Game Design Development & Creation Training

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Description:

This course will require 935 hours of classroom instruction, divided into 4 terms of 16 weeks each and 2 terms of 15 weeks each. It is designed to be completed by a full-time student in a minimum of 40 weeks, but will ordinarily take about one year because of holidays and emergencies that may arise. This course can be successfully completed by a person who is new to the field, but will be somewhat quicker and less challenging for someone with prior classroom or real-world experience. We also offer the option of taking this course on a part-time basis. A high school student or an older person with similar time limitations can attend for as little as 10 hours per week and still complete this course of study in a little over 2 years. That person will then be ready to take a high paying job in this exciting field.

The global media and entertainment industry is complex, expansive, and rapidly evolving. Within it, two exciting, highly creative, and increasingly lucrative fields have emerged that are capturing the hearts and minds of millions: interactive application and video game creation. The Unity Curricular Framework was envisioned, designed, and developed by the education team within Unity Technologies. The goal of the Curricular Framework is to help education providers produce future professionals who possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities to enter and advance these amazing fields. It is the result of intense research and collaboration by numerous, distinguished authors. It is also a “living, breathing” document, with future updates and revisions already planned.

Purpose

The principal purpose of the Unity Curricular Framework is two-fold:
1. To encourage education providers to develop and deliver advanced teaching and learning in support of interactive application and video game creation.

2. To empower education providers by providing advanced curricular resources in support of interactive application and video game creation. The Curricular Framework ultimately serves as a resource (i.e. a structured framework) to develop and deliver curriculum. As a resource, readers are encouraged to explore the document, in its entirety, before making a final decision about how best to implement it. Experienced readers may choose to deploy only certain content components and/or leverage specific content resources. In contrast, new readers (i.e. those desiring more instructional design assistance) may choose to deploy the Curricular Framework as-is, in its entirety. No matter how it is utilized, Unity Technologies advises all readers that the subjects of interactive applications and video creation are complex, highly progressive, and rapidly changing. And while it may appear comprehensive in breadth and depth, the Curricular Framework is still intended to guide readers in the design, development, and delivery of the learning they produce.

Intended Audience

The Unity Curricular Framework was designed for institutional educators that need to develop robust learning and deliver adaptive teaching, to a continuous group of learners, over a finite period of time. Every aspect of the Curricular Framework was maximized to enable learning content creation and provide learning resource deployment in this type of environment. Unity Technologies recognizes that many different types of education providers desire learning resources in support of the Unity Game Editor and Unity Game Engine. Unity Technologies also realizes that different learning environments and different learning goals often cause and accompany different reader needs. As such, readers outside the intended audience are still encouraged to utilize the Curricular Framework as they may.

Approach Conceptual Model

The Unity Curricular Framework is designed to engage learners with hands-on activities and exercises. The activities and exercises are intended to provide learners the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to manage the game creation process. As a result, learners will gain knowledge and experience in all aspects of the process. The content in the Curricular Framework can be approached in several different ways and is easily adaptable to a variety of situations. While each unit contains suggested sample exercises, educators are provided numerous topics and clear learning objectives to allow them the freedom to customize or deploy as they see fit.

Technical Model

The Unity Curricular Framework employs a modular, competency based, interactive (i.e. hands-on) instructional model. Learners completing all components of study should gain a broad understanding of what is involved in the creation of interactive application and video game creation process; from concept inception to final release.

The recommended duration of time required to complete the entire Curricular Framework is 36 calendar weeks, but can (and should) be adjusted, depending upon various real-world environmental factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, the learner’s age, experience level, and the frequency of their availability for learning.

Components of Study

The Unity Curricular Framework is comprised of 14 distinct components or “units” of study. Each unit of study functions like a gear in a mechanical device, adding unique, specific value to the machine as a whole. Each unit of study contains the following, standardized sections (in order of appearance):

Title
Unit Description
Major Topics
Learning Objectives
Course Outline
Instructor-Led Training (ILT) Activities
Self-Pace Learning (SPL) Activities
Standards Alignment Guide
Assessment Rubric(s)
Assessment of Learning Objectives
Suggested Resources

The 14 units of study provide learning opportunities through a wide variety lessons and experiences to help learners grasp and fully understand what is involved in being an effective developer. Through research, demonstrations, game play, structured lessons, and tactical training activities, learners will fully experience the interactive application and game creation process. Modularity and Linearity the units of study were strategically designed with modularity in mind. This strategy provides optimum flexibility for learning content delivery. The units of study can be delivered linearly, as originally outlined with the Unity Curricular Framework. However, experienced readers may choose to deliver the units in a different sequence, in order to better align the Curricular Framework with their existing learning objectives, learner abilities, or other factors.

Capstone Project

The units of study are followed by a final, culminating, critically important component, referred to as the “capstone project.” The Capstone Project provides each learner the ability to apply all they have learned towards the creation of a unique interactive application or video game. The units of study, combined with the Capstone Project, provide a significant quantity of strategic guidance and tactical resources for educators to develop and deliver a learning experience that engage learners and prepare them to become professional interactive application and video game creators. The Unity Curricular Framework provides an educational model to state and measure learning outcomes that is aligned with Blooms taxonomy. Within each unit of study, the Learning Objectives section and the Assessment of Learning Objectives section provide:

A series of learning objectives or learning objective assessment statements
A Blooms cognitive domain mapping for each statement
A level of difficulty indication for each statement

Student will Learn:

Introduction to Game Design and Download and install Unity Gaming software.
Critical Thinking in Game Design
Game Design Theory.
Story and Game Creation
System Dynamics and Scripting Fundamentals
Game Development Tools Functions, and Properties
Interfaces, Environments, Asset Management, and Animation
Physics and the Build Process
Constructs of Game Design
Principles of Cameras and Lighting in Game Environments
Principles of Sound and Audio for Gamers
Strategic Game Development Techniques
Principles of Quality and Functionality Assurance in Game Development
Principles of Versioning and Game Release

Entrance Requirements:

Students taking this course should have the following skills: Mac, Windows®-based personal computers, including the ability to: browse and search for information on the Internet; start up, shut down, and log on to a computer and network; run programs; and move, copy, delete, and rename files in Windows Explorer. Students should also have basic knowledge of computing concepts, including the difference between hardware and software; the functions of software components, such as the operating system, applications, and file systems; and the function of a computer network. High School Diploma/ GED

SCHEDULE DATES - 935 Hour Program