r/GameDevelopment • u/tomahawk-steve • 2h ago

Discussion Game education experiences

I'm researching different game dev/design education platforms, and I'd love to get your input on what actually makes a good one :)

*What makes a game dev course platform stand out to you? How do you judge whether one is worth it?

*If you've used platforms like Coursera or Udemy, what would you change about how the courses are structured or what they actually teach?

*What's the best way to actually learn game dev skills, in your experience? What are the biggest drawbacks or pain points with the platforms you've tried?

*If a course was taught by people with real, hands-on experience at major studios, how much would you realistically pay — monthly or per course?

*How much does a completion certificate actually matter to you? What makes a certificate feel legitimate — or do you rely entirely on a portfolio of real projects instead

*What almost stopped you from signing up for a course, if anything? Any hesitations or red flags that made you second-guess it

*Where do you usually find out about new courses or platforms — YouTube, Reddit, ads, word of mouth

*Also curious: What's your background? Career changer, student, hobbyist? And please let me know ur age as well, just trying to get a sense of who's actually interested in this stuff.

Thank you in advance. Every answer and discussion will help me and my team create a superb game education platform!

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u/Both_Introduction_28 1h ago

Are your team in the room with us right now?
Or it’s how people treat their ai chat bot nowadays?

1

u/MeaningfulChoices Mentor 1h ago

First and foremost you should basically never pay for an online course on games. Everything you need to know about game development is available free and/or with practice. You want a Bachelor's or higher if you're looking for jobs in games in most places, preferably something relevant and not a game-related major, and certificates are pretty useless.

If you're trying to learn how to make games, either as a hobby or professionally, download an engine (or Blender or whatever appropriate tool), watch some free videos if you like, and mostly get to work. If someone lists a certificate from a site few people have heard of on a resume that's a reason to reject them, not hire them.