5 best game design courses in Russia

The course from the Netology school is one of the best among those that allow you to master the profession of a game designer from scratch. The training starts with the very basics, such as getting to know the Unreal Engine, and ends with the documentation necessary to run the game. In addition, the Soft Skills block is a gift, within which students learn to conduct business negotiations and achieve maximum personal efficiency. It is also important that Netology helps graduates get a job: they tell where IT specialists should look for vacancies, how to write a resume and pass an interview.In addition, you can consider vacancies from school partners.

If we talk about the training program, it is worth noting that it is built correctly: first, students watch lectures and webinars, and then do their homework, practicing their skills in practice. The advantage is unlimited access to all materials, as well as the ability to get feedback from the curator in Discord. At the end of the course, students create and defend the final project. The advantages include low cost, and the fact that the training lasts only 5 months, but this is alarming for some.

One of the best courses on the market from the famous Skillbox school, which teaches not only the basics of game design, but also how to monetize. As a result, students who have completed all the tasks form a rather impressive portfolio, and most importantly, they receive a guarantee of employment: under the contract, the money will be returned if the student does not find a job. The advantage of distinguished graduates over other applicants will also be a letter of recommendation from the speaker of the course with 20 years of experience, Nikolai Dybovsky.

The basics of game design, which are taught in Skillbox, are drawing up the rules of the game, the plot and drawing graphic elements. In addition, students will be able to create all the necessary documentation, recruit staff and, which is very important, create goods inside the game and correctly choose the subscription price, as well as conclude advertising contracts. A big plus is the opportunity to get free connections in the community of game designers, to develop team development skills. True, after graduation, graduates do not receive a state diploma, but only a certificate.

This online school places a lot of emphasis on practice in game development and 3D graphics. The Game Designer course takes over 100 hours to develop skills, and all four teachers are not theorists, but recognized experts in their field. Their credits include working with applications with 200 million installs, participating in the development of Assassin's Creed and much more. In total, the course includes 772 lectures and 102 homework assignments, and all material is divided into 4 blocks.After passing, students can write game scenarios themselves, come up with character archetypes and their dialogues, create different levels, and also draw up the necessary documentation.

In addition to the main material, students receive as a gift a selection of valuable employment tips - "Career Cheat", as well as 2-month access to a closed knowledge base and streams - XYZ Plus. It is also important that the feedback takes place without undue formality in a group on Discord, and there you can also make useful contacts with fellow students. In addition, all training materials, including completed assignments, are stored in a convenient personal account. The only thing is that streams, judging by the reviews, sometimes drag on for 3-4 hours.

The description of the game design course from Skillfactory says that students will be guided through the entire program by the hand: from the very basics to the presentation of the final project. You can create your own game in any genre, according to its concept and with self-drawn graphic elements.Also, the course is suitable for those who already work in game design, as it allows you to improve your skills and qualify for a higher salary. It is very important that students can receive feedback on emerging issues within an hour. In addition, to practice team development skills, there is a chat in Slack, where work is carried out on group projects.

True, you need to take into account that the course has different rates, and the basic one includes support only in the general chat. Individual consultations are provided on extended packages, but their cost is much higher. But even at the lowest price, you can get access to the Career Center, in which experienced consultants help students create a resume, rehearse an interview and accompany a graduate for 3 weeks. The only thing is that a state standard diploma can be obtained only if you pass an additional program.

The “Faculty of Game Design” from the GeekBrains school is not just a course, but a direction of professional retraining, upon successful completion of which a state diploma is issued. The second most important advantage is the guarantee of employment prescribed in the contract: if the student completes all the tasks and applies to the Career Center, but does not find a job, the tuition fee is refunded. The undoubted pluses also include the experience of teachers who collaborated with the studios Soyuzmultfilm, Whalekit (Mail.ru Group), Playrix, Belka Games, developed maps for Warcraft 3 and other games.

The course program is designed in such a way that students practice and develop their skills as much as possible, and if questions arise, they can immediately get an answer from an experienced mentor. Thanks to this, after completing the training, a portfolio of 6 works is formed, and graduates can confidently apply for the position of a junior specialist with a salary of 80,000 rubles. In general, the product from Skillbox is a great solution for novice game designers and those who already have fragmentary knowledge. The disadvantages include the duration of the program and the rather high cost.