Dr William Kavanagh

Lecturer

School Faculty of Design, Informatics and Business

Department Department of Games Technology and Mathematics

Biography

I am interested in games and fun; how can we make fun games and how the degree to which a game is fun can be measured. 

My PhD (completed at Glasgow University in 2021) investigated the use of formal methods, specifically probabilistic model checking, as a means of game balancing. This involved the publishing of a small mobile game alongside automated verification which was then compared to how the game was actually played. 

I joined Abertay in the summer of 2021 and am looking to continue my research into game balancing both advancing on the approaches used before and exploring new techniques.

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I am the module leader for:

  • CMP201 - Data Structures and Algorithms 1 (starting 2022/23).
  • ELE002 - Games for Change.
  • CMP105 - Games Programming (starting 2022/23).

I am also supporting:

  • DES506 - Studio Game Development.
  • CMP208 - Games Programming and System Architectures.
  • CMP203 - Graphic Programming.
  • CMP202 - Data Structures and Algorithms 2

Interests

In addition to my core research on game balancing I am also interested in:

  • Computer Science education (teaching programming),
  • Board games,
  • Football analytics,
  • Player analysis,
  • Ranking and Matchmaking systems.

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Meet the rest of the team

Mrs Erin Hughes

Mrs Erin Hughes

Department of Games Technology and Mathematics | Lecturer

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Mr Gareth Robinson

Mr Gareth Robinson

Department of Games Technology and Mathematics | Lecturer

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