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

PhD student work at FDG and CIG conferences

September 1, 2018

The work of IDG Ph.D. student Daniel Karavolos has been presented in two conferences during August 2018: "Using a Surrogate Model of Gameplay for Automated Level Design" was presented in the international conference on Computational Intelligence in … read more

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Procedurally Generated Game: DATA Agent game released

September 1, 2018

Not a Completely Randomly Generated Game DATA Agent, the game entirely generated on Wikipedia data and OpenStreetMap, has been released on itch.io and is playable both online and via download for both Windows and Mac. Its basis in real life data allows for … read more

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Developer, PhD and Postdoc positions at Institute of …

August 31, 2018

Come and work with Prof. Georgios Yannakakis and Dr. Antonis Liapis, and our team at the Institute of Digital Games - University of Malta in the areas of artificial intelligence and games, machine learning, affective computing, and computational … read more

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Game design and research by University of Malta at Science …

August 31, 2018

The Institute of Digital Games (IDG) will be showcasing game design and research at their stand during Science and the City on the Friday, 28th September 2018 starting 18h00 in Valletta near Pjazza Regina and under the arches (Digital … read more

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IDG at the Copenhagen Triple Game Conference

August 27, 2018

Earlier this month, the IT University of Copenhagen brought together three long-running humanities-focused game studies conferences - the Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, the Games and Literary Theory Conference, and the History … read more

Report on the FDG workshop on Tabletop Games

August 20, 2018

In Malmö, Sweden, the 1st workshop on Tabletop Games took place at the Foundations of Digital Games conference. The workshop was organized by IDG staff member Antonios Liapis and Maastricht University member Cameron Browne, and saw more than 50 conference … read more

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