Why is the Diploma in MAD, Animation & Games the best course for me in 2025?

Stories are the most powerful way to communicate. A good story captures our attention, makes us feel, shapes the way we think and even influences our actions. Telling a good story is essential in the media and creative industry whether you choose to be a writer or a journalist, a games developer or a designer, a brand specialist or an animated content creator. Through the study of storytelling, students will recognise the power of story in connecting people and shaping the way we see the world. They will learn key concepts from ideation to character development, story world building and narrative structure. They will examine themes and create original stories that will resonate with a target audience. They will learn tools in video storytelling. Ultimately, students will present their story in the form of a media product using audio visual technology.

Design plays a vital role in shaping and improving the user experience across all disciplines in the creative industry. It is a basic skillset that is core to the creation of effective animations, games, videos, marketing campaigns, etc that users interact with daily in the real-world. This module aims to cultivate these skillsets through the introduction of the basic principles of design. Students will engage in hands-on photography, digital imagining and illustration exercises to expose them to the importance of visual hierarchy and flow, colour theory, typography and other core design elements. They will undergo training to understand the importance of the design process from developing creative concepts, to sketching for communication and finally art directing effective designs for their users across various platforms.

Creating an experience for users requires creativity and understanding of users. In this module, students will learn ideation techniques to generate interesting ideas, and how to identify entrepreneurial opportunities for their creative solutions. They will also be exposed to basic concepts in psychology to better understand themselves, and others.

This module fosters an awareness and appreciation for animation, game art and design development of interactive media content. You will experience the exciting creative process of design, development and execution in a studio setting. This is an introduction to the specialisation Animation & Games (AG).

Take a curious peek behind the workings of how brands become successful. You will learn how a brand can describe itself to its users, differentiate itself from its competitors, and convey its unique style and DNA through the practice of textual and visual forms. This is an introduction to the specialisations Visual Communication & Motion Design (VCMD) and Digital Media & Communications (DMC).

This module equips you with the skills to connect, interact and dialogue with communities to create effective and delightful solutions. You will gain the ability to understand communities by collecting data, analysing observations and addressing insights before streamlining information to target audiences in an instantly understandable fashion. This is an introduction to the specialisation Experience & Product Design (XPD) & Creative Community Engagement with Psychology (CCEP).

See the harmony between music, performance and production. You will gain knowledge of the fundamentals of music and hands-on experience at the digital audio workstations to produce simple pieces. Your creations can be used for apps, games and videos. This is an introduction to the specialisation Sound & Music (SM).

Unleash your creativity with Storytelling for Digital Media. Dive into the craft of telling compelling stories for the screen in both factual and scripted genres. Explore the Hero's Journey, learn how to engage your target audience, and bring your ideas to life by filming and editing your own video. This is your chance to create content that connects.

This specialisation module aims to equip the students with knowledge and skillsets to create more complex 3D models for animation and games. The students will learn to create intermediate level polygonal type of 3D models using hard-surface and organic modelling techniques, including how to establish lighting, and applying texture to 3D models. Students will also be taught fundamentals in 3D production pipeline that is suitable for pre-rendered and real-time 3D projects that encompass modelling, UV, texturing, and presentation methods for 3D works. The knowledge and skills from this will form the foundation that is essential to more advanced 3D production methods in later modules.

Aims to build upon the knowledge of Traditional Animation and expose students to the concepts and techniques involved in 2D animation using professional digital tools. It allows students to produce their work in a significant digital environment in addition to pencil and paper. This module further emphasizes the principles of animation including line of action and solid drawing, and introduces students to modern digital animation approaches such as those for multi-plane cameras and limited animation. Students will then apply these concepts to produce 2d animation within the digital realm.

Students taking this module will work with drawing media such as graphite pencils to develop line, shape and tone to arrive at an integrated image. Through drawing exercises that cover areas like value, texture, volume, space relationships, proportion, color, perspective, and composition. Students will learn both analytical and inventive components of the drawing process.

This module will introduce students to the fundamentals of user interaction design as basic principles are fundamental to the design and implementation of effective interfaces, whether for traditional GUI environments, the web, mobile devices, wearables, or Internet-connected smart devices.

This module introduces students to the creative visual story creation process. Students will be taken through a journey of discovery and tap into various sources of creativity, including their life experiences, to uncover their potential as visual storytellers. Students will experience the process of visual story creation that include story creation and storyboard creation. They will be introduced to the knowledge of film languages that includes basic concept of camera works, visual composition, progression of shots and film editing. Students will also experience the process of storyboarding that includes applying the film language to create the storyboards. In story creation, they will be introduced to the different techniques of brainstorming ideas, story creation workflow and different modes of filmic narration. They will learn how to present a visual story effectively as well as give critique constructively. They will be encouraged to discover their ‘creator’s voice’ and apply the concepts they have learnt to create visual stories that reflect their unique voice and connect emotionally with the audience.

Develop data fluency skills such as formulating questions, processing and analysing data to articulate numerical and graphical summaries. Build a simple data dashboard to generate insights and support a solution for a chosen SDG.

Appreciate the use of both creative and computational thinking skills to solve a SDG-related problem. Apply focused and diffuse thinking , brainstorming techniques, and the four pillars of computational thinking to a chosen SDG.

Please refer to Elective Modules Framework for more information.

This specialisation module aims to equip the students with deeper knowledge and skillsets to create more complex 3D models for animation and games with medium level of difficulty. The students will learn to create intermediate level polygonal type of 3D models using hard-surface and organic modelling techniques, including how to establish lighting, and applying texture to 3D models. Students will also be taught intermediate level of 3D production pipeline that is suitable for pre-rendered and real-time 3D projects that encompass modelling, UV, texturing, and presentation methods for 3D works. Student will study how to create intermediate level of shader creation and texturing method for their 3D models and their application.

Aims to cover the traditional animation principles in-depth and adapt them for 3D. Through hands-on practical lessons, students will use professional 3D animation software to adopt a proper organized approach to computer animation and learn techniques for creating convincing movement and rigs. At the end of the module, students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of body mechanics, setting up rigging structures such as bipedal character and props, and produce entertaining pieces of 3D animation involving anthropomorphic and basic humanoid characters.

This module aims to build upon the concept taught in Drawing with further emphasis on figure drawing. Students will study human anatomy and be taught the techniques for drawing the figures and capturing poses using methods such as contour and gesture drawings. Drawing for weight, force, emotion, thought and movement are stressed. Basic forms of animal anatomy would be introduced.

This module aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills required to produce a digital 2D mobile game prototype using commercially adopted game engine. Students will be introduced to game development terminology and basic programming fundamentals to aid them in creating a prototype or proof of concept, which is an important phase within a typical game production life cycle. Students will also be taught how to infuse design considerations into the development process as part of the training to be a proficient game designer cum programmer.

Work in multi-disciplinary groups to apply design thinking methods, backed by research and qualitative data, to tackle local sustainable issues mapped to the SDGs. Tap into knowledge and skills learnt in CCC modules to create innovative prototypes for real-life issues faced by local communities.

Please refer to Elective Modules Framework for more information.

Aims to provide students with primary production knowledge in integrating their previously learned skill sets to comprehensively develop, manage and create a real-time technology project.

Aims to build upon the fundamental concepts and techniques of organic modeling covered in Character Modeling and Setup. Students will learn to use advanced digital modeling tools to generate industry level texture maps and sculpt high-fidelity creature model based on original or provided design. This module will also incorporate intermediate level of shader engineering and lighting setup which further amplify the models aesthetic.

This module will focus on humaniod facial muscles, rigging and blend shapes. Students will study performance acting and translate into CG characters for driven scenario or story. It will expose students to specific approaches for character animation such as facial animation and lip sync. Students will be taught how to make their digital actors act and display convincing emotions.

This module aims to build upon the concepts taught in drawing fundamentals with further emphasis on figure stylization for character design while building on student’s perspective drawing skills to further develop environment and prop design. Students will be exploring different techniques and workflow in coming up with unique character designs and exploring interior and exterior set designs and props.

This module will introduce students to the fundamentals of user interaction design and user experience development, starting with the principles of interaction design towards everyday products and unto digital games. Students will then learn the different categories of user experience for digital games and designing games that will provide the optimal user experience for their target audience personas. Principles of interaction design for 2D and 3D games are covered as well.

This module aims to equip students with knowledge to implement digital 3D game prototypes through fundamentals of problem solving and programming. These skills are taught through programming constructs as well as simple object-oriented concepts like objects and classes, inheritance, polymorphism, multi-dimensional arrays, statics, etc. It will allow students to plan, conceptualize, design, script and develop game levels using commercially adopted content creation tools and game engine. Besides using native level construction editor to build 3D levels, interaction with different forms of input devices such as mouse, joystick, hand gestures and so on will be covered as well.

This module aims to foster an awareness and appreciation for immersive technologies and how it plays a much larger role across different sectors. Students will be introduced to Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mix Reality (MR) platforms and case studies of their successful applications. During the module, students would be taught to develop simple AR/VR prototypes through hands-on tutorial sessions.

This module aims to equip students with the know-how in merging the fields of visual designs, digital interface design and human computer interaction. The coursework enables the student to build the essential skillsets needed to create digital resources like web pages, smartphone apps, games, etc. Students will be equipped with foundational skills in computational thinking and skills to make creative aesthetic decisions when designing human centric interactive digital media.

​Tinker Lab is part of the Project Core modules that will be offered to all second year MAD students in semester 2. It is designed to strengthen students' skills and mindset as they work in a transdisciplinary team, tapping onto the transdisciplinary framework, process and tools to innovate solutions. Tinker Lab builds on the practices taught in X-Lab to further develop students’ ability to inspire innovation with purpose, encouraging participants to make a meaningful impact through their creations. This module aims to foster a mindset where tinkering is not just about play but about leveraging technology to bring about positive change (e.g. Sustainability Goals). Participants are invited to explore the endless possibilities of using their skills and ideas as catalysts for meaningful impact, whether on a personal, communal, or global scale. Through hands-on exploration, and collaborative projects, participants will uncover their potential as change-makers and learn to embrace creativity, experimentation, and iteration as tools.

Develop data visualisation skills and apply narrative elements and persuasive delivery techniques to communicate data effectively. Learn to craft compelling narratives, based on hard facts and data, to call stakeholders into taking action to tackle the SDGs.

Aims to provide students with the opportunity to apply concepts and techniques learned into managing and executing real-world animated film projects. Students may utilise assets created in the Conceptualization & Layout module or generate new story ideas and create an animated film through the production pipeline to final delivery. In addition, the module will include workshops conducted by industry professionals to provide insight and assist students in organizing and producing work in line with professional practices.

Aims to provide students with the opportunity to apply concepts and techniques in creating visual effects for animated films, game cinematics or 2D/3D game projects. Students are to develop and generate 2D/3D effects to enhance the visual performance of digital scenes.​

This module aims to equipped students with knowledge for implementation of advanced features commonly used in sophisticated application development including games. This includes algorithm patterns, coding strategies, AI programming, finite state machine, multi-player networking, advanced UI, animation control, etc. Students also got to explore trending and emerging technologies that can enhance user experience. This includes virtual reality, augmented reality and use of various sensory devices through hardware integration. This module is positioned to support students in their Final Year Project to design and develop engaging and innovative applications/games for different interactive digital media platforms.

Innovation Lab is an opportunity for students to integrate, apply and deepen the knowledge, skillsets and competencies (both technical and general) they have gained over the course of their study. Building on the skills taught in Experience Lab and the Tinker Lab, students will work in mixed groups to tackle complex real-world issues through industry projects. They will learn how to research and generate new, innovative solutions that go beyond a single domain, while considering other factors such as meeting a business-end, dealing with resource constraints, as well as taking advantage of social, cultural and economic trends. They will also learn how to communicate with their stakeholders and manage a project. By the end of this module, students will deepen their skills in acquiring and synthesising knowledge from across disciplines and develop resilience in tackling complex problems

Get a head start in your career with the necessary skill sets, knowledge and tools to create your very own personal brand. Learn effective strategies to set yourself apart from the competition, and put it to good use and create awareness about the SDGs.

Acquire the skills needed to write in clear and concise English to effectively communicate an intended message to your target audience. Apply these skills when writing for specific contexts, such as scenarios related to the SDGs.

This module aims to immerse students with real-world industry experience. This programme comprises a 22-week enhanced internship programme integrating a structured learning outcome which facilitates authentic learning

Please refer to Elective Modules Framework for more information.