Arcade Line
Game Development
The line students ask for by name. They go from moving a square around a screen to releasing a finished game with levels, enemies and a soundtrack — and every term ends with other people sitting down to play it.
- Cadet
- Driver
- Engineer
- three terms, 12 weeks each
- Group size
- Six students per instructor, capped.
- Where to start
- Nobody is placed on paper. Your child comes to a free taster and we agree the level together.
- What to bring
- Nothing. We supply the machines. Any laptop from the last six years runs everything we use at home.
Three levels, one line.
A student joins where they are and moves up a level each term. Nobody repeats a year, and nobody starts from scratch twice.
Cadet
First playable game · Usually 11–13
7 stops
For students who have never made a game. No coding experience assumed.
A playable game published online, with a link they can send to anyone.
- Scratch
- Godot
- Aseprite
- GitHub
- itch.io
Boarding
Week 1A character that moves and a screen that responds, inside the first session.
Sprites & Physics
Week 2Gravity, collision, jump feel. Why a good jump takes twenty attempts to tune.
Systems
Week 4Score, lives, states. Making a game that can genuinely be won and lost.
Level Design
Week 6Building a world a player wants to finish, then cutting the parts that bore them.
Sound & Feel
Week 8Audio, feedback, screen shake. The difference between working and feeling good.
Playtesting
Week 10Watching someone else play it and saying nothing. Harder than it sounds.
Ship It
Week 12Published to itch.io with a page they wrote. Strangers play it.
Driver
The shape of a real release · Usually 12–15
7 stops
For students who have finished Cadet, or who have already made something playable on their own.
A game with enemies that think, a save system and a title screen — the shape of a real release.
- Scratch
- Godot
- Aseprite
- GitHub
- itch.io
Scenes
Week 1Menus, levels and transitions. Turning a demo into something that starts and ends.
Enemy Behaviour
Week 2State machines. Enemies that patrol, notice, chase and give up.
AI & Logic
Week 4Both linesBoth lines stop here. Pathfinding and decision trees — how game AI actually reaches a choice, and how to tell when it has made a bad one.
Art Pipeline
Week 6Sprites, tilesets and animation that stay consistent across a whole game.
Saving
Week 8Progress that survives closing the window.
Balance
Week 10Making it hard but fair, using what the playtests actually showed.
Ship It
Week 12A proper release with a store page, screenshots and a build.
Engineer
Their own game, released · Usually 14–16
7 stops
For students who have finished Driver. The term is built around a game of their own design.
A released game with systems of their own design, and players who were not asked to play it.
- Scratch
- Godot
- Aseprite
- GitHub
- itch.io
Design Document
Week 1Writing the game down before building it, and being honest about scope.
Systems Design
Week 2Mechanics that combine into something bigger than their parts.
Depth
Week 4Moving past flat — 3D, or 2D with real camera and lighting work.
Optimisation
Week 6Sixty frames a second, on a machine that isn't yours.
Polish
Week 8The last ten per cent that takes half the time, and makes all the difference.
Launch Prep
Week 10A trailer, screenshots and a page somebody would actually click.
Ship It
Week 12Public release, and watching the play count move.
Or take the other line.
Plenty of students run both — one line this term, the other next. The AI & Logic block in the Driver term is the same lesson on either.
Try one session before you decide.
The taster is a full 90-minute session and it’s free. We’ll agree the right level together afterwards.