10 free courses in game design

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The editor-in-chief of the GameRulez portal, Evgenia Russiyan, specially for Lifehacker selected the ten most popular and well-developed courses in game design. If you've always dreamed of becoming a part of this amazing world, then the time has come!

The profession of a game designer is becoming more and more popular. A few years ago, the mass consciousness of compatriots perceived the development of computer games, rather, as an outlandish fun, unable to compete with "serious employment" and bring real income. Gradually, Russian game development has established itself as an interesting and promising area that combines knowledge from various fields, and specialized conferences began to gather thousands of curious and indifferent visitors.

For the neophyte who dared to embark on the thorny path of game design, several opportunities open up: you can endlessly storm large Russian companies, you can find one of the many indie studios and join it, and some daredevils immediately decide to assemble their own team. It is worth remembering that the vacancy "game designer" sometimes means completely different positions: tester, programmer, level designer, screenwriter, analyst, counter (designer-mathematician), concept designer, mechanics designer and even an artist.

The specifics of the young industry leaves an imprint: sometimes you need to be all these people at once, a little bit and at the same time much more. Ideally, a game designer defines the concept of a future game and broadcasts it to all team members in the form of specific technical tasks. The more versatile and multi-tasking an employee is, the higher his chances of becoming a cool professional in his field.

For those who have long dreamed of becoming a part of the bright and original world of game makers, we offer a list of the most popular and well-developed courses on various aspects of game design. Go for it!

1. Introduction to Game Design

Area:Open edX.

Course start:will be announced.

Duration:7 weeks.

Organizer: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Language: English.

A hands-on introduction to game design from one of the largest online educational platforms, Open edX.

Games have always been close to humans, long before the digital era. What are the basic elements of any game? What methods are used to create games? What are prototyping and iteration? What path does an idea take from appearing on a piece of paper to being embodied in physical or digital reality?

The course clearly and thoroughly answers these and other questions and introduces the basic tools of game development. As a final project, participants develop either a board game or a computer game (no programming skills required).

2. Concepts in game development

Area:Open2Study.

Course start:8 August.

Duration:4 weeks.

Organizer: Swinburne University of Technology.

Language: English.

The program is designed for a wide audience: from programmers and artists interested in working in the game industry, to ordinary fans of video games of all kinds of genres. The course does not teach programming (unless the elementary level), modeling or drawing. But it does provide a basic understanding of what the main role of a game designer is, what architecture and game mechanics are, how the balance and physics of the game affect the player's experience, how the product is tested. The final part is devoted to the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies to expand the variations in the obtained gaming experience.

3. Game design: on the other side of the game

Area:"Universarium".

Course start:soon (with 3,000 subscribers).

Duration:20 lectures.

Organizer: Wargaming.

Language: Russian.

An educational project from the staff of Wargaming, a domestic leader in the MMO games market. The course involves acquaintance with the craft of a game designer through the main stages of working on a game: from formulating an initial idea to drawing up a design document, which then turns directly into a game.

Few realize that much of the work of a game designer is a lot of thoughtful and painstaking writing. Thanks to the course, you will learn how to choose the right wording and clearly convey your ideas to the rest of the team, and even complete several technical tasks. Also, attention is paid to the issue of monetization.

4. Character design for video games

Area:Coursera.

Course start:August 1.

Duration:4 weeks.

Organizer: California Institute of the Arts.

Language: English.

The course is part of the entire Game Design Specialization offered by Coursera. Obviously, holistic and well-developed game characters are an important aspect of a successful game project, no matter what genre it may be. Within the framework of this course, the construction of a game (as well as cartoon or cinematic - wait for recognizable examples!) Character is examined from different angles. Such moments as motivation of actions and expressiveness of the hero, animation of the character and his movement in space, technical limitations during development and so on are touched upon.

The course is interesting not only for game designers, but also for scriptwriters, as well as movie and comic book lovers.

5. Online Games: Literature, New Media and Narrative

Area:Coursera.

Course start:August 1.

Duration:6 weeks.

Organizer: Vanderbilt University.

Language: English.

The course is intended for both listeners with an interest in video games in general and for the passionate and advanced MMO players. What happens to the plot of a literary work or movie when it becomes the basis for a massively multiplayer online game? The analysis focuses on the Lord of the Rings trilogy by the famous Professor Tolkien, as well as famous works of romantic literature. Of course, the creators of the course will analyze in detail other important issues: the history of the industry, features of online gameplay, the originality of the game narrative, and so on.

6. History of game design

Area:Open edX.

Course start:October 31.

Duration:5 weeks.

Organizer: Rochester Institute of Technology.

Language: English.

Amazingly, video games have been with us for over 50 years - ever since computers were entire rooms filled with humming cabinets, and the word "bug" meant nothing more than an insect that disrupted electronics!

A good game designer needs to know at least a little about the history of the issue. The course will tell about the emergence of the very first games, the invention and evolution of genres, VR technologies and the future of the industry as a whole.

The creators of the course are experts from the National Museum of Games in Rochester, which contains the world's largest collection of video games and related materials.

7. Programming for dummies: creating our first mobile game

Area:FutureLearn.

Course start:will be announced.

Duration:7 weeks.

Organizer: University of Reading.

Language: English.

The first steps in Java programming for future game developers. Absolute beginners - the very thing: in a funny and exciting manner, they will tell you about the basic principles, algorithms and structure of the code and teach you how to implement their undoubtedly brilliant, but somewhat vague ideas. Google's Android Studio is used as the main programming platform.

At the end of the course, you will have a simple mobile game you have created yourself that can be played on a computer, smartphone or tablet. Stop there or continue creating games - it's up to you!

8. Advanced JS: Games and Visualization

Area:Khan Academy.

Course start:immediately.

Duration:36 hours.

Organizer: Khan Academy.

Language: English.

Advanced JavaScript programming from the famous Khan Academy. To begin with, course participants get acquainted with the main components of a video game and the rendering process, learn to work with a variety of programs and use them to make buttons, sliders and menus, and by the end they are able to create animations and implement 3D models.

As a result of the course you have attended, in addition to directly improving your programming skills, you will be able to make a platformer about a happy beaver and a toy to remember.

9. Creating 2D games with Unity 4.5

Area:Udemy.

Course start:immediately.

Duration:38 lectures.

Organizer: 3D Buzz.

Language: English.

A specialized course, the title of which fully reflects the content. In addition to getting acquainted with the merits and capabilities of the now unusually popular Unity engine, the listener is expected to create a variety of controllers, the basics of level design and develop a system of experience and health points, build a simple AI to control enemy units, introduce animation and, ultimately, create two fully functioning levels of your future game.

Although the course is recommended even for beginners, the basic requirements are minimal knowledge of the C # language.

10. Gamification

Area:Coursera.

Course start:August 15.

Duration:6 weeks.

Organizer: University of Pennsylvania.

Language: English.

Gamification, or gamification, is the application of game elements or techniques, usually in non-game processes, such as building a business strategy or solving social problems. The course introduces the basic mechanisms of gamification and clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of their correct application. Thanks to an excursion into the history of games as a cultural phenomenon in general, an analysis of game procedures and a description of the types of psychological motivation of the player, the course is extremely useful, including for the developer of computer games. Especially if he wants to create commercially successful products.