Games Development - South Tyneside College

Games development is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. During this course you will learn how to design and develop professional quality digital games, utilising the latest industry standard technology and techniques.

Using the latest games development software including, Unreal Engine 5, GameMaker and 3ds Max, you will learn game design principles and put them into practice building your own working prototypes. These help to build a portfolio of working examples to demonstrate at interviews to aid progression into the industry or help to gain a university place.

Course Units: Individual Project – Apply creative practice in response to a theme and topics set by Pearson. You will carry out and apply the knowledge and skills developed through other areas of their studies to complete and present an individual project. Wherever possible sessions will simulate working studio conditions, which will enhance and develop your professional industry skills and practice.

Creative Media Industry – Explore both the creative industries and the specific areas of creative media production. By developing a broad contextual understanding of the industry, business practices, and specific skills, you will be able to situate your own work and skills within the specific industries and the wider sector.

Professional Practice – Develop your own reflective practice and define areas for personal professional development; in the context of a growing awareness of the broad scope of creative media production. You will define and implement personal professional development plans; through an investigation of the skills necessary to successfully pursue a career in the creative industries.

3D Modelling – Through exploration of 3D modelling packages, you will learn to conceptualise, develop and implement 3D models for media productions using industry-standard practices. Explore a range of modelling tools and techniques to create models to fit within the requirements and limitations of the intended product. Make use of 2D and 3D painting and editing software to create textures that can be applied to models, to make them fit into specific media contexts for different purposes.

Game Development Practices – Introduction to key game production practices, including consideration of the key theories used in the development of video games, and planning using industry-standards. Students will present game concepts and develop their ideas into prototypes.

Games In Context – Explore the context of the gaming industry and its social, cultural, technological and economic components. Dive into the evolution of video games and their relationship with the world in which we live. Consider the way that games drive innovation and influence many other areas of the creative community.

Games Design – An Introduction to the concepts, tools and techniques used to generate and document game designs, through the opportunity to develop, assess and refine prototype gameplay elements, using industry-standard tools and techniques. On completion of this unit, you will be able to design, prototype and test game design ideas using iterative development techniques to evaluate and refine gameplay mechanisms in support of achieving specified design goals and gameplay aesthetics.

Art Development – Explore diverse approaches to the creation of artwork for different media production formats. Through experimentation, testing, feedback and implementation, you will develop skills and techniques to create artwork in different styles for different audiences.