Game Design. Creating a game from idea to prototype
Learn practical skills to work in a AAA studio or on your own project: learn to prototype engines, work with documentation, generate ideas, create game worlds and mechanics.
- level of knowledge:
For beginners
price: $350
About the profession
A game designer comes up with game mechanics and develops the rules by which the game world lives, such as deciding how many types of enemies there will be in the game and what their abilities will be. The work of a game designer is much like that of a movie director: in addition to the structure of the game, he also thinks about the game experience and decides what emotions each scene will evoke. Such specialists are in demand on the market and earn good money, and they can also cooperate on outsourcing with large global companies.
$20,000/year
Junior game designer
$40,000/year
Middle game designer
$100,000/year
Senior Game Designer
The course is suitable for you
if you
- You love games and dream of starting a career in gamemaking, but don't know where to start. You don't need any additional knowledge and skills - we will teach you everything.
- Just started game design and want to structure your knowledge and learn new skills.
- Already working in gamedev, but want to pump up your skills and increase your value to your employer.
- Tired of monotonous work and want to build a career in gamemade, but not familiar with game development.
- You work as an indie developer and want to create a meaningful game, not just another timekiller.
Learn more about
the profession
If you have questions, leave your contacts. We will contact you, ask you questions and determine your level. And then we'll tell you if the course is right for you and what kind of job you can get after the course.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
01
Create prototypes in Unreal Engine 4
Add dummies, animations and movement mechanics, as well as weapons and reloads for them.
02
Pay attention
to detail
To do this, you'll have to understand the psychology of the players, calculate the balance correctly and work with math.
03
For example, drafting TORs for programmers, as well as an AI combat passport and AI combat scenario.
04
Teamwork
Organize personal tasks and collaborative tasks with a team, communicate and work effectively in a real studio environment.
TRAINING PROGRAM
We emphasize practice, so during the course you'll learn how to work from the pipelines of real studios, assemble a cool portfolio, and get constructive feedback.
Unit 1. Introduction to the course
Brief information about the profession of game designer and basic information about the course: how it is structured and how to turn in homework.
- About the course
- About the profession of game designer
- Homeschool Guide
- Game designer vocabulary
- Homework: analyze your favorite game
Unit 2. Ideas. Limitations. Documentation and mechanics
You will start to understand the psychology of the player - his needs and motivation. You will learn how to generate ideas for levels, find out what documentation is needed and create a design document.
- Ideas and their generation through brainstorming. How constraints help.
- A look at different types of gameplay design documentation and tools for working with it.
- About game mechanics in general terms and a more detailed decomposition of gameplay.
- Homework: create the first full-fledged high-level TOR documentation for our project.
Unit 3. Mechanics. Nerative design. Balance
You'll understand the game cycle, meta-mechanics, and level balance. Learn who a narrative designer is and how to make an interesting narrative.
- Narrative designer Konstantin Faizullin will tell what a narrative is and what its role is in a game, and will consider real cases from his personal experience and the game industry.
- Game designer Vladimir Agarev will talk about the mathematical component of games from the abstract and general to the specific and particular.
Homework: identify the core loop in the games on the list.
- Homework: add narrative details to your concept paper - setting, synopsis, main character, etc.
Unit 4. Prototyping. Paper prototype (using TPS as an example)
Familiarize yourself with prototyping and its types, and learn in which areas to apply them.
- Consider a board game as a way to test game mechanics.
Unit 5. Getting Started with Unreal Engine 4
You create a project, add a mannequin and animations, customize the movement system.
- Getting started with the engine, from introductory information to customizing our character.
- Homework: use UE4 Blueprints to build a smart home prototype.
Unit 6: Weaponization. Prototyping and system
You'll add prototype firearms, create documentation, work with third-party plugins, and customize reloading.
- Shooting in UE 4: add weapons, customize reloading
Homework: add your character to the Blueprint project, prototyping his movement, adding animations and weapons.
- Homework: add shooting mechanics to your project
Unit 7. Processes and organization
Learn the gameplan of a game designer's work and how to write a resume and pass interviews. You will learn how to organize work in a team and how to form TOR for other departments.
- Game Designer Pipeline
- Game Designer Resume
Homework: write 3 technical specifications (TORs) for three different specialists: programmers, concept and 3D artists.
Unit 8. Artificial Intelligence and Combat Systems
Learn the roles, functions, and types of enemies in the game. You'll get documentation on them, familiarize yourself with hit reactions, and start working with AI.
- Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
- Part 1: The Soul-Body-Brain System
- Part 2: Refactoring and Hierarchy
- Part 3: Behavior Tree
- Part 4: EQS
- Part 5: Dovetailing and Firing
- Part 6: Death and Health Systems
- Fundamentals of Combat System Operation
Homework: bringing AI to life
Unit 9. Additional systems
You'll start working with the interface in the game and learn about the Blueprint Librarium, a library of ready-made game mechanics for games.
- Quest systems
- User Interface
- Creating game rules and menus
- Blueprint Librarium - ready-made Blueprint mechanics
Homework: it's time to put together a full-fledged project and write documentation for it, using all the knowledge gained in the course.
Unit 10. Fundamentals of Level Design
Understand what a level-designer does and how to commiserate with them.
- Who is a level designer?
- Interaction between level and game designers.
Bonus unit
AUTHOR
COURS
Eric Mendez
Game designer
Eric specializes in system and combat design. He started with mobile studios, then moved to Sperasoft. He worked on Rainbow Six Siege, Assassin's creed: Valhalla and other AAA projects from various studios.
COURSE AUTHOR'S WORK
POST-TRAINING PORTFOLIO
Game designer
Prototype game level
He'll have several locations and combat encouters - you can impress your future employer.
Project skills
You will learn how to work in a team and also get acquainted with the pipeline of creating game levels to apply this knowledge on your project.
$35,000/year
Weapon prototype on Unreal Engine 4
Like a shotgun. Model for prototyping with u.
Detailed documentation on the boss
A passport, a pattern of combat behavior, a set of items for attacks, movements, and actions.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why do we use Unreal?
This is one of the most popular engines on the market. It is free, quite powerful, and offers a large set of options "out of the box".
How will we work on game mechanics?
Will I have a portfolio after taking the course?
We will give access to our shared project to everyone who completes the course. So it can be downloaded and used for any purpose if you want.
Where can I get a job with the knowledge and skills from the course?
Completing the course itself, of course, does not guarantee employment. But it will help to prepare you for what awaits a game designer on medium and large projects.
What should I do if I'm not familiar with programming at all?
Game design is NOT about programming. It is a set of rules and mechanics. We will work with simple prototypes using uncomplicated visual programming tools, and for more complex systems, we will write TOR for the programmer. This is how work on large projects is most often organized.
Pacific MGroup LLC
18653 Lemarsh Street
Los Angeles, CA 91324, USA
info@gamecreationschool.com
+1 (818) 626-8424
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