The current shortage in Computer Programmers, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally offers any computing graduate with core programming skills an entry route to a successful and rewarding career.  The B.Sc. in Computing with Games Development (3 Year Abinitio) course provides the platform for students to achieve this while also learning key techniques and technologies used in the ever-growing Games Industry.

While this course is designed to teach programming and is not envisaged that graduates would enter the games industry directly, several past students have released games on the play store and have started careers in gamification.  This course aims to provide a fun environment to aid the student in their rewarding and challenging years on campus.

This course is one of three streams of the offered in Computing, the others being Computing with Digital Media, and Computing with Software Development. There is also an option to take the Computing degree, in which the specialism is chosen after first year. There is a core of computing modules common to all streams and the streams differ by approximately a quarter of the modules.  This structure has several advantages, including a common first year which allows for the seamless transfer of students between streams before second year.  For this reason, we advise that, if a student intends to do any of these streams that they select all the streams on the CAO. This ensures that they will take advantage of any difference in the points for entry requirement.

All students go on a work placement in semester 6, usually January to May of the third year. This provides invaluable experience and connects students to possible future employers and colleagues. A high proportion of our students get full time posts with their placement employers after graduating.

The computing department at Tralee has a dedicated staff, and the staff student ratios ensure that our staff know and interact individually with all our students. We encourage interaction with the staff and with peers, as we see this as being essential to learning.

Along with the core modules, which “Link" the Games degree offers the following content. All modules can be accessed through the link for Games Development below.

Students will become skilled in a modern Game engine, currently we use Unity.  These are not only used to produce games but have many uses in simulation and have been used, both locally within the university and internationally for research purposes.

The student will be introduced to 3D modelling and animation using industry standard tools, this course usually provides some of the content for the student’s second year project.

The techniques and mathematics of the 3D graphic pipeline are essential knowledge, both within the gaming industry and in computing at large.

The ICT sector is going from strength to strength, both here and abroad, while Ireland continues to carve out an exciting niche in Games Development. The course provides a comprehensive range of integrated content that helps our students to build the skills that provide a solid foundation for both further study and a career in the ICT industry. Programming skills are fundamental to games development, and the heavybias towards  programming in this course means that our graduates are very highly regarded in the industry. In addition to the right mix of skills, their workplace oriented mind-set gives them a keen edge in a highly competitive environment.

The department is located on the University’s North Campus, adjacent to Kerry Technology Park, where a number of new, exciting and highly successful technology enterprises are based. Our close links with these enterprises have been invaluable in providing employment opportunities for our graduates.

Computing and ICT continue to be sectors of the Irish and world economies that display strong growth despite the downturn that has affected most other sectors in recent years. Technology enterprises seek graduates with a combination of skills. The areas most in demand are the core computing areas of programming and software skills as graduates with these tend to be most versatile and adaptable. As the Games Development industry continues to grow employment opportunities are also available in this sector.

Our three year BSc courses will introduce you to a range of computing technologies and applications. Depending on their particular skill sets, graduates may find work in a support capacity initially and through work experience progress to more senior roles such as:

• Programmer/software developer with a games development, media or other technology enterprise and areas where ICT is heavily used such as finance services, education and health care;
• Developer of digital media and audio/video content;
• Network technician and administrator;
• Database administrator;
• Web developer and web manager.

Graduates of this course will also find employment as computer technicians and network administrators with enterprises and organisations using ICT as part of their business.