Picture this, you are alone in a destroyed city and there is a crazy robot trying to kill you. To escape, you need to dodge missiles and get yourself to ‘power-ups’ which will give you an energy boost. There are obstacles all around and you might accidentally activate a bigger more dangerous missile.

In a virtual reality game which Port Macquarie local and TAFE NSW student Ryan Horwood created, those are the challenges you’ll face just to get through a level.

Mr Horwood is studying a Diploma of Digital and Interactive Games at TAFE NSW, after completing a Certificate IV in 2018.

Mr Horwood was interested in gaming from a young age and that was often the hot topic during recess at school. As an adult, he is turning that childhood passion into a career.

“The career options are endless in the gaming industry. You can do programming, audio design, engineering, scriptwriting, creative lead, 3D modelling. Whatever creative outlet interests you…and that’s just to create one game.”

Teacher of Information Technology & Creative Industries at TAFE NSW, Jason Vallely, said the global games market was on track to be worth about $190 billion this year and is expected to grow at about 10 per cent a year for the next three years. About half of that revenue is expected to be generated in the Asia-Pacific, on Australia’s doorstep.

“We are seeing many more jobs in gaming come online and that will continue to grow.”

Australia’s professional gaming tournament industry – known as eSports – is predicted to grow in value from $8 million in 2017 to $21 million by 2022.

“There’s this whole generation that are growing up with games as their main form of entertainment and businesses of all types need to cater to them or miss out,” Mr Vallely said.

“That means businesses are ‘gameifying’ their products and marketing to make them more digitally attractive.

“If young people gain formal training in game programming skills now, they can position themselves to be the movers and shakers in the new way of doing business in the future.”

TAFE NSW offers a host of gaming related courses including Bachelor of 3D Art and Animation, Diploma of Digital and Interactive Games and short courses if you just want a taster. These can also be studied online, when and where it suits students, via TAFE Digital.

For more detail on TAFE NSW courses, face-to-face or online, visit www.tafensw.com.au or call 131 601.
 

Media contact: Sarah Lievore, TAFE NSW Media Officer, sarah.lievore1@tafensw.edu.au