The video games of the 1970s and 1980s have never lost their appeal. Pong, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda — these games defined a generation and set the stage for the massive billion-dollar video game industry of today. Even among the current blockbuster action-adventure titles, retro indie games play an important role, but how are these games made? What principles do you need to master to become a game designer and create the next hit title?

These courses will lead you through the most popular undergraduate course at Harvard, CS50, an Introduction to Computer Science. The first course will introduce you to common programming languages, providing a strong foundation to build the skills necessary to design and develop your own game. The second course will introduce you to the fundamentals of game programming itself.

You’ll explore the design of classic games — and newer titles like Angry Birds and Portal — in a quest to understand how video games are built. Through lectures and hands-on projects, you’ll explore the principles of 2D and 3D computer graphics, animation, sound, and collision detection. You’ll learn how to use frameworks like Unity and LÖVE 2D, as well as languages like Lua and C#. Join now to program your own games and gain a thorough understanding of game design and development.

What you will learn

• A broad and robust understanding of computer science, programming, and software development
• Concepts like abstraction, algorithms, data structures, encapsulation, resource management, security, software engineering, and web development
• Familiarity in a number of languages, including C, Python, JavaScript, SQL, CSS, and HTML
• Principles of 2D and 3D graphics, animation, sound, and collision detection
• Unity and LÖVE 2D, plus Lua and C#
• The fundamentals of game design and development