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, UNITY 3D, 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 15 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 creative executive responsible for delivering multi-million selling products. Head of the nDreams Studio. Responsible for the release of cutting-edge VR products, ‘Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord’, ‘Synapse’, ‘Fracked’ and ‘Far Cry: Dive into Insanity.’

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 –
 

“Growing up in India, I was crazy about video games, even though I couldn't really play them. I spent hours watching gameplay videos on YouTube, especially from creators like theRadbrad. It was mind-blowing to see how games evolved – the graphics, the vast campaign worlds, and all the cool stuff in them. That's when I had my “Aha!” moment: I wanted to be a part of this fantastic gaming world.

High school and exam pressure had me very confused by the end of it, and I ended up picking informatics for a safer career path. But my heart still beat for game development.

Then one day, I stumbled upon the IVGC course on Facebook. It felt like fate. I decided to dedicate my entire summer to learning the ropes of game development, even if it meant juggling it with my studies.

I recently started reaching out to companies for internships, and an opportunity in Cambridge opened up through an email I sent to Dr. Storgards, even though I felt like it was a long shot. At the same time, a young game studio in Osijek, Croatia, got in touch, and it was a perfect match for my aspirations. This journey has been a rollercoaster, filled with uncertainty, excitement, and, finally, a dream-come-true moment.

I am immensely grateful to Dr.Storgards and the team for giving people like myself the opportunity to realize our passion and a brilliant starting point for it.”
– Aldric from Lithuania –

 

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.