Video Game Design

Learn the tools for a successful career in game design from experts at one of the top-ranked game design and development programs.

This is a series of 5 courses that can be taken in any order, however we recommend that Elements of Gameplay Programming for Video Game Designers be taken last in the sequence whenever possible.
https://www.edx.org/xseries/video-game-design

XSeries Program Overview

Imagine what it would be like to turn your love of playing video games into a career. What skills would you need to become a successful video game designer, and what job opportunities could you pursue in the industry?

In this XSeries, those questions and more will be answered by Rochester Institute of Technology’s Game Design and Development faculty and the director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games at The Strong National Museum of Play. You will learn how various roles within the video game design discipline work together, helping you dive deeper into your area of interest and the career paths available.

RIT’s Game Design and Development program is ranked third in the Princeton Review’s “Top Schools for Video Game Design for 2016” and has been in the Top 10 for years. Students in the program are part of a vibrant and active new media community, building, sharing and learning all forms and shapes of games and new media. Students who have successfully completed the RIT program have been hired to work at some of the industry’s top employers, including Amazon Games, Apple, Bungie Studios, Blizzard Entertainment, EA Games, Epic Games, Google, Konami Gaming Inc., Microsoft, Rockstar Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Valve Corporation and Walt Disney Interactive.

What You’ll Learn

  • The origin and evolution of game mechanics and its effective integration into video games
  • The design process and method of balancing a game’s design and mechanics for optimum effect
  • How different industry roles collaborate to produce, market, and ship a video game
  • How engines and different assets are created and brought together to build a video game
  • How to create some simple elements of running game code

Courses in this XSeries Program

This is a series of 5 courses that can be taken in any order, however we recommend that Elements of Gameplay Programming for Video Game Designers be taken last in the sequence whenever possible.

Video Game Design History
Learn about the evolution of video games from experts at The Strong National Museum of Play, the world’s largest collection of video game materials.

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October 31, 2016 – Self-Paced
Video Game Design and Balance
Learn about the video game design process and experiment with effective methods for balancing a game’s mechanics.

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January 2, 2017 – Self-Paced
Video Game Asset Creation and Process
Learn about the tools, processes and platforms that allow video game assets to be created and assembled into a commercial game.

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March 6, 2017 – Self-Paced
Video Game Design: Teamwork & Collaboration
Learn how a team comes together to create, market and deliver a video game.

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July 24, 2017 – Self-Paced
Gameplay Programming for Video Game Designers
Learn how to create the best gameplay by understanding algorithmic thinking in simple programming problems and applying it to game design.

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