Academic Spotlight: Zuby Ahmed

Here at BCU, we are proud to be home to so many wonderful staff members and academics that teach our courses and shape the future of our students. We love hearing the stories of our staff and how they got to where they are now.

Zuby Ahmed, Associate Professor in Games Design and Enterprise and Employability, gives us an insight into his life and work.

What do you do at BCU and how long have you been part of the University?

I am Associate Professor in Games Design and Enterprise and Employability. As part of my job, I head up the undergraduate and postgraduate games courses within the School of Games, Film and Animation. I work closely with the course directors, making sure they have everything they need to do the best they can for their students.

Could you tell us about your experience and how this feeds in to your teaching?

I class myself as a ‘hybrid’ Associate Professor - an academic and a practising industry veteran in games design. I started working as a Consultant and Freelance Journalist, then moved into quality assurance, then into games design, working for studios such as Digital Image Design, Warthog and EA Games, working on the globally award-winning ‘Battlefield’ franchise for XBox and Playstation; the first ‘Battlefield’ game on console format.

In 2006 I started my own company, SmashMouth Games, focusing upon pick-up and play games. As Creative Director I was able to design and develop games through my own company, such as ‘Russian Dancing Men’, a  global success in the games chart on Apple’s iTunes Store, with over 1m downloads in its first year of release. At the same time as working in my company, I started teaching games design, production management and career development at a number of universities and colleges in the UK.

In 2012, I commenced working as Course Director for ‘Gamer Camp’ here at BCU, supporting students across postgraduate courses. Soon after, I was integral in the strategic design, development and growth of the School of Games, Film and Animation (GFA). GFA now has over 500 students across 20 courses; its growth increasing. Oh, and I have been an avid games player now for over 40 years. I class myself as an early adopter; I’ve just received my STEAMdeck so I’m having fun with that at the moment

What are some of the greatest achievements you have accomplished at BCU?

I’m very fortunate in that since joining BCU, I’ve been instrumental in helping to grow a School from 40 students to now over 500 students. In the last five years I have twice conferred to Associate Professor (AP) - firstly recognising my leadership and expertise in games design, and my academic and industry expertise in enterprise and employability. I am one of the University’s nominees for a National Teaching Fellowship and I have also been recognised by teaching awards nominations six years running for BCU’s Extra Mile Awards/I AM BCU Awards.

Celebrating the successes of my students, I’ve also had two of my students win ‘Inspirational Student of the Year’. However I would say that the greatest achievements I have had are to see the students I have recruited and worked with, become my friends and mentees after graduating, also becoming industry experts and leaders in the field.

Through my global collaborations with industry, I have graduates who now work in senior positions at development studios which include Rockstar Games, Microsoft, Sony, and Ubisoft. Some alumni have won international awards, and some of my graduates have become BAFTA award-winning professionals, now reshaping industry practice.  This highlights their industry expertise; this makes me feel good about my work - I must be doing something right if this is happening.

What makes the course you teach on distinct, and what is the learning environment like?

I work at the intersection between games design and entrepreneurship - researching and applying knowledge into both academia and industry. As I’m a practicing industry veteran in games design, working simultaneously and synergistically as an academic, this allows me to passionately create initiatives on the games courses which are dynamic, facilitating positive transformation of all individuals, so that they thrive in today's ever-changing climate.  My research is enhanced by my gamification strategies which are focused on driving motivation, so I like to embody the notion that ‘work is play and play is work’.

The courses I spearhead embrace experiential and explorative deep learning; research-informed teaching and practice-based learning ensures that students become fit for purpose graduates, so they migrate quickly into the games industry. I value a collegiate approach to learning and development, because I appreciate that students value flexible education approaches which are coherent and fun. With the strong links to BAFTA-award-winning global industry partners I have developed, within video games, television and film, the industry collaborations we have facilitates our students to create industry-quality projects, which are then heralded by our partners as being some of the best in the world.

Why do you think Birmingham is a good place to study?

I would say it’s because it’s such a vibrant and happening city. There’s so much going on all the time, its exciting to see. Our courses are situated within The Curzon Building at City Centre Campus, which is walking distances to shops, pubs and bars, and train stations. The city also has e-scooters which are easily accessible, so it’s so easy to get one from one part of the city to another.

What can students do to help them prepare for the course you teach?

The best advice I would give is threefold. Firstly, read up as much as possible about the video games industry. There’s a slew of really useful websites out there that give you the latest news about the UK and global video games industry.  You need to know what is going on so you can start to position yourself within the industry you want to work within, whilst also trying to start to see patterns and trends. After all, you will be one of the games industry developers of tomorrow.

The next things I would suggest is to start to get as much experience making video games. Pick up and learn game engines like Unity and Unreal - for our undergraduate Courses we focus upon both, and our postgraduate Courses use Unreal. Go through the tutorials and make actual games, and then see how you can take them one step further to make your own games. Then hopefully you’ll start to get your own content ready for a portfolio of your own. Create a website and talk about the games you made, how you made them and provide videos and links to download the games.

The next thing to suggest is to play as many games as you can, but not from a player’s perspective, but from a developer’s perspective. Start to play games completely outside of your comfort zone and analyse them and review them. Use existing video game reviews as a reference to see how they critically analyse games. This is important because ultimately when you come onto the course, in one way shape or form, you are going to develop your creative problem-solving skills and your analytical skills need to be ready to deliver.

The final piece of advice is be prepared to come into a teaching and learning environment which is ego-free, as you’re going to have to be able to take on feedback without being precious, you’re going to have to be realistic about what you can achieve and to promise the earth, but deliver nothing. But one of the most important points is that you’re going to have to be positive and enthusiastic throughout all the challenges of game development. 

What’s your favourite thing about working for the University?

I would say its working with the people and also with the students. There are some really special people at BCU, they’re like family. My passion is to influence the students and graduates of today and practitioners of tomorrow to become globally mobile, successful creative problem solvers. Helping people to achieve their dreams is such a wonderful thing.