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Thinkixa

Applications Open October 2025

Game Development Fundamentals

We're building something different here. Not another bootcamp promising you'll be a senior developer in twelve weeks. This is a proper foundation in game development that respects both the craft and your intelligence.

Why We're Doing This

Look, the game industry doesn't need more people who memorized Unity tutorials. What it needs are developers who understand the underlying principles. That's what drew us to create this program.

We've spent years watching talented people struggle because they learned tools without understanding systems. They can follow a tutorial but freeze when something breaks. Our approach starts with the foundations and builds outward from there.

This fourteen-month program runs from October 2025 through December 2026. It's structured around project-based learning where you'll actually build things, make mistakes, and figure out why they happened. Because that's how real learning works.

Game development workspace showing collaborative coding environment

What You'll Actually Learn

01

Core Systems

Programming fundamentals, data structures, and algorithm thinking. We start with C++ because it teaches you what's actually happening under the hood. No hand-holding, but plenty of support when you need it.

02

Game Architecture

Entity systems, game loops, state management. You'll build a 2D engine from scratch. Not because you'll always do this professionally, but because understanding it changes how you approach every project afterward.

03

Graphics Pipeline

Rendering basics, shader programming, performance optimization. We dig into how graphics actually work instead of just pushing pixels around. It's challenging material, but that's the point.

04

Physics & Math

Vector mathematics, collision detection, rigid body dynamics. Some students find this section tough. That's normal. The math becomes intuitive once you start applying it to actual game problems.

05

Industry Tools

Unity and Unreal Engine, version control, debugging strategies. Now that you understand the fundamentals, these tools make sense. You'll know why they work the way they do and how to push past their limitations.

06

Portfolio Project

Your capstone project. Design, build, and ship something you're proud of. We provide guidance but the creative decisions are yours. This becomes the centerpiece of your portfolio when you start looking for opportunities.

Who's Teaching This

Portrait of Laszlo Berkovich, Lead Technical Instructor

Laszlo Berkovich

Lead Technical Instructor

Spent eight years building simulation engines for defense contractors before moving into games. His teaching style is direct and he expects you to struggle a bit before asking for help. Students either love or hate this approach initially, though most come around once they realize how much faster they're learning.

Portrait of Ximena Ruggiero, Systems Design Instructor

Ximena Ruggiero

Systems Design Instructor

Worked on gameplay systems for several indie titles that actually shipped. She brings a practical perspective about what works in production versus what sounds good in theory. Her feedback on student projects is detailed and occasionally brutal, but always useful.