How To Start Your Career In Games Development (FutureLearn)

Offered by BGI,
How To Start Your Career In Games Development (FutureLearn)

Learn how to start a career in video games development by hearing from video games development recruiters and recruits. Kickstart your career in video games development. Follow the journeys of four people who recently got their first job in video games. You’ll learn what game development roles involve, and learn more about the skills you need, hearing from industry experts about what they hope to see in a candidate’s application.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see FutureLearn's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

You’ll learn how to assess your skills, and about strategies for demonstrating them in applications. You will practise sample interview tasks, and both give and receive feedback. By the end of the course you should be equipped with tools and advice from games recruiters to help you start your career in game development.

What topics will you cover?

  • How games developers got their start in games development
  • What entry-level games programmers, artists, designers and producers do day to day and how they work together
  • What are the hidden professional skills that could make you easier to hire
  • What recruitment companies would like to see in your CV and what could help you stand out from the crowd
  • Tips on providing evidence that you can do a games job, even if you lack experience
  • Inside the interview room – what games studios are really looking for at interviews

Learning on this course
You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

  • Explain the different roles, duties, processes and working relationships in games development teams
  • Evaluate the technical and professional skills used in games development
  • Assess and classify your skills and the skills you wish to develop
  • Describe key stages and employer expectations for successful games development applications
  • Apply strategies to evidence your professional and specialist skills
  • Justify experience and skills in a games interview setting, applying strategies to prepare to answer common question
  • Develop a set of questions to ask at games interviews

Who is the course for?
This course is designed for anyone interested in working in games development, including those who are studying or have studied games development at academies and/or universities.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Video Game Design and Development: Video Game Character Design (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Abertay University

Video Game Design and Development: Video Game Character Design (FutureLearn)

How and why do video gamers identify with the characters they control? Find out with this introduction to character design. This online course shows you how to approach character design for video games, giving you important insights into how gamers identify with the characters they control and interact with in-game worlds.

Jul 11th 2022
2 Weeks
Character Design for Video Games (Coursera) Coursera
California Institute of the Arts

Character Design for Video Games (Coursera)

In this course you will explore concepts and approaches involved in creating successful character designs that can be applied to video games. Following a first week delving into some foundational concepts for successful character design, each of the remaining three weeks are structured as a "master class" where you will observe three professional character designers at work in the studio: Andy Ristaino (Adventure Time), Jacky Ke Jiang (Journey), and Robertryan Cory (SpongeBob SquarePants).

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Emprendimiento y métodos ágiles de desarrollo en videojuegos (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad de los Andes

Emprendimiento y métodos ágiles de desarrollo en videojuegos (Coursera)

¡Bienvenido al curso de emprendimiento y métodos ágiles de desarrollo en videojuegos! Este curso es parte del Programa Especializado Coursera en Diseño y Desarrollo de Videojuegos, en la cual aprenderás a diseñar y programar cierto tipo de videojuegos, aumentarás tu comprensión acerca del mercado actual de videojuegos y de lo que se requiere para crear un juego exitoso comercialmente.

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Create Expressive Videogames (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Institute of Coding,UAL Creative Computing Institute

Create Expressive Videogames (FutureLearn)

Take your first steps towards constructing your own games by exploring game design, play, and experience creation. Explore the theory and practise of creative computer game design. Anyone who’s played videogames understands that designing them requires a complex blend of technical ability, creative skill, and theoretical knowledge.

Jun 29th 2020
4 Weeks
Current Gen 3D Game Prop Production (Coursera) Coursera
Michigan State University

Current Gen 3D Game Prop Production (Coursera)

In this course you will learn to create a photo-real game prop using modern game art production techniques. You will gather reference, generate a base model, create a high polygon model, bake details onto a low poly model, and then texture and present a final portfolio piece. This course is aimed at students who have some knowledge in 3d and game art and would like to learn more advanced techniques employed in the creation of modern game assets.

Jun 15th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Pixel Art for Video Games (Coursera) Coursera
Michigan State University

Pixel Art for Video Games (Coursera)

This course is aimed to give you the tools and knowledge you need to start creating simple art for video games made in the Unity game engine. Through the aesthetic of pixel art we will explore artistic principals like shape language, color theory, and composition as well as show you a step by step workflow for creating assets that you can use to make your own games.

Jun 15th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Data Structures and Design Patterns for Game Developers (Coursera) Coursera
University of Colorado System

Data Structures and Design Patterns for Game Developers (Coursera)

This course is the fourth course in the specialization about learning how to develop video games using the C# programming language and the Unity game engine on Windows or Mac. Why use C# and Unity instead of some other language and game engine? Well, C# is a really good language for learning how to program and then programming professionally. Also, the Unity game engine is very popular with indie game developers; Unity games were downloaded 16,000,000,000 times in 2016! Finally, C# is one of the programming languages you can use in the Unity environment.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Diseño de videojuegos (Coursera) Coursera
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Diseño de videojuegos (Coursera)

Dentro de la creación del videojuego, ¿qué papel juega su diseño? Este curso proporciona conocimientos y pautas sobre cómo diseñar un videojuego. Partiendo desde un concepto básico, se dan las pautas para trabajar correctamente sus conentidos, de cara a conseguir un objetivo claro: el documento de “game concept” que constituye el documento inicial sobre el que se basa cualquier videojuego.

Jun 15th 2026
4 Weeks
Story and Narrative Development for Video Games (Coursera) Coursera
California Institute of the Arts

Story and Narrative Development for Video Games (Coursera)

In this course, you will examine how storytelling acts as a vital mechanism for driving video gameplay forward. Looking at several historical and contemporary games, you will be asked to evaluate and interpret different story styles with the goal of identifying themes and procedures for your own game ideas. We'll examine traditional narrative story processes, such as three-act structure, and how they fit into game story flows and the strategic elements of gameplay. Ultimately, you will learn how to define character, setting, and structure to create a compelling game concept.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Getting Started with GameMaker (Coursera) Coursera
University of Colorado System

Getting Started with GameMaker (Coursera)

This course is all about starting to learn how to develop video games using GameMaker on Windows or Mac. Why use GameMaker instead of using C# and Unity or C++ and Unreal*? Learning to develop games with GameMaker is much easier than learning to program in C# or C++ AND learning Unity or Unreal. If you just want to start learning how to develop games in a more "gentle" way, this is a great starting point.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks