"First Principles of Game Design immersion Program"
Acquire Practical Industry-Proven Game Design Skills
Program is designed for:
- Game design graduates – who have trouble getting hired
- Junior designers – looking to level up and advance their careers
- Beginner game developers – looking to break into the industry
- Studios – looking to enhance their teams & improve processes
We’ve Helped Our Readers & Members Get Jobs At:
“First Principles of Game Design Immersion Program”
Built to equip you with the skills to get a job. Faster.
Want to design games for a living? Game Design Skills is a leading place to start your journey and master the fundamental principles of game design(with or without previous experience)
We designed the “First Principles of Game Design” as an accelerator to acquire the skills needed to become and excel as a game designer without coding.
Overwhelmed & anxious about your interview or portfolio? We are here to help. You will get clear & abundant support on your resumes, interviews, and portfolios to help you land your dream job.
Got questions?
Book a live demo →
Meet your Instructor:
Alexander Brazie
Sr. Lead Game Designer & Creative Director
Studios:
Work(ed) & collaborated on:
About Alexander Brazie, aka Xelnath
Alexander is a skilled Design Director, Combat Mechanics and Systems Designer and Creative Director with over 20+ years of AAA and Indie studio experience.
He has worked with Microsoft, Blizzard, Riot Games, Moon Studios and his own studio Atomech.
Alex has shipped titles like World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, Hearthstone, Overwatch, League of Legends, Ori and the Will of the Wisps and many more. Loved by millions of players for his “players are the lifeblood of your game” approach to design.
Xelnath has been actively sharing his knowledge and experience with aspiring game designers for over a decade now through his podcast, blog and “First Principles of Game Design” Program.
Relevant Skills & Accomplishments
- 20+ years of combined AAA & Indie studios experience
- 15+ years mastery of C# and Unity experience
- 10 years of teaching aspiring game designers & beginners
- 10 years of teaching aspiring game designers & beginners
- 7 years of design consulting from his own studio Atomech
- Trained over 40 Tencent game designers
- Helped students from across the world start design careers at major studios like Blizzard, Riot, Sony Santa Monica, Bethesda, Activision, WB Avalanche and many more
Control Your Learning
You’ll have the flexibility to learn at your own pace: 24/7 program access and 100% online
Refine your Design Thinking
Learn our proven design methodology distilled & refined from over 20+ years of experience – no fluff
2-Layered Money Guarantees
We offer 2 Money-Back-Guarantees – 7 days & 365 days. Check out the FAQ section for details.
What skills you’ll acquire once you master FPGD?
You will be equipped with in-demand & job-ready skills after finishing the program, completing all assignments, and meticulously applying the FPGD principles.
- Have the ability to take ideas from concept to delivery and rapidly iterate them as needed.
- Know how to create and provide multiple potential design solutions for a problem.
- Confidently articulate trade-offs and risks between different design options.
- Design and improve mechanics and systems that satisfy players and further solidify your game concepts
- Learn how to playtest a game & iterate on existing designs and fresh prototypes
- Accurately predict the consequences of adding new features to gameplay and how players react to those changes.
- Develop a strong sense of what makes a gameplay experience compelling and fun.
- Articulate well why a game design decision is effective or not for its context.
- Learn how to be more empathetic and understanding with respect to many different player audiences and needs.
- Build & polish your portfolio in a way that is enticing for the hiring studios
FPGD consists of hands-on drills, design principles, Q&A calls and prototype challenges.
We designed the program to be 100% focused on acquiring the skills game studios require.
Modules build on top of each other, which is designed to work together holistically as a system, not just individually.
Alex & other support instructors will provide you with insightful & actionable feedback regarding your:
- Assignments
- Own games
- Design principles
- Any work projects you need help with
We will help polish your personal and teamwork skills.
You can ask our instructors anything you want or need help with from the course or anything else related to game design & development.
You can share your screen, clarify on the spot and get it reviewed in addition to anything else that is hard to communicate through chat.
We’ll guide you step by step to build a virtual tabletop prototype, starting from scratch to finally a playable prototype.
Then we’ll host 3 live playtest sessions where you and other students can playtest each other’s prototypes to gather feedback and make informed iterative improvements.
Networking & collaboration are important for a successful design career.
We will provide you with an environment where you can interact, collaborate & network with other game designers and fellow students – 3 months of free access.
Industry-Validated Curriculum
- Perfected and validated over the years with our students’ repeated success.
- You rapidly develop in-demand skills & create a robust portfolio to better prepare you for your job as a game designer.
- There’s no long-winded theory like what you may find in Universities.
- Everything taught here is actually being used by today’s leading game studios, yet not taught anywhere outside of those companies.
Get Support to Land a Job in the Game Industry
1-on-1 Support to Land a Job
We will provide you with career and technical coaching to get you a job, faster.
Personalized Feedback
Instructors will give you personalized expert feedback on your resume, portfolio, and game prototypes
Interview & Design Tests Guidance
You will learn to present yourself in the most effective way & ACE your interviews, and design tests with our help.
Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Imposter Syndrome, we all have been there, and on some days, we still are. We will guide you in resetting your mindset, overcoming insecurity, and building your confidence.
Champion your Probation Period
You will receive guidance & tips on how to rock the important first months on the job and better collaborate with team members and lead designers.
Program Pricing
On-Demand Program
Best for:
- Aspiring Game Designers
- Game Design Graduates
- Junior Game Designers
Application
- Get Into the Industry
- Fill the Gaps In your Design Knowledge
- Learn a Proven Design System
$1,995
One Payment
- Hands-on Course Materials
- Guaranteed Feedback (Mentorship)
- Monthly live Q&A
- Prototype Challenge
- Networking & Collaboration
- Game Design Career Accelerator
1 on 1 Mentorship
Best for:
- Advanced Junior Designers
- Mid-level Designers
- Design leads
Application
- Fast Track your Career
- Grow into a Senior Position
- Level Up your Leadership Skills
$9,995
One Payment
- Everything included in “On Demand Program.”
- 8 weekly 1.5 hours Mentorship Calls.
Studio Consulting & Training
Best for:
- Game Studios
- Studio CEOs
- Team leads
Application
- Custom Curriculum based on needs
- Level Up your Team’s Skills & Efficiency
- Improve Workflow & Processes
Price: TBT
TBT
FAQ
In comparison to other courses on Udemy, Coursera, Skillshare etc. this program specifically focuses on the design part of game development, where we cover the fundamentals of how to systematically balance a game and solve design problems.
The methodology is based on what the instructor Alex Brazie used and refined throughout 20+ years of experience working on games such as World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Ori and The Will of The Wisps, and other AAA and Indie games.
In addition, everything is broken down into digestible step-by-step details with specific examples and actionable exercises to help you internalize the design skills based on Alex’s methodology to consistently create fun player experiences and level-up to a more skillful and effective design professional.
- -Resume & cover letter
- -Portfolio
- -Game projects
- -Interviews
- -Design testsHowever, you can still take the program if you are a complete beginner looking to jumpstart your learning, understand the theories and concepts for inspiration and better design foundation, but without application you won’t just magically get a game development job or make better games.
This program is best fit for you if you fit into any of the following:
- Serious beginner – you are dedicated to a career in game design, whether you have a degree in the field, are currently pursuing one, or have self-taught experience creating games and building a portfolio, but have yet to break into the industry.
The knowledge and skills gained from the program have been instrumental in the job interviews & design tests for many of our game design graduates and aspiring designers.
- Junior designer – you are designer with a few years of experience and a desire to advance your career, but struggle with getting your ideas to resonate with players or effectively communicating them to leadership and feeling that your design voice is being ignored or not heard at all.
Many of our alumni have been able to move to their preferred studios, create their own games, and secure promotions to senior roles as a result of the program and Alex’s mentorship.
- Indie Studio Leadership – you are looking to improve your design team’s collaboration and create a consistent design lens to tackle ambiguous problems and create fun player experiences.
This program has helped many studios successfully launch their games and ace reviews from players and critics.
- Programmers & Graphic artists – you are transitioning into game development and want to better understand the game design fundamentals, improve communication with game designers and create the player experience they hope to achieve.
Dozens of our students who transitioned to game development found their transition and project collaboration was made easier by the program.
“First Principles of Game Design” is applicable to all genres of games and game designers. The core principles are a reflection of the innate human psychological factors that exist in all of us. That said, the examples given are best for real-time and turn-based game experiences. Simulation and interactive entertainment products will need to use their creativity to apply some of the concepts, as these tend to have less agency and a greater focus on artistic expression.
You’ll get immediate access to the program. You can go at your own pace, but the content is released module by module with bonuses unlocking along the way.
This is a bit of a trick question. Each module is about 40-60 minutes long. I get straight to the point. So consuming all of the videos will take you about 16 hours.
But I recommend setting aside 2 hours for each module to give you plenty of time to digest what you learn and begin applying it. Then comes getting feedback and re-evaluation of your decisions and etc.
The amount of time you can spend applying these lessons to your own work or personal projects, which is the most effective path, is uncapped.
This program is singularly focused on the game design aspect of game development. It is designed to specialize in the challenges and issues of crafting fun players’ experiences consistently.
Inquire to us at email support@gamedesignskill.com, and we will recommend you a few pre-vetted game programming-specific resources.
Coding & knowing how to use game engines such as Unity, Unreal, etc, are complementary skills for game designers. Therefore, they are not prerequisite skills for joining the program.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn how to use game engines as a game designer. It will definitely help improve your chances of getting into a studio.
While coding is a powerful, useful skill, you can practice designing games without coding in various mediums and contexts as we will show you in the program.
We understand accountability, encouragement, guidance, and validation are all part of the “secret sauce” that helps you follow through on the course.
- – Drill assignments
- – Work and personal projects
- – Game prototypes
- – Interview & Design preparation support- Any design questions you may have
- So as soon as you join the program, you’ll be given instructions on how to register for our community, where you’ll find your tribe who can help you along the journey from where you are now to becoming a capable and effective game designer. This collaboration is priceless.
Yes, this is a no-fluff program. You’ll get “the how,” together with real specifics that explain everything in step-by-step detail.
What’s more, there are real action plans, so you know exactly what to do. Nothing has been left to chance.
I guarantee you that if you don’t do the work you won’t get results. There’s a reason that most people that purchase programs like this never see results… and it’s not because the program sucks. It’s because the student doesn’t do the work. But that won’t be you, right?
We have plenty of designers and developers who got into the industry and level up their career after implementing what they’ve learned in our program. I’m 100% confident in the value of this program.
With that said, we have a 2 layer fit guarantee. Here is how it works
Layer 1: 7-day trial
You have 7 days upon enrollment to try it out and make sure this is for you.
And if for whatever reason you don’t feel like this is for you, we’ll gladly refund all of your money, no questions asked. Just contact us at support@gamedesignskill.com
Layer 2: Results accountability
After the 7 days, you have an 365 days to show us that you’ve implemented what you’ve learned in the program. And if you can prove that you did and still didn’t get results, we’ll refund you. Implementation includes the following:
- Completing all the modules and their respective exercises and shared all of them for my feedback.
- Completing the prototype challenge
- Applying to multiple studios or start making your own game(s)
- With chat record of you asking for feedback and seek guidance in the private group and live coaching calls
