Diploma of Games Development

START YOUR CAREER AHEAD OF THE GAME

If you want to be part of the exciting and expanding industry of gaming, we want to help you gain the skills to stand apart from them all.

In a matter of months, you’ll learn the key fundamentals in game development.

At SAE you won’t find yourself in a lecture with 300 people or even in a traditional lecture at all, you’ll be in a studio environment using industry-standard software. Your growth and development will be assessed through the completion of industry-based projects, not theoretical based essays.

In preparation for an industry that commands agility and adaptability, you’ll cut your creative teeth on projects in partnership with your course peers. You’ll work in a team to pitch, design, plan and deliver a game in response to a brief. Your project will extend on your design and scripting skills sets, to allow you to craft a broader range of gameplay systems and features.

To compliment your technical skills, you will graduate with employability skills, introductory project management skills and scholarly techniques for higher education.

Upon completion you will be eligible for up to 80 credit points towards either the Bachelor of Games Development (Game Design) or Bachelor of Games Development (Game Programming).

YOUR LEARNING EXPERIENCE

From day one you'll start creating on the latest software and equipment, under the guidance of expert lectures. 

• Study in a collaborative, studio-based environment.
• Use industry-standard middleware and development packages such as Unreal Engine and Unity.
• Learn as part of a small class.
• Learn from lecturers with extensive game experience and industry connections.
• Apply industry-standard project management methodologies throughout your studies.

DIPLOMA OF GAME DEVELOPMENT

The Diploma of Game Development has a strong practical focus, underpinned by key theoretical components. The course content is informed by our strong links to industry and our 40-year history in designing and teaching creative media courses.

To complement your technical skills, you will graduate with skills across:

• Employability skills specific to creative media.  
• Communication, including how to communicate specialist technical and creative ideas and perspectives in the graphic design discipline to others.
• Introductory project management and different project management methodologies
• Teamwork and collaboration in the context of creative media.
• Scholarly techniques for higher education.

Upon completion you will be eligible for up to 80 credit points towards either the Bachelor of Games Development (Game Design) or Bachelor of Games Development (Game Programming).

YOU WILL LEARN

During your course you will gain an introduction to:

• Basic game functionality including using data manipulation, formulas, object creation, defining of behaviour and working with event systems.  
• Different forms of communication such as iconography, visual and aural cues, graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and layouts.
• Industry standard methods for the construction of functional game levels and modification of game assets.
• Principles of spatial layout for achieving game design goals via impacting player behaviour.
• Instructional design and user experience design to achieve game design goals.
• Programmatic solutions to pre-defined game behaviours and interactions in an appropriate middleware package.
• Tools and techniques used in construction and implementation of common game assets and features.
• How to write a Technical Design Document (TDD).
• The impact of altering and manipulating existing games and systems to generate alternate player experiences.
• Game deconstruction.
• The differences and commonalities between digital and analogue games.