Games research and education (M.Sc. and Ph.D.)

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The Institute of Digital Games is the centre for research and education in game design, game analysis, and game technology at the University of Malta.

Our work is at the forefront of innovative games research. We explore games and play, uncovering new playful and generative possibilities in game design and technology. We delve into everything games can teach us about ourselves.

Our multidisciplinary academic team spans computer science, literature, game design, philosophy, media studies, and social sciences.

Read our latest report: IDG Annual Report - Academic Year 2021/22

David developed an innovative model for understanding board game involvement for his thesis.

It is an environment roaring with ideas, thoughts, games, prototypes, concepts. It was a period when I felt constantly inspired.

Rebecca is researching narrative in games. As part of her thesis, she developed a choice-driven video game.

Practice in the form of game project assignments and a supportive teaching staff really boost your confidence as a game designer!

The Institute feels like a little community that you're part of.

William's research explored the procedural generation of multi-floor levels for first-person shooters.

Being involved in the research process, I realised how passionate everyone at IDG is about their research.

David C.
Graduated in 2015
Rebecca P.
Graduated in 2017
William C.
Graduated in 2015

Blog What we have been up to lately

The Implied Designer

August 13, 2020

The idea of an ‘implied designer’ is at the core of a pioneering, collaborative academic work between The University of Antwerp's Dr. Nele Van de Mosselaer of the Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte - UAntwerpen and the University of Malta 's … read more

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Game Development Paths: The Business and Industry of Making …

July 31, 2020

The Institute of Digital Games is thrilled to offer students a guest lecture from the business side of game design and game development by the GTR game accelerator & G.Round community-driven playtesting platform. The 1-hour lecture will be provided online … read more

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COMnPLAY-Science project: Questionnaires for Science …

July 29, 2020

The COMnPLAY SCIENCE project examines non-formal and informal science learning through coding, making, and playing thereby helping understand the new ways that young Europeans are nowadays increasingly engaged with, outside school and higher education science … read more

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Game Research and Education: Bridging the Virtual with Real …

July 14, 2020

Join Prof. Stefano Gualeni and Dr. Iro Voulgari in a Commonwealth of Learning and Commonwealth Centre for Connected Learning webinar where we will discuss the impact of games beyond entertainment and also how games can specifically be … read more

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Emotion AI - An Experiment using Theory of Mind and …

June 2, 2020

A study conducted at the Institute of Digital games investigating how an agent’s behaviour and the player’s own performance and emotions shape the recognition of frustrated behaviour was published in KI - Künstliche Intelligenz - the … read more

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Artificial Intelligence and Emotion: Exploring the Next …

May 26, 2020

Dr. Konstantinos Makantasis, post-doctoral researcher in Artificial Intelligence at the Institute of Digital Games has been awarded a prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships for his TAMED (Tensor-bAsed Machine learning towards genEral moDels … read more

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