Course Coordination
Ricardo José Vieira Baptista
Description
The Master's Degree in Digital Game Design and Development seeks to respond to the growing demand for highly qualified professionals in the video game industry. This course establishes a strong link with industry, incorporating industry best practices into academia to ensure that students acquire skills in line with market demands.
This cycle of studies is aimed at both professionals in the video game industry and graduates in Digital Games who wish to deepen their knowledge, as well as all those who wish to enter the area of game development from related areas, such as Multimedia, Arts, Design, Informatics and Engineering. The course will address the intersection between technology, art and innovation, providing a comprehensive and innovative training path.
The course structure combines the theoretical aspect with a strong practical component, with a view to preparing graduates for the current challenges of the industry. The practical component will be reinforced through the development of real projects, in which students will have the opportunity to design, prototype and implement digital games, exploring the optimization of game engines and applying agile methodologies. During their academic path, they will be encouraged to work in collaborative teams, simulating a professional studio environment, and to develop games from the conception phase to their publication. The theoretical component will offer a solid foundation in areas such as interactive storytelling, user experience, interaction design, applied artificial intelligence, and advanced programming topics for games. Students will explore innovative approaches to level design and game mechanics, as well as procedural generation and behavior simulation. This knowledge will allow students to anticipate the demands of the industry and adapt to its constant evolutions. In addition, future graduates will develop skills for research allowing them to contribute to innovation and technological advancement in the video game sector.