The Game Art program gives you a head start in your game art or design career by providing you with insight into every aspect of how today's video games are created. You'll learn about the business model, the technology platform, the production process, and the genres that define the medium, developing an understanding of the people and processes that drive development.

A major goal of the course is to help you understand the different roles in game art and design departments. You'll explore the inner workings of the game development team, finding out how art, programming, audio, design, and QA work together to create a killer product.

To prepare you for a professional game development environment, papers, tests, and projects will challenge you to develop the analytical and written skills you'll need for communicating with other game industry pros. You will focus on helping you define your influences, interests, and ambitions as a game artist or designer while learning how to analyze and criticize video games, identify key elements in a game, and make intelligent judgments about whether the game succeeded or failed.

This course uses Autodesk Maya, which combines powerful tools for the major areas in 3D content creation: modeling, animation, texturing, lighting, and rendering. Game Art will also focus exclusively on developing tiling textures for 3D environments - how to gather reference photos and turn source imagery into texture tiles and texture sets.

Get ready to study important issues that every aspiring developer should understand, such as what business factors led to the rise and fall of the first consoles, and how Nintendo's approach to licensing set the stage for today's system of third party software development. This instructor-led, project-based program is completed at your own pace. Expert Faculty members provide critique and feedback on projects within 1-2 business days, helping you build a design portfolio for prospective employers.

Back to top

FEATURES

This nationally recognized Video Game Art online course and training program helps students gain the skills and knowledge to get started as a digital artist in today's fast-paced game development industry! This Video Game Art program builds technical and artistic skills in 3D modeling, texturing, lighting, and animation using Autodesk Maya and Photoshop. Challenging, practical projects put you through your paces, helping you develop a high-quality portfolio of game art. You will also experience mentoring and feedback from an industry-leading faculty of game art professionals. This online certificate program is offered in partnership with major colleges and universities.

Back to top

TOPIC HIGHLIGHTS

I. Intro to Game Development
. Lesson 1: Intro to the Game Industry
. Lesson 2: Video Game Genres
. Lesson 3: Meet the Team
. Lesson 4: The Design Team
. Lesson 5: Visual Design (the Art Team)
. Lesson 6: Games and Society

II. Maya Basics
. Lesson 1: Intro to Maya
. Lesson 2: Modeling in Maya
. Lesson 3: Poly Modeling II
. Lesson 4: Texturing and UV Mapping
. Lesson 5: UV Mapping
. Lesson 6: Animation and Workflow

III. Tiling Textures
. Lesson 1: Intro to Tiling Textures
. Lesson 2: Maintaining the Illusion
. Lesson 3: Geometric Patterns
. Lesson 4: Basic Texture Sets
. Lesson 5: Advanced Texture Sets
. Lesson 6: Advanced Mapping

IV. History of Video Games
. Lesson 1: Early Origins 1958-1984
. Lesson 2: The 2D Era 1985-1994
. Lesson 3: The 3D Era and Next Generation 1994 to the Present

V. Character Animation
. Lesson 1: Principles of Animation
. Lesson 2: Animating Hierarchical Characters
. Lesson 3: Lights! Camera! Acting!
. Lesson 4: Playing with People - Basic Human Motion
. Lesson 5: Playing with People - Advanced Human Motion
. Lesson 6: Acting with Humanoids

VI. Game Lighting and Color
. Lesson 1. The Purpose of Lighting
. Lesson 2: Components of a Light
. Lesson 3: The Power of Color
. Lesson 4: Shaders and Light
. Lesson 5: Using Textures to Manipulate Shaders
. Lesson 6: A Look Behind the Curtain

VII. Game Analysis and Criticism
. Lesson 1: Criticism and Genre
. Lesson 2: Design and Intent
. Lesson 3: Writing Game Reviews

Back to top

CERTIFICATE REQUIREMENTS

A 70% or better must be achieved in order to receive a Certificate of Completion.

Back to top

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon successful completion of this program, students will:

o Develop an understanding of the business model, technology platforms, and production processes used in the video game industry.
o Develop an understanding of the typical structure of a game development team and the roles played by different departments and individuals.
o Develop an understanding of the core tasks and professional challenges that face a video game design team.
o Demonstrate the professional level of written communication skills that are required in today's game development industry.
o Develop an understanding of the main tools in the Maya interface and how 3D art is constructed.
o Construct 3D models by creating and editing primitives through moving, rotating, scaling, and grouping them.
o Test and apply texture tiles to 3D objects and environments.
o Develop convincing detail for specific variations that occur in the physical world, such as end grain in wood.
o Apply tiling textures to a range of maps commonly used in video games.
o Develop an understanding of the major developments in video games over the last 30 years.
o Gain an historical perspective on trends in current and next-generation game development.
o Apply basic principles of animation with Maya including: squash and stretch, anticipation, and follow through.
o Identify the animation possibilities within a pose and create a variety of effective character poses and gestures.
o Effectively plan, analyze, and act out a shot prior to animating.
o Simulate different lighting conditions and times of day using lighting techniques.
o Light a complete game scene including all objects within it using shaders, textures, and a design document.
o Develop an understanding of how criticism influences a game's audience and the success of a game.
o Learn practical methodologies for writing critical analyses of video games.

Back to top

PDF BROCHURE

Please click here to download the PDF brochure for the Gatlin online courses offered by OCPE.

Back to top

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Back to top

Back to top

Steve Kalning is a ten-year veteran of the game industry, beginning his career as an intern at LucasArts. He was hired at the company as a technical artist, and shipped The Curse of Monkey Island before moving on to Infinite Machine. For nearly four years, Steve was a technical artist and lead producer for Blizzard Entertainment, makers of the Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft franchises. In his current role at Valve Software, Steve is working on episodic expansions for Half-Life 2, and has contributed to the forthcoming Team Fortress 2. Steve graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science degree, and studied computer animation, 3D modeling, and traditional art at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco.

Nat Stein is a modeling supervisor and CG artist at Anzovin Studio. He has worked on animation for games such as Sid Meier's Railroads and Halo 2, as well as a variety of TV shows and movies. Nathaniel attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he also taught courses in Animation and Modeling after his graduation. Nathaniel co-authored the book Visual Quickstart for Maya 7.0, and is currently working on a new book. Nathaniel received his BA in Computer Animation from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Todd Gantzler is a game artist, educator, and writer. Todd has worked as a 3D artist on such games such as Gex 3D, Cyberia, and Akuji the Heartless and specialized in game design work and character animation. Todd has served as Program Leader for game development degree programs at the Media Design School in New Zealand and at the University of Salford in England. He has been designing and teaching game art and design classes since 2000. Todd's first book, Game Development Essentials: Video Game Art was published by Thomson Delmar Learning in July 2004. Todd moved into games from work in graphics and animation for TV and film; his film credits include The Pagemaster (1994).

Cristin McKee is a character animator at Anzovin Studio, where she has worked on a number of high-profile projects including the features GI Joe: Valor vs Venom and Action Man: X Missions, game cut scenes for Halo 2, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Da Vinci Code, and Sid Meier's Railroads, as well as a number of television projects and short films. Cristin has spoken about animation on panels at Siggraph and Northampton Film Festival and taught animation at Hampshire College, MA. Cristin is currently co-directing an animated short. Cristin earned her Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College, MA .

Jesse Brophy is a technical artist who has worked at a range of game design companies, including Atari, Breakaway Games, and Sony. He created all the lighting, rendering, camera work, compositing, rigging, and some of the modeling and texturing as well as all particles for the Dungeons and Dragons Heroes Xbox Video in addition to leading the art team in its creation. Jesse currently is developing Xbox games at THQ in Phoenix, AZ, where he serves as a Technical Artist/Character Artist. Jesse has a BFA in drawing and visual communication from the University of Arizona.

Alex Jimenez is a veteran game designer and Vice President/ Lead Designer of Tesseraction Games. The creative force behind the original Dungeons & Dragons games by Capcom, Alex has contributed to the concept, design, story writing, and development of a host of high-profile licenses including X-Men: Children of the Atom, Army Men Sarge's Heroes, Darkstalkers 1 and 2, Super Street Fighter 2, Battle Tanx 1 and 2, Marvel Super Heroes, Enigma: Rising Tide, Minigolf Maniacs, and Alien Vs. Predator. Alex has implemented projects on a wide range of platforms including PS 1 and 2, PC, N64, and coin-op formats. Alex has lectured on the game industry topics at conventions and to college students and both developed and taught video game development courses to high school students.

Back to top