How This Course Works

In this course, you will learn all the skills you need to create games. By the time you finish, you will have made at least one polished, playtested, and published game that can be enjoyed by players all over the world.

The Modules

Introduction

This section is designed to get you thinking about what makes a game, and what you need to make one. You will learn about the world of game development and how to get connected to the developer community. We also discuss the tools used by game developers, including a complete introduction to Core. Finally,  you will start looking for inspirations for your game by learning to play games critically.

Building a Prototype

Once you have some ideas to work with, the next step is scaling the project to something that you can finish. We will take a look at the resources available that make it possible to add features that would have previously required whole teams of engineers, and then you will make your first game from start to finish with a step-by-step tutorial and the Core Deathmatch framework.

Environment Art

With an idea of what a reasonable project look like, the next step is to start creating the world that the game will exist in. We’ll use terrain generation and modeling to create a space that tells a story, whether it should look like the real world, a whimsical fantasy, or highly abstract. You will create your own world, giving it enough elements that just exploring it is a game in itself.

Game Mechanics

Once you have created the world of your game, it is time to start adding physical obstacles and gameplay elements that let players win, lose, and restart. You will add items and abilities to your game, to enhance what the player can do. Once the core mechanics are established, we will discuss level balancing, and sequencing challenges so that players can intuit where to go next.

The Projects

Each unit in this course has its own project, a call to action to move you from thinking about creating to actually making games. You could use each module as a step for one game, or create several games around different themes. You choose how much time you want to dedicate to any single aspect of the game, and pace yourself according to your own goals.