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Game Design Courses For Game Developers

Use the tried-and-true knowledge from world-class video game designers who have shipped some of the best games in the world to level up your gameplay, skills, and career.

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PRACTITIONERS NOT THEORYCRAFTERS

Only real game developers with proven track records of yielding notable results from applying their specialized skills teach our courses.

Our instructors have distilled their specialized knowledge into simple frameworks and formats, so you can learn faster.

Free Game Design Courses

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Build a Game Challenge

(Free Game Design Workshop)

Instructor:
Alexander Brazie (see work)
Learn hands-on as you build and playtest your own playable game prototype with video instructions, guiding frameworks, templates and examples. You'll learn how to simplify and iterate on your ideas.
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Player Centric Framework

(Free Game Design Course)

Instructor:
Alexander Brazie (see work)
Acquire a practical framework used at Blizzard & Riot on 150M+ players monthly to diagnose player frustrations, solve experience issues & create engaging gameplay for your projects.
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Includes 3 bonus lessons
gds career goal session featured2 min

Career Goal Workshop

(Free Live Game Design Workshop)

Instructor:
Alexander Brazie (see work)
Strategize and map out the most efficient path to reach your career goal, whether you want to get hired, promoted, or ship your own game.
Next session: Thursday @ 5pm PST

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Includes career mapping templates

Premium Game Design Courses

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First Principles of Game Design

Learn Studio-Level Game Design Problem Solving Skills At An Accelerated Pace

Instructor:
Alexander Brazie (see work)
With mentor guidance, acquire the tried-and-true game design decision-making skills that consistently satisfy your players and impress game studios.
  • — Pass game design job interviews
  • — Learn by studying your favorite games
  • — Learn faster with instructor feedback
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See case studies
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See mentorship examples
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Mastering Game Mechanics

Learn to Craft Memorable and Enjoyable Video Game Mechanics

Instructors:
Alexander Brazie (see work)
Learn to build and balance effective and responsive mechanics in different game styles such as Player vs Enemy, Player vs Player, and Cooperative Play by
  • — Thinking about games as systems
  • — Leveraging your players’ skills
  • — Building your players' controllers
We're putting on the final touches for this program, we'll notify you when it's ready ↓

EXPERIENCE & BACKGROUND:

[STUDIO] Blizzard Entertainment: Content, mechanics, and systems designer

(Creator of Apex Legends & former Creative Director at Respawn)

[GAME] World of Warcraft: MMORPG with 8.5 million average monthly players, won Gamer’s Choice Award – Fan Favorite MMORPG, VGX Award for Best PC Game, Best RPG, and Most Addictive Video Game.

  • Classic:
    • Designed Cosmos UI
    • Designed part of Raid Team for Naxxramas
  • Burning Crusade:
    • Designed the raid bosses Karazhan, Black Temple, Zul’Aman
    • Designed the Outlands content
    • Designed The Underbog including bosses:
      • Hungarfen, Ghaz’an, Swamplord Musel’ik, and The Black Stalker
    • Designed the Hellfire Ramparts final bosses Nazan & Vazruden
    • Designed the Return to Karazhan bosses: Attumen the Huntsman, Big Bad Wolf, Shades of Aran, Netherspite, Nightbane
  • Wrath of the Lich King:
    • Designed quest content, events and PvP areas of Wintergrasp
    • Designed Vehicle system
    • Designed the Death Knight talent trees
    • Designed the Lord Marrowgar raid
  • Cataclysm:
    • Designed quest content
    • Designed Deathwing Overworld encounters
    • Designed Morchok and Rhyolith raid fights
  • Mists of Pandaria: 
    • Overhauled the entire Warlock class – Best player rated version through all expansion packs
    • Designed pet battle combat engine and scripted client scene

[GAME] StarCraft 2: Playtested and provided design feedback during prototyping and development

[GAME] Diablo 3: Playtested and provided design feedback during prototyping and development

[GAME] Overwatch: Playtested and provided design feedback during prototyping and development

[GAME] Hearthstone: Playtested and provided design feedback during prototyping and development

[STUDIO] Riot Games: Systems designer, in-studio game design instructor

(Former Global Communications Lead for League of Legends)
(Former Technical Game Designer at Riot Games)

[GAME] League of Legends: Team-based strategy MOBA with 152 million average active monthly players, won The Game Award for Best Esports Game and BAFTA Best Persistent Game Award.

  • Redesigned Xerath Champion by interfacing with community
  • Reworked the support income system for season 4
  • Redesigned the Ward system
  • Assisted in development of new trinket system
  • Heavily expanded internal tools and features for design team
  • Improved UI indicators to improve clarity of allied behaviour

[OTHER GAMES] Under NDA: Developed multiple unreleased projects in R&D

Game Design Instructor: Coached and mentored associate designers on gameplay and mechanics

[STUDIO] Moon Studios: Senior game designer

(Former Lead Game Designer at Moon Studios)

[GAME] Ori & The Will of The Wisps: 2m total players (423k people finished it) with average 92.8/100 ratings by 23 top game rating sites (including Steam and Nintendo Switch).

  • Designed the weapon and Shard systems
  • Worked on combat balance
  • Designed most of the User Interface

[GAME] Unreleased RPG project

  • Designed core combat
  • High-level design content planning
  • Game systems design
  • Game design documentation
  • Gameplay systems engineering
  • Tools design
  • Photon Quantum implementation of gameplay

[VC FUNDED STARTUP] SnackPass: Social food ordering platform with 500k active users $400m+ valuation

[PROJECT] Tochi: Creative director (hybrid of game design, production and leading the product team)

  • Lead artists, engineers, and animators on the release the gamification system to incentivize long-term customers with social bonds and a shared experience through the app

[CONSULTING] Atomech: Founder / Game Design Consultant

[STUDIOS] Studio Pixanoh + 13 other indie game studios (under NDA):

  • Helped build, train and establish the design teams
  • Established unique combat niche and overall design philosophy
  • Tracked quality, consistency and feedback methods
  • Established company meeting structure and culture

Game Design Keynotes:

(Former Global Head of HR for Wargaming and Riot Games)
  • Tencent Studio
  • Wargaming
  • USC (University of Southern California)
  • RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology)
  • US AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association)
  • UFIEA (University of Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy)
  • West Gaming Foundation
  • Kyoto Computer Gakuin – Kyoto, Japan

Still got questions this page didn't address?

First, check out the Common Questions section to see if the answers to your questions are there.

If not, then you can schedule a live demo call here – We’ll jump on a Zoom call to clarify any remaining questions you may have.

Mentorship Examples

(Live Weekly Office Hour)
Daniel - How to apply Module 1 concept Clarity to my game?
Arda - Did I implemented your portfolio feedback correctly?
Adam - Can I get feedback for my university Capstone game Kitty Kart
Ronald - How do I get the most out of the FPGD course?
Daniel - How do I balance player abilities in my horror game?
Pray - Can I get feedback for my game Match Maker?
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