GAMES STUDIES - 2026/7

Module Overview

Video games as a form, or collection of forms, and entertainment genre have been around for a relatively short time, but the massive growth this sector has experienced since the earliest games of this sort emerged has cemented its importance in our contemporary experience in economic and in cultural terms. Alongside this, and the growth in other, often related, games forms, such as wargames, board games, game books, tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), collectable card games (CCGs) and more, we have also seen the rise of the study of games as a serious critical disciple: Games Studies. This constitutes a supra-discipline comprised of many disparate other disciplines (such as literature, sociology, psychology, economics, communications, politics, events management, computing and many more). As such, Games Studies helps us think about, analyse and contextualise video games and video games design and play in the light or our world and our experience, past, present and future.

This module will help students define video games in the context of their history and relationships to other ludic, literary, arts and entertainment forms and introduce you to a range of key concepts, theories, modes and approaches that are central to the study of games and to the design of games and their theorisation of such. We will also consider how the study of video games impacts, develops and interacts with the design, development and production of games and of gaming cultures.

On this module, students will develop a working understanding of the technological, artistic and cultural changes that have, and continue to, alter, develop and interact with video games. Using prominent and important video game examples alongside key critical texts, students will also explore games genres and gaming platforms alongside these developments. Games Studies, in its study and contextualisation of video games, will connect to the other modules locating and developing your understanding of games design ideas and principles as well as students' own work in the field in your second year and to other games studies and games design modules across your degree.

Module provider

Literature & Languages

Module Leader

MOONEY Stephen (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Introduction to Game Studies (Ludology)


• History of video games


• Video games in context


• Games and interdisciplinarity


• Games cultures


• Changing attitudes to games


• The 'play' of games 


• The players of games 


• Interaction and immersion 


• Analysing games 


• Video game genres


• Video game platforms


• The games industries

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate achievement of the module learning outcomes.

Seminar discussion with ongoing tutor feedback is designed mainly to assess transferable skills in working as part of a group and practical/professional skills in expressing ideas and critical analysis in oral communication. It also assesses subject knowledge in the different forms of critical theory used in games studies and game design and cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking and in using theory and critical approaches in the close analysis of games, game texts and critical materials.

The game analysis assessment challenges students to examine a game or games of their choosing in short form and to apply their analytical skills to the presentation of this examination. It is designed to help students develop their burgeoning contextualization and analytical skills and for them to receive feedback mid-semester which they can then apply to the larger assessment submission at the end of the module.

The essay assesses subject knowledge in the different forms of critical theory used in contemporary games studies and game design, together with the historical, social, cultural and intellectual contexts of these materials, such as identity, sustainability and global and cultural capability. The essay also assesses cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking, and transferable skills in communicating ideas in writing. It also assesses practical/professional skills in expressing ideas and critical analysis in written communication and transferable skills in working independently suitable for a second year module.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

Game Analysis (250-500 words) (25%)

This summative assessment gives students the opportunity to develop and present a short examination of a game or games of their choosing showcasing the analytical skills.

Essay (2000 words) (75%)

This summative assessment is an opportunity for students to explore an aspect of games studies of their choosing, to demonstrate their ability to analyse games alongside their understanding of the critical contextualization of games.

Formative Assessment & Feedback: Verbal feedback and formative 'feed forward' is provided through tutor and peer feedback in seminar discussions, with draft ideas and potentially written plans presented as part of the confidence building safe space of the seminars. Cognitive ability will be developed and refined in class discussions in relation to theory, critical approaches and games design modalities. Academic writing and critical analysis skills will be developed and honed which will feed forward to the summative assessments for this module and towards building the students' resilience and confidence in preparing work for examination. There is the option of a range of other feedback mechanisms agreed between tutor and students in week 1 of the module, such as seminar contribution and writing exercises.

Module aims

• equip students with pertinent knowledge about the history and development of video games and of design in relation to these
• facilitate student engagement with and analysis of a range of essential concepts, theories and approaches central to developing an understanding of video games past, present and future
• provide students with the opportunity to explore a range of critical approaches to games contextualistaion and to encourage them to think critically in connecting these to games design techniques and practices
• enable students to explore and assess examples of successful and consequential video games and give them the opportunity to reflect upon the games design aspects and implications of these for their own games design practice
• give students a grounding in games studies as a discipline (or collection of disciplines)
• develop and build confidence in students' critical and analytical skills

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• hone and develop students' critical contexualisation and analysis skills (in a variety of forms) by developing an awareness of the application of games studies to their games design practice and processes through responding to in-class prompts, discussion and sharing of gameplay experience alongside study of critical and source materials


• assist students in locating games and games design within and alongside theories, approaches and modes of representation and realisation in their own critical writing, and their own design work by identifying some of the key ideas and concerns in the study of games and their cultural context, such as global cultural and sustainability questions, and the relationship between creative design practice and critical and theoretical approaches to such


• further equip students with the research and writing skills they will need to produce critically informed academic and critically analytical writing by developing competency and confidence in writing in critical and academic modes through the safe space of the seminar setting where ideas, advice and responses are shared with other students


• develop students' grounding in resourcefulness and resilience as thinkers and critics by giving them the freedom to connect with, explore and experiment with ideas, modes, theories and approaches in response to the set reading and prompts, and by providing them with the supportive and encouraging safe space of the seminar space within which they can refine their ability to giv and receive constructive critical responses and feedback to critical ideas and approaches that they identify and develop a further awareness of their own critical practice


• help students develop further the sorts of academic and critical writing skills and credentials that modern employers look for in the games and related creative industries (and beyond) through the editing and feedback process engendered though the prompts in class and the assessment briefs which foreground analytical critical and academic writing skills


• facilitate students' complex thinking about games from multiple perspectives which will benefit students going forward into the sorts of interdisciplinary environments that characterise many of the employment roles that games design students are likely to enter by exposing them to interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary thinking about games and games design in the set reading and the seminar discussions

The learning and teaching methods include:

A combination of lecture materials, seminars, captured content, guided learning and independent learning, and includes a weekly seminar where students respond to critical ideas in games studies and discuss with their tutor and their peers those aspects, challenges and approaches that appeal or do not appeal to them as future games designers and critics in a supportive, constructive and open manner.

Students will engage with preparatory reading, including, where relevant, critical arguments by other students, in advance of the seminar which will combine discussion of interrelated critical ideas and texts with in-class prompts each week. Designed to help students reflect on and apply their learning to games and to the study of games (and the application of this to games design), the seminar environment acts as a safe space for developing and exchanging ideas, support, design, analysis and writing skills.

Varied learning materials such as lexical texts, visual materials, sculptural objects and other physical material prompts, video and sound objects, games and gamified texts are designed to increase student accessibility and will present them with a range of interpretive materials and approaches with which to work and develop their own thinking and creative responses.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ELI2057

Other information

The School of Arts, Humanities & Creative Industries is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas:

Employability: this second year module explores game studies and the context of games design and the games industries from a range of different perspectives as an introduction to the complex interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary social, cultural, technological and commercial landscapes within which games exist. This is done with an industry facing approach to contextualising games and games design concepts and ideas, genres and platforms within the framework of the professional standards that a career in contemporary games design and beyond require. In focussing on and growing key analytical, critical, contextualization, research, problem solving and and writing skills, in this module you will develop the sorts of professional abilities that will facilitate your practice as a professional games design practitioner. The skills and aptitudes developed in this module will feed forward to the wider games studies, games design and games focused modules throughout your degree, informing the application of concepts to game realisation.

Equally important for employability within these areas (and often overlooked) is the development of social knowledge around games design and personability.

Digital Capabilities: this module, while not specifically utilising coding, software and digital technologies directly, is intimately concerned with developments in the history and context of these digital aspects of games. The module is also concerned with the future of these aspects of digital video games as a series of inherently ‘digital’ forms as well as digital games platforms and digital gameplay. In addition, students will be introduced to debate around, and contemporary practices utilised in using, generative AI in games design. Appropriate use of digital media and communication platforms is increasingly important for visual arts and creative industry professionals and students will gain and develop those invaluable skills as part of this module. As such, as part of the module seminar workshops, you will also be encouraged to communicate with one another professionally and to work on some exercises using SurreyLearn, Microsoft Teams, and other digital and file and output sharing platforms, skills will be carried forward to other modules across your degree and beyond.

Global and Cultural Capabilities: games studies as a broad field has a significant application to human experience, human interaction and immersion that crosses borders and boundaries reaching all parts of our global cultures, while acknowledging and foregrounding those aspects that make different cultures so valuable and vibrant. Games studies’ interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches are adept at exploring subjects from multiple different and varied standpoints and as such play a vital role in recording, preserving and emphasising the cultural specificities of different cultures and experiences, especially those that might otherwise be silenced or endangered. The weekly seminar sessions give students the opportunity to present your own games analysis and approaches and to experience and respond to those of others in a friendly, constructive and open forum.

Resourcefulness and Resilience: this module, in contextualizing the history of video games and the cultural, technological and commercial spaces that video games have located in, touched upon and interacted with will help equip students with for the real world setting of your current and future games design practice. You will benefit from the critical thinking that others in the games studies field and in the related areas of study have provided as well as from the shared experience of your peers, an important source of resourcefulness and resilience for students. This module provides students with a number of analytical and contextual challenges which reflect the current state of the art. Students need to respond to these with inventiveness and flexibility, and are often required to research and develop their own solutions to given problems. This module also helps set the stage for more detailed discussions in later games studies and games design modules on your degree about your practice as a designer, the practicalities of building a portfolio of work and a profile as a professional in the games industries and beyond.

Sustainability: Students on this module are made aware of sustainable practices and challenges that the games industries and practitioners within these and related industries engage with in historical and contemporary settings from both theoretical and practical standpoints.

Furthermore, from a content viewpoint, students may choose to produce creative work that directly addresses environmental and sustainability issues as part of their subject matter. Games design, as with all art forms, can also realise cultural sustainability goals, playing an important role in increasing and maintaining awareness of cultural identity, themes and experience.

Teachers across the School also work closely with the University of Surrey’s Institute for Sustainability to explore and promote the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2026/7 academic year.