Microsoft launches Xbox Academy

The Microsoft Store in Sydney, Australia is hosting a series of free game development classes this month. These free classes are being held in collaboration with the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) who are a non-profit college that focuses on game development, animation and visual effects. There are three different classes which will be led by AIE tutors.

The three types of classes:

• Game Design: Design the next Blockbuster
•  Game Programming: How to Build an Adventure Game
• Develop Games on Xbox One S

Each of these classes is designed to teach players something new. The game design course is focused around the conceptual stage of development before the actual game design work begins. While the programming course allows gamers to explore Unity and will be taught the basics of the program. The final course for developing games on Xbox One S deals with coding on Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform.

Each class is around 3 hours long and takes place at different times across the remainder of the month. This week has four classes which are spread across different days while next week has eight classes where there are two classes on each day.

The announcement from Microsoft confirms that attendees will be given a AIE approved certificate of Course Completion and also a Xbox Academy gift pack. The company didn’t go into detail about what this gift pack contains but all course attendees will be given a free USB to take their games home with them. According to the website page, light refreshments will also be provided during the free course.

This class is currently only available in Australia but it’s possible that Microsoft will expand it to other regions if there’s a positive response to this first event.

Anyone interested in attending one of these events can find more detail on the official website.