Game Art & Animation

Game artists build the environments, create the characters and craft the vehicles for the games that you love to play. They can specialise in modelling, texturing, animation and level design. Game art development is a dynamic medium to showcase your creative ability.

You'll work with other artists, designers and programmers to design and create your own unique entertainment experience using cutting-edge game technology. This program has been developed in response to industry needs and runs for two years, full time.

Course Content

Stage One

The focus of the first year of the course is on establishing core 3D pipeline and production skills, relevant to the 3D games industry. Students develop their skills in 3D modelling, digital sculpting, texturing, UVW unwrapping, rigging, animation, lighting and working with game engines. They will model and animate characters, develop game environments, and create a fully functional game in collaboration with game designers and programmers.

Stage Two

Year two of the course covers a wide range of game art creation skills and techniques currently employed in the games industry. Students will also be introduced to new and emerging technologies for creating game content, including procedural texturing, photogrammetry and extended realties (AR/VR). They will develop more advanced skills and knowledge in character development, graphical user interface design (GUI), game environments and game engines. Students graduate at the end of Year 2 with a professional portfolio that they can present to prospective employers and industry guests at our end of year industry day.

Major Game Project

In second year of this course game art students will work together with game design and game programming students in development teams to design and produce a playable game. This project closely mirrors the real-world production cycle in an industry development studio, covering the entire process from pitching the game idea, through writing game design documents, evaluating technical requirements, managing workload, meeting deadlines, delivering commercial quality artwork and animation, bug-fixing, QA testing and market analysis of the game.

Subjects

Subjects you will study

Stage One

3D Art Pipeline
Health and Safety in Office
Modelling and Texturing
Principles of Animation
Character Animation
Character Pipeline
Digital Lighting and Compositing
Production Planning
Production

Stage Two

Game Environments
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Game Characters
Virtual and Extended Realities
Proof of Concept
Major Production
Online Professional Portfolio

Subjects You Will Study | Game Art and Animation

Software

Software You Will USe

Students utilize industry standard software and resources such as:

Maya — 3D Modelling, rigging, animating, lighting and rendering
ZBrush — High-detail sculpting and texturing
Adobe Photoshop — Concept art and texture maps
Unreal Engine and Unity engine — Game development
Nuke — Compositing
Substance Painter — High detail materials and texturing
Substance Designer — Creating custom materials
Marmoset Toolbag — Look development, light and render pipelines

Careers

Your Career Opportunities

3D Animator
Environment Modeler
Texture Artist
UI Design
Level Designer
Technical Artist
Character Animator
Rigger
2D Artist

Graduates can be found working in some of the worlds leading games studios, independent games studios and also creating their own digital content through the AIE incubator.

Other graduates are working in serious games/simulations for Defence and simulations for major mining companies.

Entry Requirements

Entry for this course is based on:

Interview - In the interview we are assessing your suitability for the course including any specific requirements you may have.
Portfolio - we are looking for evidence of creativity which is demonstrated through a collection of works in a medium of your choosing.
Copy of your Year 12 Certificate OR by achieving an Exit Level 3 score within the Australian Core Skills Framework assessments in reading and numeracy.

An Exit Level 3 score within the Australian Core Skills Framework assessments in reading and numeracy will show that you have the capability to be successful in this course. AIE can assist you with this assessment process if required and results will be reported to you as soon as practicable. As per the Department of Education and Training guidelines, assessment results are also available to the Department Secretary on request.

For more information please see our interview and portfolio page

Bachelor of Game Development

The Academy of Interactive Entertainment Ltd (AIE) has launched AIE Institute, an industry-leading higher education provider for Australia’s future game artists, designers and programmers.

AIE Graduates from the Advanced Diploma of Professional Game Development 10702NAT can continue their studies into AIE Institute's Bachelor of Game Development which has majors in game art, game design and game programming.

Find out more about AIE Institute

aie-institute-game-art-degree-thumbsquare

State Government Funding Information

State Funding

Students in Victoria and South Australia may be eligible for government funding for some of this course. Please refer to the following webpages:

Fees

Our Fees

Maximum tuition fees for the intake commencing February and July 2023

Game Art and Animation		Tuition Fee
Year 1	CUA51020 Diploma of Screen and Media (2023)	$16,750
	delivered in conjunction with
	CUA51120 Diploma of Visual Arts (2023)	$16,150
Year 2	10702NAT Advanced Diploma of Professional Game Development (2024)	$17,300
	Total Fee	$50,200

The VET Student Loans program allows eligible students enrolled in AIE's approved Diploma, Advanced Diploma and Graduate Diploma courses to defer part of the cost of their tuition fees. Courses are subject to maximum loan caps and students will be required to pay any fee over and above that cap. For more information visit our VET Student Loans page.

Please note:

VET Student Loans will not be approved for students who do not meet eligibility requirements.
VET student loan gives rise to a HELP debt that continues to be a debt due to the Commonwealth until it is repaid.
On successful completion of stage 1 of the game art program, students will be awarded recognition of prior learning or credit transfer towards Stage 2 of the Advanced Diploma of Professional Game Development.

For more information on our tuition fees, please visit our FEES page

To see our international fees, please visit our FEES page

STUDY MODE OPTIONS: CAMPUS | ONLINE | EVENINGS

Students can study this program in the following modes:

Study Mode	Campus	Day and times	Hours per week
Face to Face	AIE Campus in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra or Adelaide	Week days, 9am to 5pm	20 hours (full-time)
Online Day-time	AIE Online Campus	Week days, 9am to 5pm AEST	20 hours (full-time)
Online Evenings	AIE Online Campus	Week nights, 5pm to 9pm AEST	20 hours (full-time)
Online Part-time	AIE Online Campus	Week nights, 5pm to 9pm AEST	Flexible, between 4 - 20 hours

NATIONALLY-ACCREDITED QUALIFICATIONS

This two-year, full-time program has been developed with industry and is delivered through the following qualifications:

Game Art and Animation		Cricos
Year 1	CUA51020 Diploma of Screen and Media	106064C
	delivered in conjunction with
	CUA51120 Diploma of Visual Arts	106067M
Year 2	10702NAT Advanced Diploma of Professional Game Development	098405B