GAME DESIGN

Meet your instructor, discover the path ahead, and prepare your quest. It’s dangerous to go alone; your journey starts here.

• Instructor intro
• Course structure & final project overview
• The current state of the industry
• Housekeeping rules
• Workshop: Meet your peers & share your background

Learn the terminology, tools, and landscape of game design and development. You’ll explore roles, processes, genres, and pipelines — and start connecting your personal inspirations to the role of game designer.

• Game design principles & concepts
• Different kind of games: Genres, platforms, styles
• Game dev pipelines: Pre-pro, prod, alpha, beta, release, post-release
• Team & organisational hierarchy 
• Game designer’s role & responsibilities
• Case Studies: Game design pipeline: AAA vs. indie studios

In the chaos of creation, the Game Design Document is your North Star. Learn to architect a "living document" that aligns your team, organises your assets, and ensures your vision doesn't just stay a dream, but becomes a technical reality.

• Anatomy of a professional GDD 
• Presentation of a single source of truth
• Importance of asset organisation: Knowledge, files, art assets, etc.
• Case Studies: Overview of GDD of recognised games

Assignment #1: Competitive Analysis Research
Identify one released game that most closely aligns with the project you intend to build. Conduct a competitive analysis by researching project scope & timeline; technical stack; market positioning; production resources; the "gap" analysis.

Go under the hood to see how games function. By mastering frameworks, you’ll learn to bridge the gap between technical mechanics and the emotional "fun" experienced by the player.

• Introduction to MDA
• Introduction to Elemental Tetrad by Jesse Schell
• Introduction to RGD
• Case Study: Using MDA to deconstruct a popular game
• Workshop: Your own gamemechanics breakdown

Assignment #2: Game Mechanic Documentation
Choose one simple game mechanic and write a 1-page technical breakdown. Ensure the clarity, structure, and professional formatting of your documentation.

Games are built on friction; without a problem, a game is just a stroll. Master the "Zelda Method" of progression to architect challenges that evolve with the player, balancing skill floors and ceilings to trap them willingly in the legendary "flow state."

• Game experience as a problem-solving journey
• Exploring flow theory
• Understanding skill ceilings & skill floors
• Analysing types of challenges
• Scaling challenge with RGD
• Case Study: The "Zelda" Method

Assignment #3: Designing a Challenge Chain
Design a Level Beat centered around a single gameplay challenge. You must document how the difficulty scales throughout the sequence using the Zelda-style progression method.

Stop just telling stories and start building them into the foundations of your world. Architect immersive environments where every prop and light placement whispers a secret, transforming your level into a "narrative zoo" that breathes life into your lore.

• World building & immersive environment 
• Harmony between narrative & game mechanics
• Leveraging narrative to build lasting impression & connection with the players
• Case Studies: Comparisons of narrative uses between games

Map the emotional player journey and the hooks that keep them coming back. From Bartle’s player types to A/B testing and KPIs (DAU/ARPPU), learn to translate raw data into design decisions that improve retention and player's experience.

• Psychological hooks, genre, player types, accessibility & inclusion
• Feedback loops: Positive & negative
• Key metrics, KPIs, A/B Testing
• Designing features to drive specific metrics
• Game analytics, monetisation design & models 
• Ethical monetisation vs. "dark patterns"

Before you assault the game engine editor, you must plan the attack. Learn to bridge the gap between high-level concepts and physical space by drafting Level Design Documents and Papermaps that define the "Golden Path" of your player's experience.

• Using LDD to bridge between GDD with game space execution
• Anatomy of LDD
• Papermap as an efficient prototyping tool
• Workshop: The "Three-Room Challenge" papermap

Assignment #4: Papermap & LDD
Create a top-down Papermap of a single level section. Your map must include the “golden path,” key encounter zones, legend/metrics, and sightlines.

Welcome to the heart of modern development. Step inside Unreal Engine 5 to master the "Five Panels of Power" and tinker your Metrics Gym — the foundational playground where you’ll define the physical rules of your universe.

• The UI "Power Five"
• Demo: Project creation
• Demo: Assets creation & blueprint
• Demo: Creating a gym to test and refine basic mechanics & 3Cs 
• Supporting gameplay with sound

Morph your plans into a playable dimension. Master greyboxing to subconsciously guide players through challenges and obstacles using affordances, sightlines, and "architectural weenies," ensuring your level flow works before adding a single piece of high-res art.

• Importance of greybox for level design
• Greyboxing best practices
• Designing engaging & challenging levels
• Creating immersive environments that enhance gameplay
• Affordances, sightlines, critical paths, architectural "weenies" 
• Demo: Greyboxing a level in Unreal Engine 

Assignment #5: Greyboxing
Build a playable 3D Greybox in Unreal Engine 5 based on your Assignment #4 Papermap.

You’ve built the world, now you have to sell it. Learn to distill weeks of work into a high-impact pitch deck that captures the "hook" and convinces stakeholders that your vision is the next big thing.

• Building a pitch deck
• Tips for a successful game pitch
• AI & procedural frontiers

Assignment #6: Pitch Deck
Create a 5-8 slide pitch deck for your game project. It must include the concept, the core loop, the hook and USP, visual style/mood, and production roadmap.

No design survives first contact with the player. Learn active listening and bias-free observation as you put your prototype through the gauntlet, translating raw feedback into a surgical plan for meaningful iteration.

• Feedback & iteration: Planning & conducting sessions
• Balance fundamentals
• Active listening: Observing players without bias
• Prioritisation: The Must/Should/Could fix list
• QA & bugs list
• Workshop: Greybox playtesting

Assignment #7: Final Project: Full Level Greybox
Expand and polish your Greybox into a "full level" experience (5–8 minutes of gameplay). It must have full progression, iterated design, technical soundness, plus a playthrough video. 

Your artifacts are your armor. Assemble a focused design portfolio that proves your worth to recruiters, learn interview tips, and map out your professional trajectory in the competitive landscape of game development.

• Career specialisations
• Landing job interviews & building a portfolio
• Delivering a technical test
• Networking
• Additional skills to gain a competitive advantage
• Workshop: Mock interview