Psychology in Game Design and Digital Innovation (Taught)

Why choose this course
Learn about how the rapid growth of technology and digital innovation impacts human behaviour and examine the intersection between psychology and our digital experience.
Tailor the course to your interests with our wide range of optional modules, including delving deeper into aspects of psychology, exploring extended reality and learning how to write creatively for games.
Take advantage of Surrey's location in the heart of Guildford, known as the 'Hollywood of Video Games', and attend the Guildford Games Festival to connect with games designers.
Learn from lecturers who are active researchers in key psychological areas, such as cognitive, developmental and social psychology.
Study a multidisciplinary curriculum, with contributions from a range of schools, departments and research centres at Surrey, including our Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing, Surrey Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence and Digital World Research Centre.

What you will study
On this course, you will receive comprehensive training on the psychological theories that cover cognitive, emotional, social and ethical aspects of game design and digital technology. You will learn how to develop gaming and digital experiences that are engaging, immersive and beneficial.

You will explore topics such as motivation, emotion, attention, learning and social behaviour and learn about game design principles such as gameplay mechanics, level design and narrative structure as well as the ethical considerations involved. You will develop the theoretical and methodological expertise to conduct psychological research in various phases of game and digital innovation design.

In addition to core modules, you will be able to choose from a selection of optional modules covering different aspects of psychology in more detail, as well as topics such as extended reality, brain and behaviour, and game writing.
Throughout the course, you will also have the opportunity to work on projects that apply the knowledge and skills you have learnt to real-world game development challenges. This may include designing and developing your own games, conducting user research studies or analysing player data.