Associate Degree of Games Development
START YOUR CAREER AHEAD OF THE GAME
Indicative Total Course Fees*
$53,236 AUD
* The Indicative Total Course Fee reflects the students are charged fees on a per unit basis and the fee for a unit may increase.
Complete your course faster by studying units over 15 months. (4 trimesters)
Complete your course faster by studying units over 15 months. (4 trimesters)
Whilst still classified as a full-time study load, you will complete the units over two years. (6 trimesters)
If you want to take a little longer, that’s ok too. We’ll help you work out the best study load to suit your needs.
Note: Part-time is not available for international students.
February 2023
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ASSOCIATE DEGREE OF GAMES DEVELOPMENT
Make the transition from gamer to a game developer with the Associate Degree of Games Development and explore a range of genres for a range of platforms – roleplaying games, platformers, adventure, PC, FPS, mobile, and VR.
Not only are games becoming some of the biggest entertainment properties in the world, but industries are now also using the positive effects of ‘gamification’ and serious games to encourage behavioural change, particularly in fields of healthcare, training, and safety.
Games have the potential to change the world, and we can give you the skills to help change yours. Our associate degree starts at the base level and builds your expertise in programming and design.
As a student of Games at SAE, we offer small classes and one-on-one mentoring opportunities you may not find in a larger university You’ll develop and apply advanced techniques and strategies to use industry software like Unreal Engine, Unity3D, Autodesk 3D Studio Max, and Maya. In addition to this, you could develop for technologies such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Android, and iOS. You’ll also learn to speak how the professionals do with expert mentors guiding you in industry-standard languages C++ and C#.
Your growth and development as a creative practitioner will be assessed through the completion of industry-based projects. This will ultimately help you build up a body of work and a portfolio to share with potential employers or first clients.
In preparation for an industry that commands agility and adaptability, you’ll cut your creative teeth on projects in partnership with your course peers. As your skills develop and you work on more dynamic projects, you’ll apply your capabilities to cross-discipline projects. By the end of your course, you could be collaborating with fellow students across all SAE disciplines.
With an Associate Degree of Games Development, you’ll be ready for cutting-edge industry roles using modern creative business concepts and strategies. Career options include Mobile App Developer, Level Designer, Systems Designer, or UX Designer.
Ultimately, a qualification from SAE in Games will expand your career. As part of your course, you will be provided practical experience and work with others to help build your network. We’ll also equip you with employability skills, giving you professional strategies in communication and self-promotion.
Your epic adventure in gaming starts here.
YOUR CAREER IN GAMES BEGINS NOW
SAE Associate Degree of Games Development offers:
A collaborative environment where your teachers are also your mentors.
A range of approaches to learning and teaching - virtual and on-campus - to provide flexibility and real-world application.
Advanced mentoring in techniques and strategies to use industry software like Unreal Engine 4, Unity3D, Autodesk 3D Studio Max and Maya.
Tools & Software
Games skills
Course Structure
The Associate Degree of Games Development has two stages that provide foundational learning and applied skill.
Beyond technical and craft skills, expert practitioners also have an understanding of the historical and cultural context of games. Through developing your ability to research, analyse, argue, present, write, and cite games theory, you will become a more literate creative. You'll be able to apply this knowledge and these skills in industry and research settings to benefit your projects and company.
Potential projects:
Working in a team, You'll pitch an original game concept and the determination of the concept’s core design.
Game scripting is a common method of controlling the behaviour and sequencing of events and interactions within a game or scenario. Scripting can be thought of as a discrete language that uses principles of mathematics, combined with rules of syntax and patterns, to provide instructions for a computer to follow.
In this unit, you will implement a range of basic game functionality by utilising data manipulation, formulas, object creation, defining of behaviours, and working with event systems. You will also build an awareness of how to use these elements within common game scripting languages and environments.
Potential projects:
Build a simple game from scratch using an existing game engine such as Unity with C#.
In order to design and create games we need to be able to understand game systems and how they generate player experience. In this unit You'll break down existing games to identify and describe core elements and interactions of games. You will also engage with mathematical principles to inform and justify game design choices. This will involve both manipulating existing games and prototyping original game concepts and systems to generate player experiences.
Potential projects:
Through a process of iteration and testing, develop an initial modification of an existing game. You will then research and develop this concept into a suitably unique and standalone gameplay experience.
This unit will introduce you to the mindset and skillset of the creative entrepreneur, and transform your approach to problem-solving. You will analyse historical and contemporary models of leadership and best practice in entrepreneurship, and use tools for project design that include ideation, problem framing, and pitching. The skills in this unit will assist you in developing your creative thinking, exploration, and experimentation methods, allowing you to experiment with project design and content for creative media.
You'll gain practical experience with 3D modelling, lighting, shading, animation and rendering to gain a foundational understanding of a range computer graphics concepts. You will also reflect on the theoretical principles behind the development of computer graphics through critical analysis.
In order to create games, you must be able to manage the complexity of the game development process. In this unit You'll build familiarity with toolsets and existing industry practices to formulate and execute clear plans for delivering games assets and features on time and of a high quality.
Work in a team to pitch, design, plan and deliver a game in response to a brief, where You'll extend your existing skill sets in design and scripting to craft a broader range of gameplay systems and features. This will involve learning and applying teamwork and organisational skills with your your classmates, as well as feedback, testing and iteration processes for the game itself.
Potential projects:
Work as part of a team to pitch, design, plan and deliver a game in response to a brief.
In CIM210 you will be working on interdisciplinary projects that relate to some of the most important concepts in contemporary media production. You will learn practical and analytical skills in order to help you develop your creative powers and meet briefs that take you out of your comfort zone. You will need to bring all of the skills you have learned so far: technical skills, research skills, communication skills and a growth mindset, and be prepared to encounter new concepts and new ways of working.
Media and culture are not simply entertainment, but something that affects the “real world”, our everyday lives, and our worldviews. As such, we will not ask whether media accurately reflect the real world but instead ask how media shape, reinforce, and challenge power structures that influence our understanding of the world and ourselves. This unit takes a ‘critical theory’ approach to analyze media and culture. In this unit, you will explore media texts, contexts and meaning, society and subjectivity, pop culture aesthetics, and critical cultural discourses that inform creative media practices.
Drawing on a range of creative content and analytical frameworks, you will be encouraged to develop ways of thinking about media and culture that demonstrate a broad awareness of aesthetic principles and stylistic trends; subjectivity, agency, ethics, and relations of power; contexts, disciplines and discursive formations. In support of this exploration, you will produce a range of media artifacts that explore and contextualize the relationship of media to culture through individual analysis, collaborative and interdisciplinary creative practice, and critical reflection.
Game design and development relies as equally on knowledge and skills, as it does on the eureka moment of creative design inspiration.
In this unit, you will ideate and develop one or more game prototypes. You will test these against criteria for success and identify the best prototype.
You will develop this prototype further, exploring more advanced game design techniques and evaluate them with an audience.
Potential projects: In collaboration with Audio and Animation students you will work towards developing a number of projects within a simulated studio environment.
Game development relies on processes and patterns to solve common problems that are well
known to programmers. You will undertake these processes and evaluate common
programming patterns that are core to the development of games. You will also explore more
advanced mathematics techniques that are utilised in common game-engine systems.
In this studio unit, you will focus on developing games with meaning, inquiry, and purpose.
As a game designer, you have an opportunity to tell authentic stories and narratives through gameplay and other mechanics. You will employ techniques to convey a consistent theme and style throughout your project, and influence play in outputs and inputs.
Game development requires the development and implementation of tools that extend existing
or new game engines in order to achieve efficient pipelines. Game programmers, in
collaborating with game designers, are critical to meeting the technical needs of the game
project. In this studio module, you will develop tools, libraries, AI systems and
technical-aesthetic optimisations to achieve the aims of the game project.
Career Outcomes
What jobs will this course lead to?
- Level Designer
- Product Manager
- Producer
- Developer
- Unity Developer
- Quality Assurance
- Games Writer
- User Interface Designer
- User Experience Designer
- Lighting Designer
- Gameplay Programmer
- Community Manager
- Localisation Manager
- Software Developer
- Tools Developer
Student Spotlight
Course FAQs
This can vary depending on the campus and course. You may, for example, have a larger lecture group for common units, and a smaller tutorial group of 8-15 students. In most cases tutorial sizes average 15 – 30 students.
All SAE courses have a focus on practical, hands-on delivery. The amount of practical time you experience during your studies does vary, depending on your course. You will also have opportunities to access campus resources and facilities outside of class time, during campus opening hours.
SAE may recognise your prior learning and may grant credit towards satisfying the requirements for a VET or a higher-level program. This is applied where previous learning is considered equivalent to the content and learning outcomes prescribed for units within the program. For full details, please refer to SAE's policy on recognition of prior learning and credit transfers.
