Join us on Bluesky with guest David James @dwjames.bsky.social on Wednesday 15th October 2025 at 20:00 BST

Games Development as a university subject has grown significantly in popularity over the last 20 years, with over 130 universities offering games-specific courses (UKIE, 2025). This growth has matched the rapid expansion of the games industry itself, with UK consumers spending £7.6 billion on video games and employment in the sector growing on average 9.5 % per year between December 2014 and May 2024 (TIGA, 2025).

This growth in interest has resulted in a diverse student population studying games: some may have programming experience, some may be excellent at visual design, and others may be passionate about games as a medium but have never touched code. This diversity presents a significant pedagogical challenge when it comes to teaching games design.

Games design is both a creative and technical subject. How are we to teach everyone the fundamentals without overwhelming some or holding back others?

A technique applied across the Games Design team at Staffordshire University is that of Game Frameworks – partially complete game scaffolds intended to best support a diverse range of learners.

Why Frameworks?

In traditional “technical” modules, students are often required to build or code “under-the-hood” systems such as input controls, physics, collisions, artificial intelligence, sounds, and user interfaces. Whilst this process is important, it can take significant time to implement these systems before a student can even begin designing enjoyable gameplay.

In the games industry, graduates would rarely be expected to create all these systems from scratch. More often, they are expected to build gameplay upon or within existing systems.

By abstracting away these base elements, frameworks allow students to start playing sooner, making design decisions, iterating, and ultimately learning about games design through doing. Students with greater technical ability gain valuable experience designing gameplay within the constraints of a framework – a key skill for any designer.

What Is a Framework?

A framework is a partial, playable game that provides core functionality such as a controllable character (with keyboard and mouse inputs) and a working camera setup. The camera is important, as its position and behaviour strongly influence the type of game being made – a side-on camera like that in Super Mario Bros or Sonic the Hedgehog supports “platformer” gameplay, while a first-person camera attached to the player character’s head creates a 3D, immersive experience.

Importantly, a game framework contains deliberate gaps in its functionality. Lesson content focuses on teaching students how to “fill” these gaps. For example, the framework’s player character might be able to move left and right but not jump. This creates a teaching opportunity to show how to launch the character upward when the player presses the jump key — and how to bring them back down again. Alongside the technical aspects, students discuss design considerations: how high should the jump be? How would a higher or lower jump affect level design?

Each week, new concepts are introduced, and students complete micro-assessments based on implementing these within the framework. This provides supported, scaffolded learning and visible progress each session.

Why Frameworks Matter

Frameworks bridge the gap between academic learning and industry practice:

• They allow creative exploration early in the course.
• They support mixed-ability cohorts.
• They mirror real development workflows.

Across a student’s degree, frameworks evolve to include bigger “gaps” and less scaffolding — giving students greater opportunity to apply their learning and extend their technical and design skills.

As our students’ experience diversifies, frameworks offer a flexible, inclusive, and industry-aligned way to teach games design through doing.

References

UKIE (2025) UK games industry continues to grow as consumer spend reaches £7.6 billion. 4 April. The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE). [Online]. Available at: https://ukie.org.uk/press-releases/ukie-urges-government-to-back-uk-games-industry-or-miss-out-on-500m-opportunity [Accessed 8 October 2025].

TIGA (2025) Weathering the storm: TIGA research reveals UK games dev sector continues to grow despite global sector downturn. 23 May. The Independent Game Developers’ Association (TIGA). [Online]. Available at: https://tiga.org/news/weathering-the-storm-tiga-research-reveals-uk-games-dev-sector-continues-to-grow-despite-global-sector-downturn [Accessed 8 October 2025].

Guest Biography:

David James is a National Teaching Fellow (2025) and Course Director for the Games Design area at University of Staffordshire. He creates award-winning, game-based teaching tools and empowers students through engaging, industry-led pedagogy. A national and international speaker on games design education, David is also a mentor and leader, dedicated to inspiring students and supporting the development of colleagues.

Questions and chat

Q1 –  Game frameworks are a game-specific type of scaffolding.

Q2 –  When working with mixed-ability groups (especially in the first year), how do you ensure less-experienced stay engaged without holding back those with more experience?

Q3 – What would an ideal framework look like for your discipline or institution? What features of flexibility would it need?

Q4 –  How can we design creative play without sacrificing technical rigour?

Q5 – Have you experimented with studio-based or project-based models in your #HE work? How did they impact student engagement and attainment?

Q6 – Do scaffolds such as frameworks make learning more #inclusive – or can they risk limiting originality? Where is the balance?