Games research and education (M.Sc. and Ph.D.)

Apply here

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

Interview on 'playable philosophy'

December 13, 2017

Dr. Stefano Gualeni was interviewed by Radio Beckwith (Turin, Italy) on topics concerning his works on ‘playable philosophy’ and the experiential and existential relationships we can establish with virtual worlds. The interview, titled … read more

  • Tagged:
  • Staff Work

Dagstuhl Seminar

December 4, 2017

IDG staff members Georgios N. Yannakakis and Antonios Liapis attended the Dagstuhl Seminar 17471 titled "Artificial and Computational Intelligence in Games: AI-Driven Game Design". This highly prestigious seminar is accessible by invititation only, and it is … read more

  • Tagged:
  • Staff Work

Game Lecture: Georgios Yannakakis - 15th November 2017

November 8, 2017

Georgios Yannakakis - 15th Novermber 2017 - 18h00 @ Institute of Digital Games About the talk: Based on his award winning paper Prof. Georgios Yannakakis will discuss the challenging task of representing everyday emotional states computationally. This is … read more

  • Tagged:
  • Event

IDG Awarded best Paper at Affective Computing and …

November 7, 2017

Georgios Yannakakis's paper "The Ordinal Nature of Emotions" was named as Best Paper at the Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction - ACII in San Antonio, Texas. The full paper is available here: https://goo.gl/y4e2nJ​ Prof. … read more

  • Tagged:
  • Staff Work

IDG at Gameslit 2017 Conference

October 30, 2017

Since the first edition, held in 2013 at the University of Malta, the Games and Literary Theory conference series has grown into one of the leading international venues for humanistic game studies. At this year's edition, held at the … read more

IDG at CEEGS2017 Conference

October 4, 2017

The Institute of Digital Games had a strong present at this year's Central and Eastern European Game Studies conference, held at the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodus, Trnava, Slovakia, on September 28-30. IDG member Daniel Vella, together with Jaroslav … read more