Non-Degree / Dates: 21 - 25 July 2025
The Digital Learning Games international Master programme is providing a one-week course in designing serious games.
Serious games are games that are designed for a serious purpose and not only for entertainment. This serious purpose can be related to defence, education, science, health care, emergency management, urban planning, engineering, religion, politics, and so on. Digital Learning Games is a multidisciplinary programme that combines game design, interaction design and instructional design. Its objective is to bring together experts with different backgrounds (art, ICT, pedagogy, psychology) and design and develop serious and learning games in heterogeneous teams.
During this intensive summer course, participants will learn the essentials of designing serious and learning games. Students with different backgrounds from all over the world will form teams and design new serious games from ideas to working prototypes. The environment used for prototyping does not require programming skills.
Course topics:
1. The nature of serious games
2. Examples of serious and learning games
3. Game design process and roles
4. Finding an idea and defining the goal for the serious game
5. Gameplay: challenges and actions
6. Game core mechanics: objects and conditions
7. Design of game assets. Game world, characters, story
8. Game development in GDevelop
The language of instruction is English.
Why this course?
Teacher(s)
Digital Learning Games master’s programme teachers and students.
The course leader Associate Professor Martin Sillaots is teaching Game Design, Computer Graphic and Research Methods in Tallinn University. He is a partner of serious games projects like: SELEAG, siLang, EcoHouse, Change Management and member of Network of Serious Games – SEGAN. He is a co-founder of the Gamrilla game startup.
Timetable
Classes take place from Monday to Friday. As an example, please see also the more detailed schedule from previous years.
Participants
The course is for teachers, educational technologists, designers, developers, story writers, graphical designers and all others who are interested in designing serious games. Our goal is to form heterogeneous teams of students with different backgrounds.
Credit points
Upon full participation and completion of course work students will be awarded 2 ECTS points and a certificate of completion.
Course fee
NB! Accommodation, cultural programme and meals are not included in the price.
| Early-Bird Course Fee (until March 31) | 300€ |
| Regular Course Fee (after March 31) | 375€ |
Scholarships
* The Estonian Ministry of Education and Research and Education and Youth Board offer scholarships to foreign nationals for participation in summer and winter schools in Estonia. Scholarships can be applied by foreign bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD students who have studied in their universities for at least one year (including former study levels). More info and application process details are here.
Contact
Angelina Malkiv, Russia
Design of Serious Games #tss2019
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