Games Development

With the US $22 billion Game Industry demanding highly skilled and creative 3D & 2D Artists, Level Designers, Animators and Programmers, the Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media (Games Development ) develops your creativity and gives you the expertise and experience needed to succeed in this fast-paced industry.

Taught by industry professionals, graduates of the course have been employed at companies including:

• Torus Games
• Blue Tongue Entertainment
• Big Ant Studios and
• Infinite Interactive
• Transmission
• Blue Tongue
• THQ
• Red Ant

Graduates have worked on titles including Spyro, Hellboy, Puzzle-Quest Galatrix, Sprintcars and many more. Designed with input from local game development studios, students are taught advanced artistic, conceptualisation, composition, design and programming skills using industry standard tools.

Topics covered include:

• iPhone, PC and Web game development
• Animation and Motion capture
• 3D Modelling
• 3D Sculpting & Drawing
• Texturing
• Digital Matte Painting
• Programming
• Game Design
• Level Design
• Audio Design
• Interactive Storytelling
• Professional Development

Technologies covered include:

• Unity engine (programming, game design)
• 3D Studio Max 2010 (3d modelling)
• Motion builder 2010 (Animation, MoCap)
• ZBrush 3, MudBox 2010 (3d sculpting)
• Adobe Photoshop CS4 (texturing, concept art)
• Visual Studio C# (programming)
• Adobe Flash CS4 (2d interfaces and web games)
• Cubase, Logic, FMOD (audio)

Resources available include:

• MoCap. State of the art inertial motion capture suite (XSens MVN)
• Wacom drawing tablets (natural 2d drawing)
• MicroScribe (3d digitising)
• In-house floating sound recording studio
• Late access to computer labs (Pc and Mac)
• Wii, PS3, XBox360, iPod touches
• Experienced teaching staff

Graduate Prospects/Employment
Students graduate with sophisticated creative and technical abilities in this dynamic and expanding industry, as well as a comprehensive understanding of game design principles, project management and industry needs. Completion of the Advanced Diploma furthers careers in games development as well as other multimedia, design and art careers.

Our students are already making names for themselves in the games industry.

Awards

Our students have been recognised in the ATOM and AIMIA awards every year since 1999.

Recent finalists include:

AIMIA Awards 2008:

• Matt Hood - Finalist Best Student-Developed Content
• Michael Wszelaki - Finalist Best Student-Developed Content

ATOM Awards 2007:

• Karl Ervine - Winner Best Tertiary Multimedia
• Jimmy Lee - Finalist Best Tertiary Multimedia
• Michael Wszelaki : Finalist Best Tertiary Multimedia

AIMIA Awards 2007:

• Nino Aniceto - Winner Best Student-Developed Content
• Susan Hinton - Finalist Best Student-Developed Content

ATOM Awards 2006:

• Nut Sathipattiphan- Finalist Best Interactive Game
• Sue Hinton- Finalist Best Interactive Game & Best Tertiary Multimedia
• Nino Aniceto : Winner Best Interactive Game & Best Tertiary Multimedia
• Tracey Quick - Finalist Best Interactive Game
• Matt Ward - Finalist Best Tertiary Multimedia
• James Oliver - Finalist Best Tertiary Multimedia

AIMIA Awards 2006:

• Rodney Zandbergs: Winner Best Student-Developed Content
• Matt Ward: Finalist Best Student-Developed Content

ATOM Awards 2005:

• Quang Nhut Tran - Finalist Best Interactive Game
• Rod Zandbergs - Finalist Best Tertiary Multimedia
• Ruth Fleishman - Winner Best Interactive Game

Entry Requirements
Entry to The Advanced Diploma of Multimedia at VU for full time study is obtained through VTAC and by interview/folio presentation. Applicants must complete the VTAC Application form and apply for an interview by downloading an application for interview form here. Interviews and folio presentations are generally conducted in late November/early December.

Pathways
The Games course is a dual award qualification where students can choose to undertake some additional Higher Education subjects in the second year of the course, in order to enter the third year of the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interactive Design.

Your Next Step
If you are interested in becoming a student in one of our programs, apply for an interview by downloading an application for interview form here.

More information

For more information please contact our Program Manager, Janelle Arena: janelle.arena@vu.edu.au (03)9919 1587