About Us

The Department of Game Development at the University of Skövde is Sweden's leading educational and research environment in game development. Within the framework of Sweden Game Arena, we have also created a unique ecosystem for game development in collaboration with Science Park Skövde, resulting in a large number of successful company establishments. Research studies are conducted within the subject of information technology, which at the University of Skövde is defined as the subject that deals with how information is represented, processed, and communicated in artificial and natural systems, as well as how information technology systems are used and developed to achieve useful system solutions for individuals, organizations, or society.

The Research Project

The project aims to contribute to research on game development and the subfield that focuses on studying game development "in the wild". Successful game companies develop advanced technical systems whose main purpose is to provide the player with an interesting gaming experience. In this work, individuals with diverse competencies collaborate: from programming, game design, graphics, animation to sound design. Game development research focuses on understanding how this combination of creativity and technology is managed by game developers.

The doctoral project focuses on the development and implementation of game development tools that utilize generative AI (GAI). The development and application of GAI have accelerated in various fields in recent years. It can be used, among other things, for the creation of new media content. Within the game industry, there are many questions about how GAI tools should be designed to streamline game development while supporting creativity and job satisfaction among game creators. The doctoral project is aimed at studying how GAI tools can be created and introduced in game development to support game developers' creativity while streamlining production. The initial project group includes Stunlock Studios, a game company with 45 employees. Despite being a relatively small studio, Stunlock aims to develop games with open, large worlds and sees the introduction of GAI as an opportunity to expand production capacity without needing to grow in staff size. However, Stunlock is keen that new tools do not limit the company's ability to create creative game content.

Your Role

The doctoral work will be conducted with a design science research approach, focusing on the development and implementation of GAI-based tools for game production. The work is expected to include the following components:

a mapping of the use of GAI within the game industry through literature and netnographic studies
studies at game companies where the development and implementation of GAI tools are observed and analyzed
development of design principles for GAI tools within game development

You will follow the work of game companies and spend extended periods on-site in game studios. A longer initial sub-study will be conducted at Stunlock Studios, where you will participate in daily work and conduct interviews and observations. The goal is to map how a broad spectrum of groups perceives the development and implementation of GAI tools – in both technical, creative, and administrative roles. Results from the first sub-study at Stunlock will be transferred to a second sub-study where the implementation of GAI tools in a smaller game company is studied. In this part, you may have a more active role in assisting the company in designing and implementing GAI tools. The research is expected to result in a number of design principles and guidelines for how GAI tools can be designed and introduced in game development.

You will have a workplace at Stunlock where you will carry out parts of the work. Stunlock's working language is Swedish. Additional tasks may be included in the position.

We are looking for someone who has:

obtained a master's degree or completed at least 240 higher education credits (ECTS), of which at least 60 credits are at the master's level, or acquired largely equivalent knowledge within or outside Sweden
completed course requirements of at least 60 credits, including independent thesis work comprising at least 15 credits at the master's level, in the subject of information technology, closely related application areas, or other subject areas considered directly relevant to doctoral work in the subject of information technology
documented English language skills equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary school course English 6. This can also be demonstrated through an internationally recognized test such as IELTS (total score 6.5), TOEFL (total score 90), PTE (total score 62), etc.

We will also evaluate the following assessment criteria during the employment process:

ability to communicate well in Swedish or related languages (Danish or Norwegian)
documented experience in the development of digital entertainment games
good ability to assimilate education at the doctoral level
good ability to communicate with various development groups – regardless of whether they have a technical, artistic, or design-focused role
experience in digital game development in interdisciplinary teams
experience in creative game creation as, for example, a designer, graphic artist, or sound designer
experience in game programming
experience in game development in the Unity game engine
experience in tool development and UX design
knowledge of generative AI
documented experience in applying qualitative analysis methods.

In this employment, great emphasis will be placed on the ability to communicate well in Swedish or related languages (Danish/Norwegian) as well as experience in game programming and experience in digital game development in interdisciplinary teams.

Application:

Apply via www.his.se/jobb (http://www.his.se/jobb). Click on “Apply” at the bottom. The following documents should be attached:

Cover letter and CV
Portfolio showing completed game development where your role is clearly stated. Describe how the collaboration with other roles looked.
Certificates/grades and other qualifications you wish to invoke as an applicant
Interest description where you explain in Swedish your research interests and expectations for the doctoral education
Master's thesis

Contact hr-specialister.hr@his.se (mailto:hr-specialister.hr@his.se) if you have publications that cannot be attached electronically directly in the application. The publications must be submitted to the university no later than one week after the application deadline.