Game Design and Production 10 cr
Open studies
The course will be teaching you the fundamentals of game design and game development. You will get design skills to be able to create, apply, and troubleshoot good game mechanics. From there you will understand the process of making a prototype to test ideas and then turn it into a final digital game. You will also learn how to work in a game development team and how to manage various roles and responsibilities.
There are 20 study places to the course.
The course starts 26.10.2023 and end in May 2024.
A PC or Mac Laptop is required for the course. A webcam and microphone are required for online zoom lectures. Having and knowing how to use a digital drawing tablet is a plus. Basic Graphic Art, Design, or Programming skills are helpful depending on which area you would like to specialize in but the motivation to learn is most important. Ability to work with other people in a team.
Every Wednesday (9.15-12.30) there are online lectures and assignments are given.
Every Thursday (9.15-12.30) where people can work together on the assignments online (continuous learning) and Arcada students online or campus.
There will also be a group project where teams will be working on a game prototype (outside lecture hours) which they will submit together at the end of the course. Workload: 15/h week average. All lectures are live. Teaching materials/videos are available on Itslearning, but no recordings of lectures.
Why should one take this course?
The games industry is the largest entertainment industry in terms of revenue in the world. It is larger than both the movie and music industries combined, valued at 180 billion as of 2021. Learning the fundamentals of game design and development would give you a strong foundation to gain employment or even start your own company. Game engines are becoming more powerful and accessible for everyone allowing small teams and even individuals to find success. Though there may be many game courses out there, most of them are just centered around academic theory and not actual real-world game creation. This is where this course differs, by the end of the course you will have developed real world skills, understand how to work in a game development team, and have a working prototype to add to your portfolio to find employment or as a jumping-off point to continue into full development in your own company.
Though the course does not require experience in any specific field, having existing game industry experience or personal experience is helpful. This is a good course if you are in other industry positions and want to try out a different role during game development; something you wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to do at work. The course would also be useful to work professionals who want to learn more about game design and try to implement it into their working life, for example a company manager creating rewards systems and feedback loops for employees. There needs to be an interest in workings.
The difference between this course and most other courses is that it concentrates on learning the fundamentals of design and then applying it to create real-world games. Most courses just use only theory and quizzes but here we make games. The lecturers have real industry experience and connections to the games industry and offer unique learnings that you can’t get anywhere else. We will also have experts from gaming companies come in and give feedback on the games that are made. (There may also be a chance to visit a gamee studio but this is not a guarantee.)
The teachers of the course:
Arash Sammander was a professional game designer, producer, in the Finnish games industry and has a master's degree in game design and production with a strong network in the games industry. He has also been teaching game design and production for over a decade in academies, schools, universities, and for private companies.
Mirko Ahonen has been teaching game design and programming for six years and has a broad connection to the gaming industry.
