Where great games get going :-)
Ben Tristem
Hi, I'm Ben... thanks for stopping by.
After 35 years of being addicted to learning, I decided to turn my addiction to the benefit of others in 2014 by teaching a passion of mine - video game development. Since then we have gone from strength-to-strength thanks to our partners at Udemy.com.
Our mission is to make all aspects of game development accssible to talented students worldwide. This includes teaching coding in C# and C++ from scratch, game design, 3D modelling, 2D art and more. We will show you hands-on how to do this in Unity, Unreal, Blender and more.
Oh, sorry, I couldn't help myself... this is supposed to be about me. Really though, it's about YOU and your learning so let's move on.
Lucy Becker
Hi I'm Lucy - nice to meet you!
Before I started working with Ben in 2013 I worked for several multi-billion dollar organisations, travelling around the world and organising stuff. My passion has always been start-ups and small businesses though; I love helping companies share their stories with the world.
So in 2012 I set up Spotty Octopus with the aim of helping businesses get rid of the jargon & corporate speak and adding a human element to business stories. Another part of Spotty was growing and nurturing communities for companies online.
And, hopefully, that’s how I help Ben and GameDev.tv – organising stuff, writing the non-techie bits online and helping you guys where I can
Rick Davidson
Hi, I'm Rick, nice to meet you all.
I've been making video games for a living for more than 13 years as a Designer, Producer, Creative Director, and Executive Producer, creating games for console, mobile, PC and Facebook. I founded an Indie game studio, Inspirado Games, which was acquired in 2012 by Electronic Arts / PopCap. I also worked on cool IPs such as Mario, Transformers, Captain America and Mortal Kombat and created successful new IPs from scratch (such as "GardenMind" which was nominated for Canadian Game of the Year in the social / mobile category).
As a qualified Career Coach, I've helped thousands of people achieve their dream of making games for a living - both as Indie Game Developers and as valuable game industry employees.
Sam Pattuzzi
Hi I'm Sam, pleasure to meet you.
I wrote my first game at 14, hacking together little games in Macromedia Flash during my summer holidays. Not long after I taught myself C++ followed by Python and web programming. I was hooked.
In 2010 I went to study Computer Science at the University of Cambridge and I've been here ever since. This is where I caught the entrepreneurial bug and I realised I wouldn't want a traditional job for long. So after a few years working in various jobs to get experience, I quit and started burning through my saving looking for my calling.
At the end of 2015, I was coaching some friends to improve their programming skills. Realising how much I loved it, I started creating online courses and reached out to Ben for help. Next thing I know, I'm part of the GameDev.tv gang and get to hang out with our awesome community!
Gary Pettie
Hi, I’m Gary – It’s a pleasure to meet you.
I’m a self-proclaimed nerd who absolutely loves video games, maths, science, and technology.
I studied Computing & IT with the Open University and was first introduced to GameDev.tv in 2017, when I enrolled on the “Complete Unity Developer” course. I wanted to get serious about making games and a few months later I was a Unity certified developer and now run my own indie game studio.
In my younger years, I worked as a professional musician and private guitar tutor and particularly enjoyed passing on my knowledge to others. So, when the opportunity arose to become a GameDev.tv instructor, I couldn’t pass up the chance to share my knowledge and passion with all of you!
Nina Glupe
Hi, I’m Nina – nice to meet you.
Back in the 90s, when I was 8 or 9 years old, I discovered something named BASIC (pronounce this with a heavy German accent) on my Genius Leader 2000. After I read the first few pages of the manual, I was immediately intrigued. Even though I had no clue what IF, ELSE and GOTO, let alone »Variable«, meant, I somehow managed to develop my own little game for my younger brother. I enjoyed that typing cryptic stuff made the computer do what I want.
Nowadays, learning to code is so much easier, not just because I speak English but also thanks to the internet. No matter how old you are or where you live, if you are genuinely interested in something and have an internet connection, you can find almost everything you need online: information, software, assets, tutorials and many helpful people. The rest mainly depends on your motivation and persistency.
Marc Carlyon
Hi, I'm Marc.
I started my learning journey with GameDev.tv after a friend suggested I learn Unity after playing games made on the engine.
I started with the Unity course when it was still being created by GameDev.tv and Ben.
This led me to Blender and I saw students with questions that I had solved myself and I found that I enjoyed helping them as much as I did learning myself.
When I was offered the chance to jump in as part of the team to support students in an official capacity, I seized the opportunity with both hands! Over the years what I do has evolved and grown and I hope it continues to do so.
My greatest pleasure is seeing what students create, and watch them grow in confidence. I am constantly amazed by what our students create. When a job is this much fun, Is it really even a job?
Dan
Hi I'm Dan.
In 2013, at the age of 21, I wound up in a situation where I had a lot of free time on my hands. I decided to try and be productive, and put that to use by teaching myself C++ as I've always had a strong interest in programming; doing so by reading books and watching conference talks.
In 2015, I backed the Unreal C++ Course by GameDev.tv. When the videos started rolling out, I quickly became very active in the Q&A helping people with their questions about C++ and the course. I also regularly provided feedback to the team regarding the course's content.
From there things naturally progressed, and I'm now the official Teaching Assistant for the Unreal C++ Course.
Outside of Gamedev.tv I also like to contribute to open source projects like Microsoft's implementation of the C++ standard library.
Kevin-Brandon Corbett
Hi, I am Kevin-Brandon,
I have played video games since before I could talk. Game design and building gaming platforms has fascinated me from the very beginning. The intrigue of gaming has fuelled my passion to create games.
I’ve taken each course in the GameDev.tv catalog and continue to utilize the knowledge to level up my game design and programming skills. Being a student, gamer, and adventurer it is my priority to empower and inspire all to apply their best effort and go after what they desire.
As a Student Evangelist for GameDev.tv I fulfil this goal by supporting and motivating students to expand their dreams and never give up or give in until they win.
Connect with me online at https://twitter.com/TheKB14
Brian Trotter
Hi, I'm Brian, it's great to meet you!
I began coding in High School in 1983, learning Basic, Assembly Language, C, and Pascal. In the 90s, I earned extra income writing shareware programs for PCs. I've always kept myself busy programming in one venue or another. In 2014, I released my first game in the Android marketplace, Multi-Hand Poker written entirely in Java.
I've been programming with Unity since version 5, and have focused most of my programming energy to the engine and the C# language since. One thing I've discovered I enjoy more than writing games is helping others to understand the engine and programming in general.
Look for me to answer your questions in the RPG Core Combat and Inventory courses, where I’m the Teaching Assistant.
This Could Be You!
We are always on the look-out for that next special person to join our team. If you're interested here's what you need to do...
Never Taught Online?
Neither had any of us, before we did... if you see what we mean! Anyway, here's the process for you...
1. Contact us with a proposed trial course and completion date. Any gamedev topic, minimum 1/2 hour.
2. Create and publish a course online (eg on Udemy), in the timeframe promised.
3. Email again when it's done, and we'll go from there.
Not sure how to go about the above? Drop us an email and we can have a chat!
Existing Online Instructor?
Just contact us with your proposal, and a sample of your work, and we'd be happy to chat.
We are a distributed team, based in Cambridge (the English one), Australia, the US and many other places! We work online via Zoom, Slack, Notion and Google Drive. We love to have fun, and are a little bit obsessive about our course quality!