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Thom Haley

Lecturer

Computer Arts and Technology

Thom Haley has been a part of the Games team since 2022, creating specialist course content in games design, sound design and the intersection of games with broader cultural discussions of communication, representation and interactivity. He is a Norwich University of the Arts graduate with a background in interdisciplinary art and DIY publishing who has spent many years working in museums and cultural heritage institutions.

I have taken a meandering path to get to games design and development, which I see as the “final form” my creative practice has mutated into. Games as a field intersects with the broadest range of other creative practices, drawing, writing, sound, programming, animation and interaction design so as a practitioner who shifts modes readily and wants to do everything, Games is a rich playground for exploring new ideas, thinking through play and communicating through design.

In my time working for museums and galleries like the Sainsbury Centre, I saw first-hand the desire for creative digital skillsets outside of the games industry and I aim to help emerging digital artists and designers broaden their horizons and recognise the transferability of their skills before they graduate.

As a lecturer, I put intellectual challenge at the heart of content I create, using explorations in the studio and analysis of industry professionals as a way to explore and test theories of game design and communication as we encounter them in real-world situations. For me, academia gives us shared language for things we experience intuitively and being able to take this critical step back and reflect is what makes a successful creative practitioner.

Practice

Forthcoming

Research project into formal/phenomenological elements of puzzles

2025

  • PGCHE in Creative Education – Gained associate fellowship of Advance HE
  • Global Game Jam – Bubble theme collaboration

2024

  • No Quarter at NYU Games Centre – International collaboration with New Cylandia games, live physical/digital games event
  • Globlal Game Jam – “Make me laugh” theme collaboration
  • Vertical Studio – Game Jam in partnership with Sainsbury Centre challenging students to respond to the museum collection

2023

  • Waltz for Heaven – Jam game about helping spirits achieve peace through dancing. Collaboration with New Cylandia games in US
  • Sainsbury Centre cataloguing project – Oversaw digital assets and outcomes for major overhaul of the museum’s public catalogue https://sainsburycentre.ac.uk/art-and-objects/s-85-lurra-61/

2022

  • MUD (Trebuchet Games) – Interactive narrative game about diet culture and labour exploitation

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