| MSc AI for Games |
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The MSc IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR GAMES is about the techniques needed to create artificial game-playing agents and non-player characters. Students will learn advanced techniques in Artificial Intelligence (AI), and apply this knowledge in a 'hands-on' environment by creating a range of game-playing agents for a wide variety of games. AI is widely regarded in the computer games industry as the area where the largest strides in gameplay will be made in the coming decades, and students of this course will be at the forefront of this advance. Game theory is very important in industry (particularly in finance and economics), and students will also consider games and models from those domains. As well as equipping students for a career in the rapidly-growing computer games industry, good graduates will be prepared for jobs which apply AI techniques to business planning and engineering problems and for further AI research through to PhD. Before starting the course, students will be expected to have programming skills and an enthusiasm for games, but knowledge of AI topics is not required.
During the course, students will create a large portfolio of AI agents to take forward on graduation. The games considered will range from traditional games such as chess, and go through to complex first-person and real-time strategy games. A range of competitions will be run throughout the module to compare the effectiveness of student AI projects.
In order to provide careers information and to inform students of the techniques currently in use in the games industry, industrial speakers will present their insight to students of the course. The degree will culminate with a major project where students will build one or more AI players for a game of their choice. Options during the course will allow students to study areas such as computer graphics and animation, sound, software engineering, project management and formal methods.
The course should appeal to students with an enthusiasm for Artificial Intelligence who prefer a 'hands-on' course where their ideas can be implemented in a range of game environments, and to those with an enthusiasm for computer games aiming to get into the major growth area of AI design and development. Graduates will have skills that will make them well suited to careers in the computer games industry, and to AI jobs in finance, management and engineering.
PART-TIME STUDY
This course is now available as a two-year part-time option for home/UK based students. The part-time course structure will vary according to the study programme required. In order to discuss your part-time study requirements please contact our recruitment office in the first instance.