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

Video Game Research Studies Presented at DiGRA 2019 in Japan

July 25, 2019

For most people, August is a month for resting and vacationing… Clearly, our staff are not most people! To showcase and discuss their most recent research efforts, they will spend the beginning of August in Japan to attend the 2019 international … read more

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Game AI - Research collaboration with Massive Entertainment …

June 19, 2019

Is it possible to predict the motivation of players just by observing their gameplay data? Even if so, how should we measure motivation in the first place? To address the above questions, on the one end, we collect a large dataset of gameplay data from … read more

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Game Philosophy at University of Malta: Virtual …

May 16, 2019

Techne', one of the leading academic journals in the philosophy of technology, released today Virtual Subjectivity: Existence and Projectuality in Virtual Worlds an academic article by the IGD's Dr. Daniel Vella and Prof. Stefano Gualeni The two are … read more

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AI and Games: Playing & Designing Games through …

May 10, 2019

The Institute of Digital Games is thrilled to have Dr.Sebastian Risi Associate Professor – IT University of Copenhagen and Co-founder - Modl.ai, speaking as part of our Game Seminar Series. He will present some of their work on creating … read more

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Game AI - Creative artificial evolution through quality …

April 29, 2019

The Institute of Digital Games is thrilled to have Dr. Jean-Baptiste Mouret of Inria, the French research institute dedicated to computer science and mathematics, speaking as part of our Game Seminar Series. Dr. Jean-Baptiste Mouret's work … read more

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Games for Education: eCrisis in the Classroom

April 22, 2019

The eCrisis project aims to enable inclusive education through playful and game-based learning. The Institute of Digital Games (IDG) and the Faculty of ICT are working in collaboration with St Ignatius College, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, National Technical … read more

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