engaging system. Inspired by games like Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, and Mordhau, this game seeks to find how far you can push accuracy to provide a fun and memorable experience for the player.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Shattered Dimensions
This project explores the creation of dynamic splash and cover-style illustrations inspired by video games and comic books. I reinterpret well-known characters across four distinct visual styles, examining how composition, lighting, colour, and rendering techniques influence storytelling. By adapting the same characters into different artistic languages, I investigate how style shapes mood, personality, and audience perception. The project follows an industry-informed workflow, including research, character studies, thumbnails, and final polished renders. The outcome is a cohesive collection of professional-quality artworks demonstrating versatility, technical development, and strong visual communication.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Wherefore Art Thou?
Exploring how visual composition and gesture can communicate themes and narrative within a comic format, Wherefore Art Thou? tells a short story about what it means to feel disconnected from your own humanity. How a person can end up alienating themselves from the world around them, and what they might do to try and bridge the gap. The story is told through the lens of a tabletop game and features sci-fi elements. The project features a short graphic novel, along with the relevant development art and designs.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Culture in an Arabian Environment
A 3D Exploration narrative game that shows how cultural identity can be communicated through Middle Eastern environments, architecture and environmental storytelling. Drawing inspiration from real world spaces, the project aims to create a cultural accurate and authentic environment that reflect the diversity, history and lived experiences embedded within Middle Eastern cultural landscapes. Through detailed architectural design, textures and storytelling, the game highlights how the space functions as a way to carry memory and meaning. The project emphasises accuracy, authenticity and respectful representation putting environmental design as both an aesthetic and cultural practice.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Beetective
Series is set deep in a Victorian era Caledonian forest taking inspiration from nature and the time period. This short demo is intended to showcase character concepts and artworks in fitting with this setting. You will be introduced to several fun and quirky small creatures/ insects, who are suspects that our lovable timid bee must investigate. This demo is intended as a proof of concept for our new detective friend.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Repeat After Me: It's not your fault you're sick
"Repeat After Me: It’s not your fault you’re sick" is an autobiographical walking simulation that discusses my late diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes in my 20’s and how it has affected me mentally and physically. I used my own voice to narrate, accompanied by environmental captions that lead you around my flat. My project aims to explore how we can use autobiographies and lived experiences to create authentic representation, specifically for people who struggle living with chronic conditions like Type 1 Diabetes and who have developed mental health issues due to their diagnosis.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Queer Witch Street
This is a project where I use my own experiences as a sapphic woman to shape an ideal space for me and my community within the context of a fantasy witch street. This project will bring together queerness , art nouveau architecture and witch themes. I aim to do this through the medium of creating a stylised game-ready 3D environment that will be playable and explorable.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Mark My Motion
My project will be investigating how to show the emotional catharsis we see in rhythm tap dancers through a 3D character model. I aim for the character’s look to feel authentic rather than refined — dressed in simple clothes and gleaming tap shoes — suggesting a moment of spontaneous joyous dancing rather than a staged performance. The purpose of the project is to encourage others to feel empathy and appreciation for the emotional depth behind dancers performing and to demonstrate how digital art – 3D models, can communicate human emotion.
Learn more about Emma's project ➡
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Night and Day
An animated film with a runtime of around 1 minute and 30 seconds. Night wants to enter the day world but can't as the night moves with them. They then meet Day, who, as it turns out, wants to enter the night world. They both help each other enter the world that they always knew they belonged in. "Night and Day" is an allegory for the trans experience and is intended to provide some much-needed positive representation to the trans community.
Learn more about Erin's project ➡
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Follow
This project examines player attachment. Using behaviour, responsiveness and implied emotion and thought, a companion NPC will try attempt to endear itself to the player. These are its only tools, as it has no visual advantages or utility. The game itself is two dimensional, with a top down perspective. The world and characters are represented by simple shapes, and the gameplay involves solving block pushing puzzles, where progress requires blocks be pushed out of the way in the correct sequence. There are separate solutions for the player, or player with companion to proceed.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Follow
This project examines player attachment. Using behaviour, responsiveness and implied emotion and thought, a companion NPC will try attempt to endear itself to the player. These are its only tools, as it has no visual advantages or utility. The game itself is two dimensional, with a top down perspective. The world and characters are represented by simple shapes, and the gameplay involves solving block pushing puzzles, where progress requires blocks be pushed out of the way in the correct sequence. There are separate solutions for the player, or player with companion to proceed.
BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology
Embedding Games in QR Codes
Over the years, games have been distributed in many formats: cassettes, optical discs, flash memory, and now mostly digital downloads. A format for game distribution that has not been thoroughly explored is the QR code. QR codes are widely supported by mobile phones, can be created easily, and deployed cheaply. For this project, I have made a platform for creating and playing games that fit within the limited data capacity of a QR code, using specialised data compression techniques and a custom-built mobile-first 2D game engine.
Learn more about Finlay's project ➡
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
We Three!
You control three characters who have to solve music based puzzles and help get to an item of interest for a museum. The game is designed to be a single player experience, headphones are recommended.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
OCD through the lens of a 2DRPG.
A 2D RPG in a pixelart style following the player character, a cartoon cat, the mouse on their tail that gives them advice, and their experiences with a ‘downward spiral’ of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder.) The player ‘fights’ and ‘flees’ from intrusive thoughts that will be visualised in 2DRPG boss fights similar to that of 'Undertale', in a style reminiscent of analogue horror. The game has areas which focus on ‘triggers’. These triggers begin fights where the player will have specific limited actions depending on the compulsion/ intrusive thought. This project showcases the effects of OCD through visual, narrative, and design choices.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
The Style of Keeping It Real: The Importance of Stylisation on Animation Believability
An investigation into the importance of adding stylisation to motion-captured gameplay animation. Demonstrating that adding layers of stylisation can aid movement believability, aid player immersion, and can create a distinctive movement style. This research compares the result of a gameplay animation set comprising purely of custom recorded motion-captured motion, compared to a set which has been edited and stylised to better fit the aesthetic, genre and feel of the game. The outcome weighs the advantages of tailoring motion-captured animation against the organic result of pure data, serving as a guide for deciding which elements of stylisation are appropriate to adopt for gameplay animation.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
GOLEM
My project is a 3D atmospheric environment, featuring a vintage 1970s gas station within a vast desert landscape. I am aiming for high fidelity and realism, using skills like hard surface modelling, for modular architecture and organic modelling for the landscapes assets such as foliage. My projects key technical focuses are to be period accurate in its design, with realistic texturing work that conveys the aged setting. I will make use of cinematic cutscenes that guide the viewer through my projects environment, highlighting the detail of the 3D assets and environmental storytelling.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
The Signs They Lie
“The Signs They Lie” is a level design project focusing on how lighting and space is used in horror. Taking inspiration from horror in film, TV and Games to understand how they use framing, lighting and sets to build, hold and emphasise horror elements. Explore a house from your childhood after it has succumbed to time and is not exactly as you remember. When your first option of escape is blocked you must explore deeper into the house, unsure if you will make it out the other side.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Cepheus Hare
This project is a concept design portfolio for a linear, psychological sci-fi horror game exploring the tension between innocence and control. The narrative follows a childlike fragment of a sentient artificial intelligence as it develops self-awareness and emotional autonomy. Through character, creature, and environment design, the work visualises themes of surveillance, cognitive conflict, and fractured identity. Drawing on research into childhood psychology, AI aesthetics, and visual metaphor, the portfolio uses atmosphere, symbolism, and iterative design to communicate complex psychological and philosophical ideas through cohesive world-building.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Hybrid Genres: Game Design as an Invitation to New Audiences
This project explores and defines some of the methods that developers can use to combine different gameplay mechanics from multiple genres in order to create a new and unique player experience. By looking at the foundational building blocks of game genres and gameplay mechanics a systematic approach to genre hybridisation can be created. To showcase this process, a digital prototype has been developed that combines core gameplay mechanics of the sports and hero shooter genres that outlines the feasibility of hybrid genres.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Rollin’ Raceway
Rollin’ Raceway is a motor racing board game which seeks to translate the fast-paced decision making and frantic feel of racing video games into a board game format. Players compete in a series of races, earning money to buy and upgrade new cars and gain an advantage. Players must roll dice to control their speed as they race around the track: too slow, and they’ll be left in the dust, too fast, and their car will partake in a sudden crash test!
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Chunklands
This project is a 3D platform game featuring randomised, procedurally-generated levels. Each level is comprised of small, pre-designed "chunks" of terrain that get stitched together to form a full level. Each chunk has various parameters, such as what kinds of objects should be placed within them, the number of hazards that spawn, and where gaps or holes can be taken out of the terrain. The values of these parameters vary depending on a randomised set of rules determined at the start of the level's generation, as well as the increasing difficulty further into the generation, creating a focused and natural-feeling level.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
An Exploration of Art Nouveau in 3D
I will create a 3D female character model, rigged and posed to be ready as a game asset (Therefore taking into consideration of poly-count). I will render this character to display posed like a painting. The main focus is to articulate the theme of Art Nouveau through my model design, so I will use motifs and techniques from researched Art Nouveau principles and include through modeling, texutring and overall character design.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Floppy Coffee
We don’t really know what a game is going to look or feel like until it's been discovered. Floppy Coffee explores where Discovery meets Production, Feedback and Momentum. This is achieved by looking at the intersection of café games audiences enjoy by engaging with them at events and online. Feedback is then used to influence the game's next iteration, balanced with a producer's perspective, which paints an interesting project roadmap to look back upon to establish next steps and build momentum. The game’s current state is chaotic, floppy and fast-paced; Combine ingredients into different coffee orders, earn money and upgrade your café.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Staffs'a'Plenty
I will be making fantasy staff props to put on display as a physical representation of games that utilise premium currency stores or gacha/loot box systems to sell solely cosmetic items to players. Each staff will represent a different rarity: common, rare, or legendary. These would have prices attached, premium currency, or the percentage chance attached to get the corresponding rarity. With this physical representation, I will also be able to showcase the marketing techniques used to manipulate players' psychology into buying more items and spending more money, which includes ‘fear of missing out’ and flash sales.
BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology
Efficient Voxel Meshing and Rendering
My project explores creating a rasterized voxel renderer using Vulkan and C++ and iteratively implementing and analysing some common optimisations. Most notably I've developed my own binary greedy meshing algorithm which can convert a 512x384x512 world into a triangulated mesh in 185ms with baked voxel ambient occlusion. I have also developed a level of detail system and created scripts to import worlds from Minecraft and OBJ models. My renderer is capable of rendering many times more opaque unlit voxels than popular blocky games such as Minecraft, Hytale, and Vintage Story.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
High-Rise
My full project is about understanding player intention and improving movement mechanics through game feel systems in action-platformer games. It will also address how game feel systems can be integrated with weapon-based movement mechanics to create a fluid 2D-action-platformer character controller. My project will provide a dissertation, development log, gameplay video, and a digital game as my main artefact and will be showcased at the graduation show. The game is a 2D, side-scrolling, action-platformer, in which the player uses shotgun recoil and melee attacks as movement to traverse through enemy and hazard ridden rooms.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Miami Vice x GTA 6 Character
Inspired by the classic 80s show Miami Vice,The character i am making is inspired by James Crocketts clothing , style and accessories. The character has a mix of 80s and Modern GTA 6 era. The GTA 6 inspiration are clothing and accessories.
Learn more about Jamie's project ➡
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Designing for Replayability: Emergent Narrative in Fighting Games
My project seeks to see how the social element of arcades and local versus modes that makes fighting games so rewarding can be replicated in a single-player experience. This social element is replicated through the implementation of virtual pet mechanics to promote player-to-fighter bonding; the player must train and care for their fighter if they wish to win their fights. This player-to-fighter bond will then be used to create unique and impactful stories through play (emergent narratives).
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
RADWORLD: Dystopias in Games
This project investigates what it means for a world to be dystopian, and how games make those worlds feel grounded. RADWORLD consists of concept art for a hypothetical game where players complete jobs as a team of five, with each character being a different class. In this story, nuclear fallout didn't destroy the world but rather polluted it. Subsequently, a huge class rift was created, dramatically separating those who could afford healthcare and those who couldn’t. At the centre of this distress is ProSynth, a medical technologies company keen on keeping their control over the central city and its outskirts.
BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology
Procedural Generation of 3D Platformer Levels
The project is a procedurally generated 3D platformer level which involves techniques to include rhythm-based generation, a way to modify parameters to change the chances of spawns, and a difficulty adjustment based on how well you are doing. It will include 3D platformer level attributes such as collectables, hazards, sections, patterns, safe zones, and certain platforms such as bridge and inclines. The point of procedural generation is to decrease the demand for level design, and there is no commercialised 3D platformers with procedural generation therefore this project addresses this. This also gives more ways of using procedural generation in games.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Guiding hand: An exploration of environmental cues in games and other mediums
This project explores the use of environmental cues within games and how other mediums of entertainment such as paintings, film, and architecture guide attention through a literature review which is backed up by a comparative analysis of two games similar to my practical project which is an first person movement game with level design as the focus with the goal of any player regardless of knowledge or skill in games being able to navigate and complete the level through the use of environmental cues and techniques found in my research.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Where Concrete Breathes
A brutalist modern art museum interior environment focused on realism and contrast e.g. materials, foliage and VFX. Which will be displayed through three, 5 to 10 second cinematic renders and a development portfolio showcasing my process of creating this environment. The environment will be made for a one off cinematic purpose so I will not need to focus on aspects such as optimisation.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
The RRS Discovery
My project is a 3D game environment, depicting an explorable portion of the RRS Discovery's interior and section of the upper deck. Utilizing Unreal Engine 5 to elevate traditional methods of historical preservation; the project cultivates an immersive atmosphere, engaging with the viewer by placing the ship back into the Antarctic during its 1901-1904 expedition. The ship is presented as it would have been, based on archived photos, as opposed to how it sits today at the Dundee waterfront.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Updating Older Game Interfaces with Modern Literature
As the game industry has grown significantly over the last 30 years, more literature has been made based on best practices and methods. Game User Interfaces (UI) is a particular area that has been documented. This project looks at a game from before 2005, the game being Halo: Combat Evolved, and looks at how the UI can be improved upon based on modern literature and practices.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Environmental effects in proximity voice chat audio
This project aims to investigate whether players have a preference towards environmental effects in proximity voice chat audio, such as echo or sounds being blocked by walls, or if they prefer clearer communication that isn't obstructed by the playable environment. This study compares player experience in two versions of the same simple FPS game, one with conventional audio techniques and one utilizing ray-traced audio to dynamically add environmental effects to the voice chat audio. Players are surveyed and match log data is taken to support all conclusions made.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Dronescape
An incremental game where you pilot a drone and fly through a procedurally generated falling sand simulation. Mine ores to upgrade your drone and destroy the entire world with your explosions. By simulating hundreds of thousands of pixels through falling sand, fluid, and particle simulations all on the GPU, the world can be as visual and interactable as possible. The game also showcases incremental progression through a branching upgrade tree. So, while you may start out powerless, you can boost your drone’s flying capabilities and explosive power until there's nothing left of the world.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Pirate Ship 3D Environment
During my project I researched what makes pirate ship a pirate ship. Based on that I created designs of one which later I modelled in 3D. I took inspiration from both history and fantasy. My aim was to create realistic, fully textured pirate ship on ocean simulation. I aimed for my model to have all elements real ship would need. Aesthetic wise my goal was to create cold, mysterious, slightly unsettling atmosphere.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
RED PLANET
RED PLANET is a 2D visual development project that aims to explore the potential of world-building and characterisation in fiction though the investigation of environmental psychology, architecture, and interior design. The project aims to explore the relationship between people and places, how our environments can affect the way we act and live our lives, and in return, how the actions of people can affect the spaces around us. RED PLANET visually explores a sci-fi city inside of a Martian colony divided into three distinct districts, each with their own challenges, unique architectural trends, and distinct cultures.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Neomatica
In terms of audience with my project I want to attract those with a passion for character design, 2010s trends, aesthetics, and people interested in mixed media works. In the world of Neomatica an affliction wiped out most of humanity in 2013 and now 200 years later people dig through landfills for clothing, still remaining fashion forward, the world is covered in older iconography and technology which despite the apocalypse remains. The Fae appeared after the affliction and now our characters after meeting by chance must find a way to make it work in this harsh environment.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Visual Adaption of 'I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream'
This project is a series of concept art pieces pitching an idea that the game 'I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream' has gotten a remake. These concepts will be 2D, displayed in an art book format, focusing on one of the character scenarios you play through in the original game. There are so many point-and-click games from the 90s that have been left in their time, with no remakes/remasters. I wanted to show an example of one of my favourites given this hypothetical treatment, while also demonstrating my own skills.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Brain Dance
A 3D virtual reality experiences aimed at teaching mental health professionals, through perspective taking, the difficulties and struggles sufferers of psychosis deal with in public settings. The project also investigates the UI and UX that best streamline the onboarding process to avoid cognitive overload during learning.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Transformers & Their Evolution of Aesthetics into Modern Cinema
My project dives into the design history of Transformers, looking at the aesthetic differences between the 1986 movie, the 2007 film and the 2018 Bumblebee movie. I aim to ask how gestalt theory and imitationalism inform the redesign of the transforming characters for visual culture, using the character Bruticus, a gestalt style combiner, as the subject for this research. The components behind Bruticus will be inspired by Vietnam era United States military vehicles, and so inspiration will be taken from that period of vehicular design through form, colours and decals.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
The Magnus Effect
A physics simulation of the Magnus Effect in Unreal Engine 5. When a football (Soccer) is applied with spin, it often curves through the air - this is the Magnus Effect. The project places a football in a free-kick scenario, intended to replicate the curvature seen in certain shots. The aim is to see how impactful the Magnus Effect is, and what difference changing the topology of the ball, such as the number of panels, will have on its behaviour.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Character Controller Deluxe!!
Character Controller Deluxe!! is a development tool to create high-quality Character/Camera controls for 3D games.
The core qualities of this tool are:
The project demo will feature recreations of both Sonic and Mario character controllers developed using this tool, with on-the-fly character switching to show the adaptability of the core systems. It will also include generic ready-made presets for different game types (platformer, 3rd/1st person shooters) to show what can be achieved without any code implementation.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Afro-Fantasy
In this project I explore pre-colonial African history, along with its mythology and traditions, and examine how these elements can be incorporated into a high-fantasy setting - specifically the development of a 3D modelled and rigged character.
In fantasy, it is very common to see entire worlds and cultures built around specific real-world influences, yet I have noticed that there are relatively few that are centred on Africa. There are many reasons for this, including the destruction of historical records during colonisation, biases against the study of these topics in academia, and the lack of written records due to oral storytelling traditions.
Despite these challenges, there are many stories that draw inspiration from African cultures, such as Children of Blood and Bone, Kizazi Moto (the animated anthology series), Iyanu (the animated series), and, of course, Black Panther. However, when consuming this media, I noticed a recurring issue: these influences are not always used in the same way as those from other cultures. For example, European folklore and mythology often form the foundation of expansive fantastical worlds such as Bloodborne and The Lord of the Rings, while Asian history and traditions play a major role in richly developed worlds like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Nioh.
After analysing the Afro-fantasy media mentioned above, I feel that many of them do not fully capture the same “high fantasy” scale as these other works. I believe this is because they tend to focus on a single region or character, which can limit the depth of the world. My goal is to bridge the gap between smaller, focused stories and grand, expansive narratives by designing interconnected regions and characters that contribute to a larger picture, grounded in historical and cultural relevance.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Blood Removal Service
Blood Removal Service is a sandbox physics playground in which the player takes on the role of Blood Removal Technician at the Blood Removal Service. Their role as a Technician being to give customers the premium Blood Removal Experience by removing all blood from the them as quickly and brutally as possible. The player has multiple ways of throwing, damaging and exploding the customer and must use them all to efficiently remove the customer’s blood. The aim of this project is to explore how players can be given a violent experience without making use of heavy gore or viscera.
Learn more about Lewis's project ➡
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
The Bad Lord De Soulis and Beside Him Old Redcap Sly
My project is based on the story of William II De Soulis (also known as “Bad Lord Soulis”), who was the Lord of Liddesdale and a Butler in Scotland in the early 14th century. There are multiple stories about William and how he was perceived, but I will stick with the most popular one. This is where he was known as Warlock who terrorised the surrounding towns of a main stronghold in the Scottish borders. William was the lord of Hermitage Castle around 1318 and 1320, where he was known for being a horribly deranged man who would people and use their blood in dark rituals. During this stint, it was also told that he would summon a familiar from the rituals called “Robin Redcap”. Robin was an evil goblin-like creature that needed to keep its redcap soaked with blood to stay alive and worked together with William. Stories say that Robin was the embodiment of the devil, as William was given supernatural powers such as immortality, and according to folklore, he could only be killed by a rope made of sand.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
The Modern Symphony
In this project I combine narrative, music theory, and leitmotif-driven composing to create an audio design document (ADD) for a hypothetical game. After investigating what makes an ADD successful for composers during and after onboarding, I have synthesised a document of my own which pushes the boundaries of industry standards and can become an exemplar in the field. It is accompanied by a few short music tracks which reflect the narrative of the hypothetical game, using the ADD as a basis to demonstrate how it could be used by composers.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Digital Card Game with Perfect Anti-Cheat
By using fast commutative encryption algorithms (elliptic curve Pohlig-Hellman), mental-poker protocols, and post-game verification, it is possible to make a peer-to-peer digital card game that is totally cheat-proof and which never needs to rely on a third-party server. That means you and a friend can play the game on your computers, without needing to connect to any company's server, and rest assured that neither of you are cheating.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Think You're Fly?
'Think You're Fly?' is a graphic novel adventure game exploring lost futures in the creative industries through the lens of hauntology. It is set in a post-human world, where bugs have become the dominant species. Using early 2000's aesthetics and technology to build their world, they've stayed stagnant and reliant on past voices rather than new ideas. The game delves into the realities of being working class at university, and the feeling of not having a chance at a future due to the late-capitalist cultural condition.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Paleo-Protocol
Paleo-Protocol is a concept art focused pitch deck for a hypothetical educational paleontology game. The game will be an exploration/puzzle game in the same vein as Pokemon: Legends Arceus where the player will be given a limited fossil data set from which they must deduce the environmental conditions. Using that data they will travel back in time and explore various prehistoric environments and use the knowledge they gather to navigate the ecosystem and collect data about flora and fauna.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Understanding Leadership in Game Production
Through in-depth interviews with experienced UK games industry professionals, this project examines the day-to-day realities of being a game producer, with a focus on the leadership responsibilities involved in guiding teams and working within studio environments. Insights from these conversations are brought together in a digital booklet to help aspiring producers better understand and prepare for the realities of leadership in practice.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Child-like Wonder: An Unfiltered Approach To Creation
My project aims to incorporate a process that allows for creative freedom and brings joy back to creating whilst also evoking that same feeling via the visual and narrative design. The player experience of child-like wonder, curiosity and discovery is shown through the interactivity of the world, the responsiveness of it and the use of colour and effects. The player explores worlds where they can interact with anything, just to see what happens, and are met with ideally cute and wholesome responses.
Learn more about Lucy's project ➡
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Effectiveness of Inverse Reinforcement Learning in FPS Games
This project aims to develop a First-Person Shooter environment within Unreal Engine designed specifically for training a Machine Learning agent. Unlike standard AI that prioritizes perfect accuracy, this agent utilizes Inverse Reinforcement Learning (IRL) to mimic authentic human playstyles. By leveraging the Learning Agents plugin, the system analyses human demonstration data to derive a reward function that captures nuances like erratic movement, tactical positioning, and reaction latency. The goal is to evolve beyond "bot-like" behaviour, creating a sophisticated adversary or teammate that feels indistinguishable from a human player.
Learn more about Luke's project ➡
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Viscera Amalgam
This project is a game manual for a fictional 2D narrative-driven horror point-and-click game. The manual consists of digital art of characters, environments and items with accompanying information about each element. Additionally, it has guides for the game's mechanics, interface and controls, along with fake screenshots of the potential game. The main themes are body horror, technology and individuality, and the atmosphere is intended to be bleak and grotesque, with elements of positivity to show the idea of finding purpose even in the most unfortunate scenarios. The aesthetic is dirty, fleshy and mechanical.
Learn more about Luke's project ➡
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Where Did It Go?
Where Did It Go? is A game prototype exploring the idea of us as individuals existing in a finite world where even the most enduring things are ultimately temporary. I explore the use of modern videogame software to allow artists without programming knowledge to produce interactive artworks. Art games as a medium are uniquely suited to engage an audience in a spatial and temporal experience.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Purge or Persist
Purge Or Persist is an asymmetrical multiplayer game where one VR player takes on the role of the “Overlord,” solving puzzles to spawn different enemy types. Stronger enemies require more complex and time-consuming challenges to unlock. Meanwhile, PC players must complete objectives while surviving the Overlord’s growing forces. They can deploy a limited number of traps and defenses to hold their ground, but enemies adapt, navigating around obstacles to minimize losses and outmaneuver player strategies. The result is a tense battle of planning, skill, and evolving tactics on both sides.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Away with the fairies
Set in a wild Scotland where fairies and magic yet remain, 'Away with the fairies' is a 2D top-down role-playing game that adapts Scottish folklore into a playable experience. Play as Eilidh, a young apprentice wise-woman who must embark on a journey to rescue her sister, stolen away to an eternity of revelry with the little folk. This project will feature a unique narrative storyline that weaves in the traditional customs and beliefs of Scotland’s folk-history, alongside a booklet of lesser-known creatures from that same belief system.
Learn more about Mia's project ➡
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
The Warren
The Warren is a marketing campaign project that aims to explore audience intrigue and growth through marketing for independent and solo game developers, specifically looking into South-East Asian development groups, and their game campaigns. The rapid growth of the games industry in SEA beckons research into how developers are marketing their games, and uncovering how audience communities are built. The project also examines how regional cultural elements present within a game can be integrated into its marketing material and how that translates between regions.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Tangible Zoning Simulation
A simulation of city zoning presented using a tangible user interface. Users manipulate physical blocks of different colours to create and position different zone types, from residential, commercial, and industrial zones. The number and positioning of these zones will influence different factors within the city, such as the resident’s satisfaction, the number of jobs, or the level of traffic. The placement of these blocks is tracked by an overhead webcam, while the simulation itself is displayed on this same surface with a projector, responding in real-time to the users’ actions.
Learn more about Michael's project ➡
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Perfectly Balanced?
My project explores how computer-controlled players can be used for testing and improving game balance before the game is released. I’ve made a small wave-based action game in which I run these computer-controlled players repeatedly under different conditions. I collect data on survival time and upgrade choices by running hundreds of simulated playthroughs. This allows me to compare different balancing methods in a controlled way before presenting the project to human playtesters. I then compare the mathematically ‘balanced’ version of the game against real playtesters expectations and gameplay experience.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
The Hazard Manager
In this project, I develop concept art for a potential stop motion film that explores the relationships between a fugitive pilot, a boy with situational mutism, and a strange creature-vehicle called a Hazard Manager. Forced to work together to survive in a partially apocalyptic tundra, this unlikely team must also learn to trust in the generosity of strangers. With this project, I explored how concept art can both communicate and facilitate a story and its themes. My project is presented as an art book.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Voyager
This project is an exploration of optimising the player experience for fun in super punishing games, investigating industry practices regarding approachability and accessibility design. In particular, I wanted to explore procedural (mechanical) difficulty during gameplay. 'Voyager' is set in a rotting realm found in interstellar space after a life-changing celestial event takes place. Inspired by metroidvania-style games, the player is tasked with surviving a hostile and unforgiving land through nothing but their wit and resourcefulness to power through.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Social Hierarchies in Character Design
This project shows how a social hierarchy can be depicted in character design through clothing and accessories. The characters are of an original alien species which are created using clothing inspired by researched historical human cultures and are designed with an intended clear hierarchy. The research on the human cultures was primarily on the clothing they would wear across all types of people with varying levels of wealth or power and the practical or stylistic reasoning behind this clothing to include that purpose into the design of my own characters to properly convey my intended hierarchy.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Jack (Of What?) Trades
Jack (Of What?) Trades is a short, open-ended level, integrated with various approaches to completion. This is to support my overall honours project being “Character creation, Expectation and Misleading Design”. Players will have to consider how to approach the problems within the game before properly engaging with it, selecting from an array of pre-made archetypes. Set in a satirical parody of 1950s America, in the fictional city of Ninch, North-West Carolina. Players don’t necessarily have to engage with the narrative, however the invested are rewarded, with various endings being sealed behind unravelling the true nature of their work…
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
More Than Pain
You are assigned a project that needs to be done within one week, but your migraines keep getting in your way. To finish the project on time, you must manage your migraines by staying hydrated, eating well and keeping a healthy sleep schedule, if it becomes too much to handle you can always take a painkiller. Complete short minigame-like tasks to make progress on your project, while your migraines slowly get worse over time. As your migraine progresses you will be hindered by different symptoms like brain fog, nausea and visual aura. Can you finish the project on time?
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
To My Mother's Home
To My Mother’s Home: A 3D Environment set in my mother’s childhood home in Kazakhstan. Designed around my mother and I’s memories and photos of her home through the lens of comparative truth. This project originates from my own diasporic longing for a place that my mother and I can no longer visit but would love to see once more. Combining 3D art techniques to create a dream-like art style reflective of how I view my memories, the project explores themes of culture, memory and familial connections to recreate an environment lost to the past.
BSc (Hons) Computing
AI Multi Agentic System for a PLC Based Industrial Control System
Critical infrastructure, like power plants and water systems, rely on complex industrial computers that are often difficult to operate. This project simplifies the process by building a smart AI assistant similar to a specialised 'Siri' for engineers. Instead of typing complicated code, operators can manage these systems using simple language. By making these tools easier to use and accessible to everyone, we can reduce human error, lower operational costs, and ensure our essential services run more reliably and securely.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Dirty Work
“Dirty Work” is a first-person shooter game that uses procedural rhetoric and satire to explore the experience and culture of working as a cleaner. This project is a 2-D and 3-D hybrid game made in Unity. The player uses cleaning equipment (a hoover and a mop) in place of traditional weapons to hunt down monster-like pieces of rubbish. This game uses an abstract and absurdist lens to explore all aspects of the job, both good and bad. Make your way through the shift when everything is out to get you and try to make it out in one piece.
BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology
3D Boids Godot Game Engine Extension
First developed by Craig W. Reynolds in 1987 - the Boids algorithm was a remarkable development in AI and VFX programming. Fundamentally, the algorithm consists of three rules – alignment, separation, and cohesion – to simulate animal flocking behaviour with parameters that developers can manipulate towards a desired effect. Godot is an open-source game engine widely used amongst independent developers. Compared to the visual effect suites in proprietary game engines, such as Unreal and Unity, Godot’s still developing. Implementing a 3D Boids tool for Godot seeks to bridge the gap and further contribute to the collaborative culture within the Godot community.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Stardew Valley Tribute: A Translation of Pixels To Polygons
Created by Eric Barone, Stardew Valley is considered a modern cult classic. Stardew Valley Tribute celebrates 10 years of the indie phenomenon, as it took over indie-gaming world and inspired countless players to create and share their own work. This project is my love letter and contribution to that creativity. As the sole creative behind it, I reimagined the game’s iconic starting area through a new artistic direction, translating its cosy pixel art style into an explorable, stylized 3d world.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Moth Shepherd
Moth Shepherd is a high-fidelity 3D character I created using the modern art pipeline for video games. My aim for this project was to use elements of insects (specifically moths) on top of a human character to achieve a visually striking piece of work with a focus on art directed realism. This project has been an interesting avenue for me to explore the unions between nature and humanity. Creating a fictional character has allowed me to imagine a world where the importance of nature is valued highly and celebrated. This fantastical character stands as a representation of my own beliefs about conservation and living with nature.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Lewis and the Book of Secrets
Lewis and the Book of Secrets is a 2D platformer where you must uncover the secrets of a mysterious book. The player must journey to the Lava Castle and reclaim a lost page that will hopefully shine light on the origins of the book. There are 8 unique levels to explore that each have their own mechanic. These mechanics can be used in puzzling and subversive ways to discover secrets and hidden areas. Every playthrough is different, with alternate level routes, unlocks that alter movement, over 20 pages to write, and an outrageous story for players to uncover.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Rhythm-Based PCG for 3D Platformers
My project aims to procedurally generate a 3D platforming level based on the rhythm of a player's actions.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Agent: Self Insert
Creating myself into an agent from Riot Game’s hero shooter ‘VALORANT’, while avoiding stereotypes and bad design choices that come from self inserting into different media. The project includes concept design as well as key art and promotional material for a hypothetical agent, as well as gameplay aspects like abilities and classification within the game. The aim is to make the character marketable and fun within the current character roster, while also not overshadowing other agents or unbalancing aspects of the gameplay.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
A Blank Canvas
This project is to explore ways to incorporate non-digital assets in a digital game environment through paper, watercolour, acrylic and claymation mediums, utilising hand drawn figures for the characters and props, using camera photography to capture these drawings. This project will also use background photography & filming to explore new techniques in creating active and interesting backgrounds for a game’s environment though physical world space, to give life to an area most games keep static and uninteresting. This research will be shown through a short game demo of a simple top-down RPG action-adventure with narrative elements.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Hexachron
My project aims to explore the techniques, mechanics, and systems that game developers can employ to keep games with short gameplay loops replayable, focusing on game feel and polish. In simpler terms, I want to explore the ways that a short and repetitive game can look, sound, and feel so great to play that you keep thinking "just one more try". By researching existing industry knowledge and analysing some relevant games, I learned how simple games can keep a player hooked, then implemented this learning into an original prototype game concept: "Hexachron".
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Beast Character
I am examining how artists relate character abilities and design with a character’s visuals. Researching what techniques artists and designers at AAA Studios within the video games industry utilize and replicate methods used within these pipelines into my own Dark fantasy style, 3D game-ready character. Exploring what artists/designers/players understand and assume of game art and how it corresponds to character skills and capabilities and imploring my findings into my final character.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
2-Button Controls in First Person Shooter Games
By creating an ai system to imitate what a player would do in situations, the controls of a first-person shooter game have been simplified to be more accessible for users. This project then used user testing to survey if players could still have an enjoyable experience comparable to the standard controls of a first-person shooter game.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Emotion-Based Gaming
This project is a real-time emotion-based gaming system built with Unreal Engine that enhances player engagement and immersion. By using advanced facial tracking technology, it detects a player’s emotional expressions and dynamically adjusts the game’s environment, lighting, sound, and particle effects to reflect their mood. Whether the player feels happy, sadness, or fear, the game world evolves in response, creating a more personal and adaptive experience. The system bridges emotional awareness with interactive design, redefining how players connect with video games.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Investigating Creature Rigging
I am researching and implementing the best practices for building a 3D rig for a creature with an atypical body plan. This will mainly focus on automation within Maya using Python. I will focus on a specific body part to create a modular script that could be reused in other models; I will also try to build a UI to make this user friendly. I am essentially trying to build a useful and functional rigging tool for an animator to use in an atypical model.
BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology
Modernizing Wii Development
Game consoles from the 2000s were shipped with stringent hardware limitations. Optimization was not optional but required. Every byte and every CPU cycle mattered. Developer tooling has advanced a lot over the past couple decades, so this project aims to understand what it would look like to build a modern developer toolchain for that era of hardware today. Using a modern systems programming language, Zig, this project builds a toolchain targeting the Nintendo Wii (2006), and then evaluates it across three pillars: memory allocation behavior, crash debuggability, and asset cooking.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Mousey Melee
A 3D hack and slash game where you play as a mouse with a sword. My research focuses on exploring the ways visuals, character design and animation can be used to improve player experience in video games, drawing from existing media such as games, animation and comics.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Who's Afraid of Blue Notes
A selection of digital instruments controlled by a MIDI piano, explore different modes with different sounds, visuals and interactions. The design goal is to be accessible to anyone with no music experience. The visuals are created in Unreal Engine while the audio is handled by an application made in Max/MSP, using OSC messages to link them. In each mode the piano will play differently. For example one mode enhances your inputs with an algorithm while an other has all the notes play in a specific key. Discover how each mode works and play with both music and visuals.
BSc (Hons) Computing
Internet Search Engine For Technical Resources
Finding reliable technical information in the internet is becoming increasingly difficult due to paid search results, low-quality content, and AI-generated material that lacks accuracy. This project explores how a search engine can be built specifically focusing on trusted technical sources. The system crawls official documentation websites, extracts relevant content, and indexes it to support keyword-based search. By restricting sources to well known documentation sites and avoiding advertising or ranking based on commercial factors, the project demonstrates how our search tools can be designed to prioritise reliability and relevance for developers and technical users.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Octavia
My honours project focuses on creating a game-ready 3D character model inspired by the visual and technical identity of the game Apex Legends from Respawn Entertainment. My research focuses on investigating professional production pipelines including sculpting, cloth creation and texturing. I also examine lighting and composition to achieve the best results when rendering. In addition, I explore design principles and analyse how existing art direction informs the creation of an original character.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Analogue Override
I will use new techniques such as photo bashing and basic 3D modelling with 2D paint overs to explore the retro futurist aesthetic with hints of horror, themes of anti-capitalism and dangers of AI. My final work will be a concept art portfolio that includes multiple interiors, exteriors, and androids all based within or around a spacecraft. I want to create an environment that feels like a character through visual story telling techniques. It will be a cautionary tale of the dangers of greedy corporations and an advanced AI gone rogue.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Digitally archiving the Dundee Olympia 2013
This project explores a preservation case study of the Dundee Olympia leisure centre in 2013, prior to its demolition. The research aims to contribute to the tangible cultural heritage of the city of Dundee and ensure an accurate representation of the chosen site. Using existing archival photographs, architectural drawings and promotional material to produce a hyper-realistic 3D recreation of the main pool areas. Following industry standard techniques for developing water shaders, trim sheets, and optimisation for a 3D game context.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
IS NOT MY FACE
‘IS NOT MY FACE’ is a concept art and illustration project that uses recontextualised quotes from literature to create scenes that explore the theme of isolation. This horror-fantasy project invites the viewer to examine the relationship to ‘being alone’ that each creature living in this world has, and how it can intersect with feelings of immaturity and resentment. Incorporating stylistic influences from Art Nouveau and Impressionist illustrators and painters, the project explores both conceptual artwork and more illustrative uses of texture, colour, and composition.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Tatakai
Tatakai is a wide-linear, narrative-driven, neon-noir, action prototype developed in Unreal Engine 5.6. Tatakai is set between a Touge mountain pass and the fictional city of Yamatori. The project explores architectural principles that shape immersive level design. Instead of treating environments as backdrops, Tatakai uses space actively to guide movement, decision-making and emotional pacing. Tatakai features heavy traversal through vehicular control and parkour while also offering melee combat. A combination of traversal, combat and spatial transitions helps in investigating how layout, hierarchy and environmental cues influence player experience. Tatakai serves both as a playable vertical slice and as a research into immersive level design and digital architecture.
BSc (Hons) Ethical Hacking
Inclusive Threat Modelling: Identifying and Mitigating Cybersecurity Risks Faced by People with Multiple Sclerosis
This project explores accessible and inclusive authentication design through a functional web-based prototype. Inspired by the accessibility challenges experienced by people living with multiple sclerosis, the system prioritises reduced cognitive load, minimal motion, clear feedback, and privacy-preserving account recovery. The prototype demonstrates alternative approaches to login, registration, and recovery that avoid reliance on personal data such as email or SMS. By integrating accessibility features directly into core authentication flows, the project highlights how thoughtful design and technical decisions can improve usability, trust, and inclusivity for users with diverse and fluctuating access needs.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Fractured Realities
Fractured Realities examines anxiety driven hallucinations and substance abuse through an interactive hotel room that procedurally degrades based on player decisions. Each medication choice and mounting stress level triggers visual and spatial distortion, transforming comfort into psychological horror. The game mechanically mirrors real substance dependency: pills provide temporary relief but become progressively ineffective, trapping players in an impossible cycle. Using procedural asset generation in Houdini, environmental pieces respond parametrically or with animations to player stress, creating a cohesive metaphor for mental breakdown. The project challenges romanticized portrayals of mental illness, offering an ethical, grounded interactive experience.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
A Guide to the Creation of Believable Female Characters in Entertainment Design
Accurate and respectful representation is a crucial aspect of character design.
In this project I explore the oversexualised portrayal of female character in entertainment design, specifically video games, by analysing existing designs and creating two original characters for Riot Games; League of Legends. Through this project I have created a guide which discusses topics on appropriate methods of depicting female characters, helping other character designers to create women who are accurate and respectful representations.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Neon Alba
The goal for this project is to create concept art for a hypothetical game with the genre of cyberpunk based in Scotland. It would be created as a 3D, AA-AAA, semi-realistic game, aiming at people who enjoy action-adventure, RPG games like Cyberpunk 2077, Watch Dogs and Deus Ex. This project aims to view the socio-economic state of Scotland, and how poverty shapes areas culturally, often contrasting with traditional/stereotypical expectations. As well as showcasing the decline of Scottish Gaelic and how that may take shape within a dystopian future.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Bringing Music to the Visual Medium Through 2D Animation
I will be researching into the world of animated and live action music videos and note how they both compliment and enhance the songs they are part of. My focus will be on how lyrics, beat, tempo, and mood of the songs directly influence the visuals in the video and its production, from idea conception to final piece. Through this research I will create a 2D animated music video to the song 'Fake Ass Gold' by DemonDice while integrating everything that I have learnt.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Raising the Dead: Game Animation
I have created and implemented a collection of game animations for a zombie player character. In video games, the focus is usually on input responsiveness, often at the cost of style and personality. This can lead to functional yet uninspired movements that aren’t tailored the character or game itself. With this project, I explored how this experience can be improved by playing with the relationship between the zombie and player. I experimented with ways to let the zombie's physicality, weight and behaviour shape the feel of control.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Recreating Psittacosaurus Lujiantunensis
Recreating a Psittacosaurus Lujiantunensis using Paleoart techniques. I have created a fact file zine and posters that explore Psittacosaurus' place in the early Cretaceous in Yixian, China. With illustrations, I have brought the bones back to life. Created as if the reader is being sent back in time to the Cretaceous to capture one. This project is about exploring the way science can interact with art.
BSc (Hons) Computer Game Applications Development
Use of Audio in Procedural Content Generation of Racetracks
Project lets users build their own racetrack by providing an audio file (song). It breaks down the song into parameters and uses them to control factors like track size, width etc. You can then play through the created track with your music playing alongside. Users can also alter the generation beforehand manually to fit their specific preferences.
BA (Hons) Game Design and Production
Onboarding for Uncertainty in Games
I aim to explore how and why people struggle to make effective decisions when faced with uncertainty in games, such as highlighting how people are prone to acting on cognitive biases, such as the gambler's fallacy. I will highlight the prevalence of these problems through a comparative analysis of current industry methods for designing with uncertainty. I then aim to address these difficulties through the use of a digital prototype that utilizes User Experience and Game Onboarding practices to demonstrate and teach players how they can alter their thinking when dealing with uncertainty.
BA (Hons) Computer Arts
Depths of Decay
Set in the near future, ‘Depths of Decay’ explores the themes of decay and isolation by depicting the London Underground after intense flooding, informed by the predicted water level rise of the River Thames, exposing how eerie such a place can be once devoid of people. Through realistic textures, lighting, and composition, this 3D environment will advance my understanding of how visual and spatial design can inform the viewer and express particular emotions, showcased through high-quality, cinematic renders with the intention to be used in a trailer or film.
