Introduction to Video Games Creation

COURSE MODULES OUTLINE, 35 ECTS:

You can choose to study as many modules you want in any order you like to receive a formal University certificate from Finnish University education system.

Try the first recommended teaser Module 10 – History of Games, 1 ECTS by clicking ‘click here to start’. It is an easy introduction to IVGC topics.

This is the recommend order of study from very easy to more difficult:

ABOUT THE GAMES INDUSTRY AND CONCEPT DESIGN

Module 10 – History of Games, Parts 1&2, 1 ECTS – click here to start
Module 11 – Game Experience Analysis, My Favourite Game, 1 ECTS
Module 12 – Innovation in Games , 1 ECTS
Module 13 – Games Industry and Data Analytics, 1 ECTS
Module 14 – Analysis of The Game I Play Now, 1 ECTS
Module 15 – Ideation and Value Creation in Games, 1ECTS
Module 16 – Artificial Intelligence for Games, 2 ECTS
Module 17 – Video Games Production, 1 ECTS
Module 18 – Game Concept Design, 2 ECTS

VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT MODULES

Module 1 – Introduction to development tools, 2 ECTS
Module 2 – 'The Return' -text based adventure, 1 ECTS
Module 3 – An interactive card combat game, 4 ECTS
Module 4 – Pixel Art – 2 ECTS
Module 5 – Mobile Gaming – 5 ECTS
NEW! Module 6 – Space Shooter – 2+3+5 ECTS

Please download the detailed information about the course content by clicking here

Click here to read more details about the course by downloading Frequently Asked Questions

 

We have over 10 000 fellows who have joined IVGC.course Discord Community (does not require enrolment to the course). Come and join the discussion with game creation enthusiasts from over 130 countries at IVGC.Course Discord community (click here to access)

INTRODUCTION TO VIDEO GAMES CREATION: MOST POPULAR XAMK ONLINE COURSE OF ALL TIME: Get to know ITVGC course leader and some of our students by reading a blog on Xamk website!

No course enrolment required. Community is open for everyone interested in games industry, design and development regardless of enrolment.
 

IVGC Course description:
Games are one of the most exciting, fast moving, and lucrative creative industries worldwide. In the last 20 years the industry has matured and diversified. There are several key disciplines people can specialise in. The most successful games are creative powerhouses that have revenue returns that far outstrip comparable products in other mediums. Examples include PUBG, GTA series, Need for Speed, Temple Run, Angry Birds, Clash of Clans to name a few massive success stories.

This course will provide a beginners guide to hands on games creation. The modules stand separately with deliverables but interlink so that a student completing all 35 ECTS credits will have a basic understanding about the games industry and how games are developed.

The lectures includes introduction to games and the games industry, data analytics, innovation and history. Then after the warm-up modules you will be developing your own game designs, and games yourself! You will learn developing a smart phone game (mobile Snake), card combat game and a text-based game.

Learning resources:
In addition to a collection of videos that covers each topic in depth. Key assets will be provided for students to download directly from Teachable.com which is our teaching platform. All registered students will receive detailed instructions how log in to the platform.

Learning outcomes:
Learn the basic concepts of games industry, data analytics, innovation in games, and history of games and then game creation, 2D, 3D art. Learn fundamentals of procedural programming in the C# language with Visual Studio and use of other professional tools such as Krita (painting tool), Blender (3D computer graphics tool). All used tools are available for free of charge.

You will also learn to use different other information systems while delivering your work, quiz answers, essays, and other deliverables, as well as how to be part of the developer community. Here is a list of systems you will use

Teachable as our main platform, All teaching content is in form of videos, .ppt, PDF.

Survey Monkey (quizzes)

Google forms (essays)

MS Power point (or similar presentation tool), design

MS Word (or similar text editor), design

PDF (documents)

Discord (not obligatory). Discussing with fellow students, Discord is #1 game community platform

Instagram (not obligatory)

You will also learn some general life skills such as how to authenticate your formal Transcript of Records (Certificate) and ask for recommendation letters (if you need one from us e.g. for further studies and/or interviews).

Moreover, if you are socially active you will learn social skills; how to be part of a game developer community, how to help others, team work, discuss about different topics, English language, and cross-cultural communication. You will probably make new friends from all over the world!

Assessment:
There are 17 modules that sum up to 35 ECTS in total. Each module has a test or a deliverable to be submitted for assessment.

Students will be tasked with quizzes, essays and creating basic 2D assets, importing them onto a 3D object, and setting it up in a 3D unity scene.

Instructor biographies

Dr. Jan Storgårds is Course Leader, entrepreneur, Director of CADGI (Cambridge Academy of Games and Innovation) and CEO of Cambridge Gamechanger ltd. He has over 25 years of experience working in the industry and academia with high technology companies and technology cluster development, including video games and gamification. He holds Dr.Sc. in information systems science in computer games development from Aalto University, Finland. Prior to his current role he was Sector Lead for Digital and Creative Industries at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge and a visiting research fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School (University of Cambridge) working with start-ups and early-stage technology companies including video games studios.

James Shepherd: CEO Cypherdelic Limited. Double Bafta and Develop winning executive responsible for delivering multi-million selling products. At Microsoft James created the Xbox One and Xbox live games community 'Upload', and the app, 'Upload Studio', generating a 6.5 million user base, and 10+ million views in the initial 12 month launch window.

At Sony he had 6 years’ experience as director of a multi project development studio, managing dev teams of up to 200 people, delivering triple 'A' products internally and externally on all PlayStation platforms, including, ‘Heavenly Sword’, (PS3,1.6m units, 79% metacritic) and ‘LittleBigPlanet’, (PSP, 2.5m units, 87% metacritic).

Matthew Dickson: CTO Cypherdelic Limited. Over 10 years coding experience on triple ‘A’ titles for Sony PlayStation, including ‘Killzone2’, ‘Little Big Planet PSP’ and ‘Heavenly Sword’. Matt published the I.O.S title: ‘SuperJackFruit’, including all art and game programming. Matt’s polymath expertise makes him ideally suited to delivering a games development course.

 

Over 80 000 registrations already! 97 % of course participants are willing to recommend Xamk online course on Introduction to Video Games Creation!

Some testimonials from IVGC students:

“Thank you and your team for making this course free and available to everyone, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it, coming from a city and country where there is absolutely no possibility to learn game development properly. You have done huge work, and it’s very inspiring to know dedicated people such as you. I’m enjoying your course already very much.”
– Kateryna from Ukraine –

“This was a great course to learn from. I learned a lot about the different processes of Video Games Creation, the tools used, the skillset required, the economical situation of Video Games and a lot more. On a smaller scale, I had the opportunity to learn programming language and use it in one of the many interesting modules, to learn different software usages including Krita, Blender and Unity and to make my own first Video Game!”
– Swapnil from India –

“I wanted to share this as some sort of letter, but I think that this message actually perfectly sums up what I feel right now and what this course has meant for me. I feel honored for having that message to be shared here. And yes, I aim to enroll into XAMK's bachelor of Game Design; that's going to be my beginning. I want to thank from the bottom of my heart Dr. Jan Storgards, Maarika Storgards, James Shepherd, Matthew Dickson and all the people who have collaborated with you, for the amazing work you have done and for the continuous support you give to all the students. This is truly the greatest free game design course there is out there. I'll be looking forward to the next modules you will add to this course!  The road to become a great Game Dev starts by taking the first step, and if that step is completing this course, than it is one hell of a good step. Good luck to you all !”
– Andreas from Italy –

“Hei professor! I am extremely grateful that I did this course which not only helped me gain knowledge but also helped me progress towards my goals and made me more passionate about doing research on video games. I wanted to thank you for all the additional help that you provided and for all your quick and warm replies. I am delighted to inform you that I have been accepted into a University in the UK for further studies. I will keep you updated from time to time about my journey. Just in case, you have any new course, research or internship opportunity in the future please let me know. I would love to be a part of it. Once again, a special thanks to you , all the course instructors and the administrative staff at CADGI! Best wishes!
– Simar from India –

“Hey @everyone, I hope you are all doing well. I completed this course with 25 ECTS. As a result of taking this course at XAMK, I secured my first job in the video game industry last month as a Game Designer. I truly want to appreciate this Video Game Creation course at XAMK and I personally want to thank @Dr Jan Storgards Course Leader, Sir Matthew Dickson, and Sir James Shepherd for being great mentors and for helping me to get into the industry I was genuinely passionate about. It's been a wonderful journey.”
– Reetesh from India –

“Its been a crazy journey, one I very much loved.
I stumbled upon this course on Instagram and before I knew it, I got myself registered. The moment was so exciting, to imagine that I would be making games. Thinking about it now… its like a dream!
I've been really enjoying it, thanks for bringing together such a brilliant course and for imparting us with this much knowledge.
I loved the moments where I created my own game character (M18) and making of the environment tile set (M4). (I must say the M18 character deviated a lot from the first draft I had in my mind – cuz of the gap between skills and imagination. I still can't believe I drew & animated them thou they don't look so professional, I really enjoyed making them all!) Time passed so quick with modelling in Blender, it was a whole new experience for me.
And the most enthralling part of this course for me would be programming. The basics for programming were laid out so well and clear. For me the most intriguing module in programming would be the M3 card game. I totally enjoyed the assignment parts and debugging a lot. To actually see our code up & running without a glitch!!! I even got some game ideas while learning those modules, so excited to build them. it's only possible cuz the foundations were laid so well.
And I really liked the way of teaching (covering up all the basics and letting us think & implement at the same time).
Most importantly, I would like to thank Jan sir, our IVGC course leader, for putting this course together. And for taking time out of ur schedule to suggest me a good gaming laptop. Additionally, also for teaching me how to make a letter of reference.
I would like to convey my most sincere thanks to Jan Sir, Maarika Mam, James Sir, Matthew Sir, Denis Sir, Julia Mam and all others.
Its amazing to think how much work has been done behind the scenes to bring this course together. Thank you XAMK South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, CADGI (Cambridge Academy of Digital Games and Innovation), Cambridge Gamechanger ltd. and Cypherdelic ltd. for bringing together this course.
This is truly an amazing, wondrous course. I'm glad I saw the post and for being a part of IVGC.
Looking forward to Module 6 and many more to come.”
– Hema from India –

 

Additional information on enrolment:

Open University of Applied Sciences office, email openstudies@xamk.fi.

Terms of cancellation:

If you are not able to participate in the course, please let us know as soon as possible by email openstudies@xamk.fi.

You’ll receive an invitation by email to this course within one week after signing up.