Advanced Diploma of Game Design and Development

2D Asset Creation utilises traditional art foundation theories and contextualises these practices for the digital domain. The focus of this subject is to develop a strong artistic process in the development of characters, environments and other digital assets related to the games, animation and creative technology industry. Students will create artefacts in digital formats for a variety of uses in digital product development. These artefacts will be supported by rigorous investigation and ideation techniques to develop coherent visual concepts that support a theme or idea.

Assessment Tasks: Art Portfolio, Journal

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Game Design Principles introduces students to game design foundations, techniques and paradigms through a series of lecture-led and student-led activities. Students will explore game design principles through the analysis of existing game artefacts, applying those findings to the development of their own games. Students are introduced to a variety of analysis, development and presentation techniques encouraging discussion, creation and dissemination of their design choices through prototyping and documentation.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Digital Game Artefact and Presentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Game Programming I is intended to teach the fundamentals of game programming in an accessible, engaging way that assumes no prior knowledge. Using Unreal’s bespoke visual scripting tool, Blueprints, students will learn to implement game logic, identify and resolve bugs, and eventually bring a small game project to life. By the end of he subject, you will have built your own small game from scratch and learnt practical programming skills that form a strong foundation for further study in programming and game development.

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

3D Asset Creation introduces the fundamental concepts of developing 3D models for use in digital media and allows the students to familiarise with industry standard 3D modelling tools and techniques to communicate complex ideas and emotions. Students will develop a foundational understanding for the principles and techniques required for creating practical digital assets such as props, characters and environments.

Assessment Tasks: Render 3D design project

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject explores the relationship between materials and storytelling. It introduces students to the attributes of materiality and encourages them to re-imagine the possibilities of creating through making. Students will explore the art of paper folding, developing skills and taking creative risks. These results will be captured digitally and altered using the appropriate software. Individual tasks allow students to develop an understanding and appreciation of materials, their many varied uses, properties, and the sustainable manufacturing processes related to them. Students will progress towards determining suitable materials in which to construct their final model with its form and function contextualised and supported by a documented process journal. Their final submission will be a model that reminds us that stories which fill our lives are not only spoken and written but sometimes are best told through craft.

Assessment Tasks: Presentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online, Intensive

Game Production Foundation combines art assets and basic scripting, enabling students to recognise how user experience is affected through art, design, and code. Utilising game development techniques and tools, students will create their own games, which requires a multifaceted approach including the following: project management, art and design theory, user interaction, menu systems, audio integration, scripting, game design and release. These trans-disciplinary artefacts scaffold the student’s knowledge for when they will interact with other disciplines in a professional development environment.

Pre-requisite: GDP102 Game Design Principles

Assessment Tasks: Game Development Report, Software Project, Website / Press Kit

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject provides students with foundational and core skills in rigging and animating characters and 3D elements in industry pipelines. The principles in animation, kinematics, rigging mechanics, animation direction and performance are explored to inform the processes involved. Students will investigate industry techniques and practices and apply these in common scenarios in the field of game development and 3D animation.

Pre-requisite: ACR103 3D Asset Creation

Assessment Tasks: Render 3D animation, portfolio

Delivery Mode: On Campus

The goal of this subject is to provide the students with an opportunity to collaborate on a series of projects, and enhance collaborative skills working within a team of people across multiple disciplines. Additionally, the assignments in this subject will challenge the student in finding creative solutions to project management and small scale rapid game creation. In teams, students will be asked to create and present various game prototypes over the duration of the subject. 

Assessment Tasks: Software Project and Journal

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

In this course students explore the historical, pedagogical, and social foundations of game-based learning and education. Students will evaluate contemporary best-practice in serious game design, development, and assessment, critically assessing the scholarly literature and identifying gaps in game-based learning research and practice. Students will apply what they have learned to the creation of their own digital prototypes, expanding their game design repertoire by confronting the unique challenges associated with developing games to educate, inform, and persuade.

Pre-requisite: GDP102 Game Design Principles and GPF104 Game Production Foundation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject builds and expands on foundational 3D asset creation techniques. Students will explore more advanced methodologies used in professional practice and integrate them into their existing workflows. This includes the areas of modeling, sculpting, texturing, shading and other 3D processes. With these principles and techniques, students will be able to achieve even greater artistic results with better efficiency.

Pre-requisite: ACR103 3D Asset Creation

Assessment Tasks: 3D design project

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online