Computer Games Development
Our computer games development degree is designed to help you become a games programmer. From the word go you’ll be hands-on, designing and programming games as you prepare for an exciting caree…
Dr John Henry
Senior Lecturer
My profile
Biography
Who am I?
I am a Senior Lecturer in Games and the Programme Leader for BSc Games Design at the Manchester Metropolitan University. The role involves teaching students across undergraduate and postgraduate courses on the concepts and technical process of games design and games development. As part of the role, I am researching the effectiveness of utilising games for mental and physical rehabilitation, the effectiveness of gamification in higher education, and the effectiveness of games for increasing public engagement in heritage settings.
As part of my role at MMU, I am also the Department Lead Personal Tutor. As the Lead Personal Tutor, I look after the process used to support our undergraduate students with personal tutoring and improve existing practises to streamline employability and personal tutoring into existing units.
Teaching
What do I teach?
Aside of being the Programme Leader for BSc Games Design, I am the unit leader for Industry and Community Engagement and The Craft of Game Development. I am happy to support students outside of these modules (e.g. for Final Year Projects) at the following:
- Software Development
- Web Development
- Games Development
- Serious Games Development*
*Serious Games refer to games of any nature (physical or computer) that aim to solve a real-world problem. Serious Games are entertaining and engaging, but differ in conventional games in their purpose.
Games Design
Games design offers a route into a form of entertainment that’s not only one of the world’s most popular but is also constantly evolving, innovating and redefining its own boundaries. …
Supervision
I supervise the following projects:
- Final Year Projects for our undergraduate final year students
- Synoptic Projects for our apprenticeship students on the Digital and Technology Solutions course
- Masters students in the academic fields of Games for Good and the Internet of Things
- A PhD student investigating the use of avatars in gamification for micro-teaching
Research outputs
Eve, Z., Turner, M., Di Basilio, D., Harkin, B., Yates, A., Persson, S., Henry, J., Williams, A., Walton, G., Jones, M.V. and Whitley, C., 2024. Therapeutic games to reduce anxiety and depression in young people: A systematic review and exploratory meta‐analysis of their use and effectiveness. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 31(1), p.e2938.
Henry, J., Kendrick, C. and Arnab, S., 2023, August. Wearable technology as game input for active exergames. In 2023 IEEE 11th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (SeGAH) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.
Henry, J., Lloyd, H., Turner, M. and Kendrick, C., 2023. On the robustness of machine learning models for stress and anxiety recognition from heart activity signals. IEEE Sensors Journal.
Henry, J., Tang, S., Mukhopadhyay, S. and Yap, M.H., 2021. A randomised control trial for measuring student engagement through the Internet of Things and serious games. Internet of Things, 13, p.100332.
Cunningham, S., Henry, J. and Weinel, J., 2020. Augmenting virtual spaces: Affective feedback in computer games. Technology, Design and the Arts-Opportunities and Challenges, pp.229-247.
Henry, J., Tang, S., Hanneghan, M. and Carter, C., 2018, May. A framework for the integration of serious games and the Internet of Things (IoT). In 2018 IEEE 6th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (SeGAH) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.
Henry, J., Tang, S., Hannenghan, M. and Carter, C., 2017. A Measure of Student Engagement for Serious Games and IoT. In E-Learning and Games: 11th International Conference, Edutainment 2017, Bournemouth, UK, June 26–28, 2017, Revised Selected Papers 11 (pp. 262-270). Springer International Publishing.
Melthis, J., Tang, S., Yang, P., Hanneghan, M. and Carter, C., 2016. Topologies for combining the internet of things and serious games. Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, 31(5), pp.2685-2696.
Melthis, J., Brown, A., Tang, S. and Hanneghan, M., 2015, December. Using serious games to create awareness on visual impairments. In 2015 International conference on developments of E-systems engineering (DeSE) (pp. 165-170). IEEE.
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Chapters in books
Cunningham, S., Henry, J., Weinel, J. (2020) 'Augmenting Virtual Spaces: Affective Feedback in Computer Games.' In Earnshaw, R., Liggett, S., Excell, P., Thalmann, D. (ed.) Technology, Design and the Arts - Opportunities and Challenges. Springer,
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Journal articles
Eve, Z., Turner, M., Di Basilio, D., Harkin, B., Yates, A., Perrson, S., Henry, J., Williams, A., Walton, G., Jones, M., Whitley, C., Craddock, N. (2023) 'Therapeutic games (TGs) to reduce anxiety and depression in young people: a systematic review and exploratory meta-analysis of their use and effectiveness.' Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy: an international journal of theory and practice,
Henry, J., Lloyd, H., Turner, M., Kendrick, C. (2023) 'On the robustness of machine learning models for stress and anxiety recognition from heart activity signals.' IEEE Sensors Journal,
Henry, J., Tang, S., Mukhopadhyay, S., Yap, M.H. (2020) 'A Randomised Control Trial for measuring Student Engagement through the Internet of Things and Serious Games.' Internet of Things, 13pp. 100332-100332.
Melthis, J., Tang, S., Yang, P., Hanneghan, M., Carter, C. (2016) 'Topologies for combining the internet of things and serious games.' Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, 31(5) pp. 2685-2696.
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Conference papers
Henry, J., Kendrick, C., Arnab, S. (2023) 'Wearable technology as game input for active exergames.' In 11th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health. Athens, Greece, 28/8/2023 - 30/8/2023. IEEE,
Henry, J., Tang, S., Hanneghan, M., Carter, C. (2018) 'A framework for the integration of serious games and the Internet of Things (IoT).' In 2018 IEEE 6th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (SeGAH). Vienna, Austria, 16/5/2018 - 18/5/2018. IEEE,
Henry, J., Tang, S., Hannenghan, M., Carter, C. (2017) 'A Measure of Student Engagement for Serious Games and IoT.' In International Conference on Technologies for E-Learning and Digital Entertainment (Edutainment 2017). Bournemouth, United Kingdom, Springer, pp. 262-270.
Melthis, J., Brown, A., Tang, S., Hanneghan, M. (2016) 'Using Serious Games to Create Awareness on Visual Impairments.' In 2015 International Conference on Developments of E-Systems Engineering (DeSE). Duai, United Arab Emirates, 13/12/2015 - 14/12/2015. IEEE,
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Theses and dissertations
Henry, J. (2018) The Development of a Modular Framework for Serious Games and the Internet of Things.