Spring '24 Cohort

Learn how to design memorable and believable cities for video games by an experienced game urbanist with a PhD in urban planning.

Konstantinos Dimopoulos

Game Urbanist, Game Designer, Author

Designing Cities for Video Games

Bohemia Interactive Simulations

Gamious

Frogwares

INGAME STUDIOS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ⚠️ The (updated) course is currently only available on D6 Learning. ⚠️ You can find out more here: https://www.d6learning.com/course/designing-cities-for-video-games -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whether you are an indie developer or work in AAA, whether you are a game designer, writer, level designer or artist, this course will teach you all you need to know about the varied cities, and urban environments of gaming. You will gain insight into how cities work, learn how to design quality game cities from start to finish, understand the ways through which urbanism can bring richness, originality, and believability into game worlds, explore the immense storytelling potential of civic life, and discover the methods that will allow you to construct living, breathing, and, above all, memorable and fascinating urban geographies. 🎓 Lessons will guide you, step by step, through the city creation process from the conception of novel urban spaces, and the defining of their architecture, civic life and history, all the way to the mapping of their functions, and the planning of their structure. 📚 Assignments will help you thoroughly understand the actual design &amp; development problems game cities face, practice city-building, discover solutions, and explore the many facets of game urbanism in a safe environment. 👨‍🏫 Your instructor is not simply a games industry professional who specialized in game cities. He has both a MSc and a PhD in urbanism, has teaching experience that goes back to 2005, and is the current Head of the Games Department at the SAE Athens College. By the end of the course you will be concepting, understanding, and designing playable cities like a game urbanist. You will be able to effortlessly combine the principles of urbanism, game design, and level design to enrich the games and settings you are working on. What do you need video game city design and game urbanism for? Cities are perfect for games. They allow us to tell stories, craft complex levels in deep worlds, and pithily encapsulate our settings. It is no accident that some of the finest and most memorable game environments include Disco Elysium's Revachol, Dark Souls' Anor Londo, Cyberpunk 2077's Night City or GTA V's Los Santos. It is no accident that cities, towns, and urban environments are such a common game setting. Cities are packed with locations and characters, and are steeped in history. They overflow with possibilities, and can serve as elaborate storytelling stages or even protagonists of games. They can tell stories, and shape game mechanics; nurture visual ideas, and suggest traversal solutions. They can make game worlds believable, and, thus, hopefully, also immersive. Learning how to create, how to design, and how to flesh out game cities is an invaluable skill for every creative in game development! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 🎁 All students get a PDF copy of my Virtual Cities: An Atlas &amp; Exploration of Video Game Cities book, as well as a digital copy of the Ex Novo city-building tool/game.

The Game Urbanism course for video game professionals.

Level Designers and game designers working on projects involving cities or looking to explore the rich possibilities of civic space.

World builders, writers, visual artists and narrative designers looking to understand and create cities (and their surrounding geographies).

Creators working on imaginary cities (sci-fi, fantasy, cyberpunk, etc), historical cities, contemporary cities, and city-building games.

Game developers looking to explore the introduction of settlements, human geographies, towns and urban environments in their games.

Indie Developers, as well as people working in both AA and AAA game development.

Game industry creatives looking to work on city-focused projects, or looking to take such projects to the next level.

Boardgame, TTRPG, MMO, MMORPG, and video game designers and creatives, as well as anyone interested in the crafting of imaginary cities.

Who is this course for?

What you’ll get out of this course:

For 10+ years Konstantinos has been working on the cities of gaming. He has been teaching at universities and colleges since 2005.

A tutor with 10 years of game urbanism, and almost 20 years of teaching experience.

Deeply understand how game and city design intertwine. Learn the methodologies leading to the creation of unique, fascinating urban environments.

A deep dive into Game Urbanism and Game City Design.

From road plans and topographies, all the way to hinterlands and landmarks every aspect of urbanism (and its design) will be covered.

Know what is needed for a Game City, and how to create it.

The course will provide students with the tools to approach cities as living, breathing worlds-within-worlds.

Learn how to build Urban Worlds and Geographies

Maps are the main tool for describing virtual and actual cities.

Design City Maps and understand Urban Space

Cities are dynamic, and come with a rich sense of history. Learn to treat them as fertile and dynamic storytelling stages.

Gain insight into City Histories and the construction of Civic Narratives

This course places game, level, and narrative design considerations at its core. Students will learn to build urban spaces within the constraints of their medium.

Bring Level and Game Design considerations into your City creation

Provide a brief description for each module as a way to sell the value of what students will be learning throughout the course.

First Module

Second Module

Third Module

Course syllabus

What people are saying

Meet your instructor

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Stay in the loop

All live sessions will take place on Wednesdays, and start at 18:00 Central European Time (17:00 UK, 13:00 EST). All sessions will last between 120 and 150 minutes.

Wednesdays

The first live session, and effectively the beginning of the course will go live on Wednesday, October 2 at 18:00 Central European Time, 17:00 UK Time, 13:00 Eastern Standard Time, US. The student portal will open one day prior to this on May 6.

Wednesday Oct 2, 2024

Live sessions aside, students should dedicate 4 to 6 hours per week going through the prepared lessons, working on their projects, communicating with the cohort &amp; the instructor, studying the provided notes, and engaging with suggested material.

Weekly projects & lessons

The Course Discord channel will provide another option for questions, feedback, help, information exchange, and discussions. The exclusive Alumni Discord channel will allow you to stay in touch with Konstantinos, and students of other cohorts.

Course & Alumni Discord

Course schedule

This course builds on live workshops, and hands-on projects!

Active hands-on learning

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms, the course discord, and common workshops.

Interactive and project-based

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you!

Learn with a cohort of peers

Ask questions during lectures, get detailed feedback, and use any of the available asynchronous contact channels.

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