Computer Arts and Games

Welcome to the Computer Arts and Games subject page.  This guides highlights the key resources for your subject area, and services and facilities available from the Library.

Getting started

All required reading for your modules should be available from your online reading lists. In addition to prescribed reading, when doing your own research ‘beyond the reading list’, LibrarySearch is a quick and easy way to simultaneously search for academic content across a number of different sources. If you get stuck, please don’t hesitate to contact your Academic Librarian.

Pluralsight (formerly Digital Tutors) is a CG, VFX, 3D animation, game dev, VFX and digital arts training resource. Thousands of video how-to tutorials with step-by-step instructions from experts in the creative professions.

Individual videos are combined into courses for you to follow, use paths of combined courses and tools to teach you any given skill from start to finish or you can choose to create your own channel for your learning. Lots of features  such as assessments and labs are available to help you track your training. 

Access and Authentication:

Email invites or group codes are not required for this resource as we have single sign-on (SSO) in place.

Access using your Abertay login credentials.  Please note that access to this resource is restricted for the following groups only: 

Sound and Music for Games, Game Design and Production Management + Game Design and Production (Years 1,2,3,4), Computer Arts (Years 1,2,3,4), MProf Games Development, Computer Games Technology (Years 3 + 4 + MSc), Computer Games Applications Development (Years 3 + 4) and SDI staff.  

Due to the restricted license cap on this resource, please be aware that inactive accounts will be periodically removed.

Pluralsight is also available as a mobile app on iOS and Android devices.  In order to ensure seamless access to the Abertay subscription login using the SSO option:

1. Open the Pluralsight app. 
2. Click the Use Single Sign-On (SSO) button.
3. Enter your company URL - abertay.ac.uk
4. Click Continue
5. Login using your network credentials to the Abertay SSO screen.
6. You are now successfully logged into Pluralsight.

If you can't access Pluralsight using your Abertay credentials and belong to one of the above groups, please email library@abertay.ac.uk 

Note: please read the Pluralsight Privacy Policy carefully and be aware that your personal data is retained by Pluralsight whilst you are an active user.  Abertay staff and students will be manually opted-out from receiving marketing emails.

The key resources for your subject area are:

• ACM Digital Library 
  Computing and engineering conference papers and journal articles.
• Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game Research 
  Game Studies is an open access, crossdisciplinary journal dedicated to games and gaming research and the aesthetic, cultural and communicative aspects of computer games. Additional open access journals can be found using the Open Access Journals section at the bottom of the page.
• IEEE Xplore
  Access to more than 4 million full-text documents from some of the world’s most highly cited publications in electrical engineering, computer science and electronics.  It contains more than 30% of the world’s technical literature.
• Springer Link ebooks 
  Over 23,000 e-books on computer science.
• Statista A comprehensive statistics platform with access to over 1.5 million data sets and revenue forecasts from 2015 to 2020 on over 400 industries. Includes access to the Global Consumer Survey database. Includes data on the video game and gaming industry with statistics on the output and consumption of games. For more information and a search tutorial, check this guide.
• Wiley Online Library 
  Access to nearly 1,500 peer-review journals including Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds and Computer Graphics Forum. 
• Taylor & Francis Online 
  Access to over 1100 social sciences and humanities journals including Journal of Game Tools and Digital Creativity.

Websites

Freely available peer-reviewed journals include:

• Animation Studies is the Society for Animation Studies’ peer-reviewed online journal.  One cumulative volume per year is published although articles are added irregularly throughout the year.
• The Computer Games Journal is a Scottish publication on computer games development, includes records of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Video Games Technology.
• Eludamos:  Journal for Computer Game Culture is an international, multi-disciplinary open access journal.  Peer-reviewed articles that deal with digital games are published bi-annually.
• Hindawi International Journal of Computer Games Technology is a peer-reviewed, open access journal for research and development aspects of games technology covering a range of entertainment computing and interactive digital media.
• Journal for Artistic Research is an international, open access and peer-reviewed journal for the identification, publication and dissemination of artistic research and its methodologies, from all arts disciplines.
• Journal of Games Criticism is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal which is multidisciplinary in nature and focuses on video games criticism.
• Loading … Journal of the Canadian Games Studies Association is an interdisciplinary Canadian journal publishing research in the field of digital games studies. 
• Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association is a quarterly, multidisciplinary open access journal for research on and practice in all aspects of games.

Remember, when deciding which resources to use for your research, ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I using the right type of resource? ie too many books could make your research quite general - have you used any journal articles? are you using too many websites? 
• Are your resources current? Depending on your subject area, you made need to use only the most up-to-date of literature.
• Is what you're using reliable? ie if it was found on the internet: is it a reliable source? when was the website last updated?

Academic Librarian

Your Librarian is Sinéad McGhee. Sinéad can help you find the resources you need for your research, and advise you on how best to reference them.

Email: s.mcghee@abertay.ac.uk

Tel: 01382 308867

Follow the Library on Twitter @AbertayLibrary

Other resources and support