The eLearning Center for Gatlin Education Services

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 killing 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.

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