Bachelor of Creative Technologies (Game Art)

Game art designer

LEARN IN A CREATIVE SPACE...

"The camaraderie of both the graduates and the lecturers set the mood for a fantastic experience. I’ve never felt I was studying in a classroom, I always thought we were working, brainstorming, sharing ideas in a Studio or a Collective Space."

Christian Oshiro | Graduate

Be part of one of the biggest industries in the World. If you love games and want to create breathtaking environments and characters for one of the biggest industries in the world, then Game Art is for you.

The Bachelor of Creative Technologies (Game Art) will develop your artistic style and technical skills through a combination of traditional art practices and the use of industry standard software. You will create beautiful environments and characters and use these assets to develop immersive experiences in an industry that is bigger than the music and movie sectors put together!

Throughout the course you will work alongside lecturers who will offer you practical industry insights and collaborate with other game artists and programmers to develop an industry-level game.

In addition to practical skills, knowledge and design capability, the Bachelor of Creative Technologies (Game Art) also has a holistic approach to developing your individual attributes and abilities in ‘soft skills’ such as communication, commercial acumen, and understanding of business realities. The development of ‘soft skills’ underpins all learning and responds to a growing understanding by both employers and students that these skills enhance a graduate’s employability.

This course was designed collaboratively with subject matter experts from Media Design School (Auckland, New Zealand), one of the top 3 digital design schools in the world.

CRICOS CODE
095346K

Key Study Outcomes:

  • Create your own games
  • Collaborate on projects with fellow students including problem based solutions for gaming
  • Group Capstone project where you’ll develop a game in a similar environment to a studio
  • Have an understanding of the history of video games as creative technologies and as cultural artefacts
  • Develop enhanced skills in 2D, 3D, animation, environment art, character art, user experience in games
  • Develop electronic games across multi-platforms including online, mobile and console

About the School

This course is provided by Media Design School at Torrens University Australia. RTO 41343 CRICOS 03389E

Read more about Media Design School

Media Design School

Course Delivery

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Workload and Assessment

No. of timetabled hours per week:

Each subject involves 10 hours of study per week, comprising 3 hours of facilitated study and 7 hours self-directed study.

Typical assessment includes:

Practical assignments, research projects, presentations.

Subject Information

The subject introduces the student to various aspects of the elements of design, e.g. materiality, form and shape, colour, positive and negative space etc. utilised in creative problem solving. Initially students are introduced to a design development process, from the tangible to the digital; through paper model making with its inherent skills development and risk taking, then on to further digital development using newly introduced software. Concurrent, weekly, individual homework tasks focus on understanding and appreciation of materials, their many varied uses, properties and the manufacturing processes related to them. Students will make incremental progress towards choosing a material in which their individual design can be realised. The submission will include a material and colour folio. The final submission will be a model executed in an appropriate material with its function/usage contextualised with all relevant information gleaned throughout the trimester.

This introductory subject places design process and practice within the context of a chronological survey of major historical eras of influence. Students are encouraged to engage with the historical socio-political movements influencing design trends of each era through research and reflection. Academic skills (research, referencing, essay writing, and sentence structure) and design software skills are taught in weekly lessons. Students use the academic and software skills to document historical research and generate creative responses to the themes of historical eras.

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 the Bachelor of Software Engineering students.

3D Asset Creation expands on the knowledge gained in the 2D Asset Creation (ACR101) and allows the students to utilise industry standard 3D modelling tools and techniques to communicate complex ideas and emotions. Students will critique artefacts which utilise the concepts or form, function, and silhouette learned through the underpinning knowledge gained in the previous components.

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.

2D Asset Creation utilises traditional art and design foundational theories and contextualises these practices for the digital domain. Students create artefacts in digital formats for a variety of outcomes, including the following: Concept Art, Pixel Art, Vector Art, Sprite Creation and other digital native formats utilised in the production of video game development. As part of this, students learn to critique and to be critiqued from peers and lecture staff alike in order to understand art and design from a variety of perspectives.

The aim of this subject is for students to develop and employ their digital skills to answer to, and present a design outcome whilst developing collaboration skills. The project outcome focuses on the digital application of the design solution. This can be by means of 3D printing of the prototypes and/or digital augmentation of a physical 3D environment or 2D document.

The construct of this subject is “Problem Based Learning*” (PBL). Students work in groups towards the digitized solution. In allocated groups students bring their individual knowledge and skills back to their groups for discussion and sharing. During these collaborations students benefit from the knowledge and skills of the other group members.

The PBL process is staged in 3 sets of 8 steps and students are assessed on their 1) collaboration skills; 2) individual research skills; and 3) group project solution reached at the end of the subject.

The aim of this subject is for students to develop and employ Major specific skills to discover and define a design problem followed by the development and delivery of an outcome whilst employing collaboration and negotiation skills. Every individual works towards prototypes, instigated and critiqued through group collaboration.

The construct of this subject is “Problem Based Learning*” (PBL). The PBL process is staged in 2 sets, students are assessed on their 1) collaboration skills; 2) individual research skills; and 3) individual project solution reached at the end of the subject.

Animation teaches techniques used to create efficient animations for interactive media. The topics covered are animation theory, prop, weapon and environment animation. Additionally, character, facial animation and motion capture topics are covered including cinematic topics and technical limitations. Alongside it teaches the process of how to create rigs and technical art for games. This will provide the student with the technical skills to solve or enhance art and design assets.

Topics also covered in the class will include integration into game engines and advanced scripting. Students will learn the basic terminology of how to optimise their technical art skills for a variety of applications.

Game Studies introduces students to the study of video games as texts situated within wider cultural and theoretical settings. Students will explore histories of video games as creative technologies and as cultural artefacts. These ideas will be framed through critical analysis of specific case studies, informed by a wider reading of contemporary games scholarship. Through a series of lecture and seminar-based talks, discussions and play sessions, students are encouraged to explore and discuss the wider context of the game industry in relation to the economic, social and cultural determinants surrounding the production & consumption of games & game technology.

Advanced 3D builds upon the knowledge gained in the 3D Asset Creation (ACR103). It introduces techniques in content creation pipelines to deliver solutions involved in 3D game productions. It also teaches advanced modelling and texturing techniques to enhance workflow. Students will learn digital sculpting software. Additional topics covered will include how to retopologise models and utilise various tools to enhance production speed and quality.

They will learn how to optimise their models for a variety of applications and enhance their technical abilities by working with basic scripting, lighting, shaders, particles and various other pipeline requirements utilised in interactive media.

Students will be offered the opportunity to work within a professional design studio experience for an extended period of time. It encourages students to build long-term relationships with the design industry and exposes them to the rigour of applied design practice while building their confidence in adapting to new environments. It also provides a context in which to enhance their communication skills and work collaboratively in a professional arena. Students will be matched to an appropriate mentor at the placement site and monitored by an academic in the discipline of study.

The theoretical base of this subject focuses on developing the students’ understanding of the fundamental contemporary theories of social entrepreneurship and a variety of applicable business models. The course will explore cross discipline material encompassing design, business and technology and how to acquire and combine knowledge and skills in all 3 areas to amplify the potential for success in 21st century society. At the core of this subject will be a focus on customer experience design, both theory and skill, and why user centric principles are increasingly used in business today.

Students will explore the application of entrepreneurship business strategies and apply this knowledge in a philanthropic context and come up with solution to a real world problem they can execute to the pitch ready stage for investment. The project will entail some type of ‘design for good’ aspect in either a profit or non- for-profit business model.

Students will be expected to think critically as they evaluate complex ideas and learn the patterns, frameworks and mechanics or storytelling, behavior design, game design and platform design.

Students will be expected to:

  • Students will banalyse a social problem that needs to be solved
  • Plan and progress an idea through a business development lifecycle
  • Plan and progress an idea through a buutilising a self-constructed questionnaire
  • sSynthesise and visualise quantitative and qualitative data in order to communicate the patterns they discover in the data collected
  • learning the basics of using a business model and value proposition canvas as tools for design
  • Create, present, and communicate a professional-level business deck along with a functional prototype in order to demonstrate their understanding of theoretical and practical concepts
  • Learn and practice lean start-up and design thinking principles in the validation of their business idea along with validation of the prototype for the product or service they create.

Production provides the framework to allow iteration on the team’s design from Pre-Production (PPR301). The team will need to work efficiently and adhere to a schedule to be successful in this subject. The quality of the implementation, and the development processes undertaken will affect the final grade. Students will utilise the best practices learnt during the course.

This subject gives the students the ability to refine, bug fix, and promote their projects, both internally and externally.

Pre-Production focuses on the skills and abilities required to formulate a group and manage the pre-production of a game development project. Areas of attention will be creative thinking and project scope. The team goal is to reach and agree upon an understanding of the strength and weakness of their chosen team. The said team will decide on the game they choose to develop. The team needs to be able to communicate the project, idea and scope through presentation, documents and a playable prototype. The pre-production submissions are designed to gear the students towards the start of future productions.

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