Media Design School to offer game development degrees

Auckland Media Design School will soon be offering Bachelor's degrees in game development.

Media Design School has now been running a Graduate Diploma of Game Development programme for eight years, but the two new degrees will be the first in the country to teach game development to complete beginners.

The degrees on offer are a Bachelor of Creative Technologies (Game Art) and a Bachelor of Software Engineering (Game Programming). A statement from the university said the courses were focused on "intense project-based learning" in order to replicate the game studio environment.

Media Design School chief executive Frances Valintine said the New Zealand gaming industry was growing as demand increased for multiple platforms.

"This growth has continued year-on-year for over a decade and the projected future demand for game programmers and game artists exceeds the level of qualified graduates who enter the sector each year,” she said.

New Zealand Game Developer Association chairperson Stephen Knightly said there has never been a better time to consider a career in games.

“Video games are high-tech, creative, digital exports - exactly the kind of products New Zealand wants to export more of," he said.

The first intake for the new programmes will be in August 2012. More details are available on the Media Design School website.

If you're after a simpler route to game development, Gamefroot is for non-coders who want to make games in Flash or for iPhone.