This is the showcase of the work produced by our learners in the year of 2023-2024 on the Level 3 Year 2 Game Development course at Wakefield College. 

With every project we start the process by researching into the given theme or genre and investigating the topic in good detail. Learners gather ideas from existing media and relevant sources to support their knowledge on the subject and find references that can be used throughout development of their work. We use a digital board using Figma, to include all of the research as well as ideas and designs in one place which allows for it to be more practical, rather than a wall of text.

This consists of Primary and Secondary Research with learners finding existing information out there to support their concepts as well as conducting their own, by creation of surveys and getting input and feedback on their work. This allows them to consider suggestion made by others and realise what they might not see on their own.

After finding enough information and references, learners begin their process of generating their ideas, creation of mind maps, roughs sketches and overall visualising the work that they have initially came up with.

Now on Level 3 Year 2, learners specialise in one of the roles (Art, Design or Programming) and therefore in majority focus on generating ideas relevant to their work. An artist would be sketching out plenty of different assets, designer would be looking at documenting all game elements and features and programmer on mechanical design and flowcharts.

Ideation is the first step of this process, but then comes design which takes everything further and learners have the chance to add more detail and define their concepts.

After researching and designing their product, learners are given a set of weeks for development time and should have prepared an appropriate plan for how they would carry out this process in order to create the final piece/s.

Designers would be focusing on documentation of their concepts and creation of a game design document (GDD) as well as development of level layouts and blockouts to better communicate their ideas.

Artists have had the chance to focus on development of assets and aiming towards creation of assets packs of their choice, with some even looking into rigging and animations.