Alan Williams
Associate Lecturer
PhD Candidate
Game Developer
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
Game Development
All game development projects. Click images to see more.
Employability Game
A 3D Serious Game to Support Employability and Graduate Work-Readiness.
Chermug
A serious (educational) game about continuing/ higher education research methods.
RU EU?
A co-funded Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union project and is a game-based approach to exploring 21st century European Identity and Values.
Puzzle Avenue
A 3D third-person puzzle and problem-solving game incorporating adventure and platforming.
Train Run
An endless 3D runner game for a Train Jam hosted by Rivet Games.
Learn++;
A 3D serious (educational) game to help teach beginners programming through an interactive quiz.
3D Stealth Prototype
A 3D stealth top-down prototype involving simple player movement and enemy detection AI.
Space Mechanic
A 3D adventure game, influenced by the concept of Escape The Car.
Solus
A 3D level design project where level design was the main concentration featuring small gameplay mechanics.
App Development
All app development projects. Click images to see more.
GES App
A mobile app focussing on graduate employability skills across all discipline areas. Developed using Unity and integration of Firebase API.
Scotland Train App
A mobile app for train services in Scotland. Developed using HTML5, JavaScript and CSS along with frameworks including jQuery and jQuery Mobile.
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
Contact
Feel free to contact me using any social media or using the contact form below.
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
A 3D Serious Game to Support Employability and Graduate Work-Readiness
Showcased at GameDev Fusion, UWS event 2023.
The Employability Game concentrated on the creation of a 3D Serious Game that made undergraduates more aware of their respective industries, variety of career pathways and the ongoing skill sets they require to achieve their career goals.Project developed using Unity.
Role: Game Developer hybrid-based at the University of the West of Scotland with colleague, Julie Black.
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
CHERMUG stands for Continuing/ Higher Education Research Methods using Games. A serious (educational) game developed for the University of the West of Scotland. The game involved creating various mini games covering quantitative research methods on topics aimed at being a learning tool to help students learn more on research methods in a fun and engaging way.Project developed using Unity.
Role: Game Developer hybrid-based at the University of the West of Scotland with colleague, Julie Black.
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
R U EU? is a co-funded Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union project and is a game-based approach to exploring 21st century European Identity and Values.
Project developed using Unity.
Main assets used were solely designed in Adobe Photoshop or sourced by project parnters at Welten Institute: Research Centre for Learning, Teaching and Technology.
Role: Game Developer based at Paisley Campus, University of the West of Scotland.
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
Puzzle Avenue is a 3D third-person puzzle and problem-solving game incorporating adventure and platforming. The player explores an open world whilst completing different puzzles to further complete the objective.Solo Honours project developed in Unreal Engine 4.
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
Shown above is an Endless Runner called Train Run. This was a team project where I took part alongside Jason Alexander and Mark Williams in a TrainJam. This was hosted by Rivet Games involving us to develop a game featuring a train asset they provided.Team game jam developed in Unreal Engine.
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
Learn++; is a 3D serious game (educational) to help teach beginners programming in general through an interactive and immersive quiz.Team project developed in Unreal Engine 4.
Role: Game Mechanics and Level Design
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
Shown above is a 3D Stealth prototype of a game. This game involves the player (the cube) to get past the guards (the capsules) without being caught by their flashlight. This small prototype can be downloaded here to play now.Controls: W A S D to move.Solo prototype project developed in Unity.
Assets are 3D objects from Unity.
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
Space Mechanic is a 3D adventure game, influenced by the concept of Escape The Car. You are a Mechanic and you must find the appropriate items to repair your ship and escape.Team project developed in Unreal Engine 4.
Role: Level Design
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
Solus is a 3D level design project where level design was highly concentrated on and it features small gameplay mechanics in order to help convey a short back story to the level.Team project developed in Unreal Engine 4.
Role: Level Design & Mechanics
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
A small mobile app for train services in Scotland. Get details on your next train available and what platform. Access the source code for this via Scotland Trains Github.All features should work but there may be some issues.Originally a team mobile app further progress solo developed using HTML, JavaScript and CSS. Frameworks include; jQuery and jQuery Mobile.
Role: Design and Programming
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
Current ongoing project being developed in Unity. Mobile app focused on graduate employability skills across all discipline areas. Final app build available below from the Google Play Store.Project website: GES WebsiteGES App | Google Play Store
Project developed using Unity.
Role: App Developer/ Designer hybrid-based at Paisley Campus, University of the West of Scotland.
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.
ABOUT
I am currently an Associate Lecturer and PhD Candidate at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), having graduated with a First Class Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Computer Games Development in 2018. I have 4+ years of experience working on the BSc (Hons.) Computer Games Development programmes at UWS, Paisley since 2019, establishing module plans, delivering engaging lectures and labs, while giving input at subject panels and assisting in design course curriculum and module descriptors. This has allowed me to work closely with students to prepare them through their personal and professional career development journey transitioning to industry. I have excellent lecturing and presenting skills through continuous mentorship from supervisors as well as achieving excellent communication, collaboration, time management, and organisational skills.My time as an Associate Lecturer has given me fantastic experience and skills on developing module materials, presenting, marking, and assessing in modules such as: Intro to Game Development, Level Design, Retro Games Archaeology, JavaScript Games: Programming Fundamentals, and JavaScript Games: Programming Design. All modules ranging from Level 7 to Level 10. With additional assistance on creative and career driven focussed modules, focussing on career pathways and preparing students for stepping from university to industry or further education. Additionally, my experience with teaching as given me the opportunity to create interactive lectures and lab sessions surrounding completion design or development tasks for students to complete whether it be game engines (Unity, Unreal Engine, BabylonJS) or with web/ programming languages (C#, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript).I have also obtained experience as a Game Developer at UWS, Paisley, with involvement on many internal and external EU-based projects. These include completion of serious games including the Employability Game, GES App, CHERMUG, and RU EU?. This has involved the use of the Unity game engine and creation of assets and video materials using the Adobe Creative Suite or suitable video editing software (Sony Vegas, ClipChamp). I additional have had opportunities to work with Unreal Engine 4/5, both personally and professionally in past years.
Software
Unreal Engine coding using the built-in
Blueprints Visual Scripting
Programming Languages
Publications
Conference Papers
Baxter, G., Hainey, T., Williams, A., Black, J. (2023). Designing a 3D Serious Game about Career Pathways in the Games Industry, European Conference on Games Based Learning, 17(1), pp. 60-68. doi: https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.17.1.1723.
Petersen, S.A., Iqbal, M., Williams, A., and Baxter, G. (2023). GES app - support global employability skills from the perspectives of students, staff and employers, IADIS International Journal on WWW/Internet, Vol.21, No. 2, pp. 16-32. doi: https://doi.org/10.33965/ijwi_2023210202.
Baxter, G., Hainey, T., McMahon, R., and Williams A. (2022). A serious game to teach about career pathways in the games industry. ECGBL, 16th European Conference on Games Based Learning, 6-7 October 2022, Lisbon, Portugal. doi: https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.16.1.744.
Abbas, A., Iqbal, M., Boyle, L., Baxter, G., Williams, A., Petersen, S.A., Topolewska-Siedzik, E., Jimoyiannis, A., Tsiotakis, P., Scott, G. (2022). Graduate employability learning through self-determined learning model of instruction (SDLMI) driven digital app, INTED2022 Proceedings, pp. 3934-3943. doi: 10.21125/inted.2022.1076.
Journal Papers
Sim, D., Boyle, E., Leitch, M.S., Williams, A., Jimoyiannis, A., Tsiotakis, P. (2020). Learning about Europe through educational gaming, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Vol.45, No. 1, pp. 155-161. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2020.1803816.
© Alan Williams. All rights reserved.