Your game dev production knowledge school

Learn by shipping real studio projects, mentored by true industry experts. Go from hobbyist to pro.

Apply now

Artwork by Arkhai

Real production projects

Embed into real production projects with professional studios and a growth-minded cohort. We provide structured, hands-on support to accelerate your learning.

12 weeks

Cohort duration

Fully remote

Join from anywhere

10 hrs/week

Minimum time commitment

A feedback-driven learning experience

Unlike traditional schools, our teaching is reactive and built around your real work—correcting mistakes, spotting gaps, and pointing you forward. The more you put in, the more you get out.

Office hours

Throughout the week, drop in for hands-on technical deep dives, Q&A, and live code reviews.

Code reviews

Code reviews are core to how developers grow. You’d be surprised how many teams skip them—we don’t.

Emails and DMs

We send regular emails with longer-form, targeted feedback, and everybody's in the same Discord server.

Guest lectures

ndustry veterans share practical knowledge in their domain of expertise. 3 lectures per cohort.

Senior engineer lead

You’ll work closely with a handpicked senior engineer, learning organically through day-to-day conversations.

Weekly assessments

A short quiz to check your grasp of core concepts and identify gaps.

What you'll learn and practice

A highly practical, production-focused supplementary curriculum to make you job-ready, or help you ship your indie project with confidence.

Blameless culture

Git & review etiquette

Project management

Technical documentation

Writing readable code

Identifying & refactoring code smell

Defensive coding & Unity null safety

C# types & memory model

Unity performance awareness

Unity lifecycle correctness

Applied design patterns

Debugger

Unity Profiler

Unity inspector tooling

and many more...

View curriculum

Learn from the best

Built and run by industry veterans who’ve shipped dozens of games and led best teams.

Siobhan Beeman

Siobhan is a veteran game engineer and educator with 30+ years in the industry. She has served as Principal Engineer at Gardens Interactive, NantGames, and Harebrained Schemes, and was a Senior Lecturer at DigiPen Institute of Technology. She's also a devoted LEGO enthusiast with an impressive collection.

Worked/Taught at

Zak Whaley

Zak is a seasoned technology leader and Chair Emeritus of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). He previously served as Engineering Director at porting studio PlayEveryWare and as a Tech Lead at Magic Leap. Off-hours, he enjoys tinkering with bikes in his garage.

Worked/Taught at

Past guest lecturers and the places they've worked at

Aaron Rutledge
Game design
Ryan Lastimosa
Art
Mitch Gitelman
Game making
Brian Schwab
Debugging
Renee Gittins
BizDev
Toby Hurtubise
QA

Aaron Rutledge
Game design
Ryan Lastimosa
Art
Mitch Gitelman
Game making
Brian Schwab
Debugging
Renee Gittins
BizDev
Toby Hurtubise
QA

Watch recordings

Featured projects

Gameplay Prototyping

Game Porting

Unity

Help shape the tense, cooperative core of a 4-player first-person game about surviving a nuclear reactor as systems fail and pressure escalates. You’ll build on early prototypes to refine teamwork-driven objectives, readable interactions, dynamic events, and a grounded, horror-leaning atmosphere powered by lighting and sound. The focus: clear roles, strong communication, and replayable runs where the environment—not monsters—is the threat.

Dates:

Feb 23—May 15, 2026

Multiplayer networking

Procedural generation

State machines & gameplay systems

Learn more

Gameplay Prototyping

Game Porting

Unity

Dates:

Feb 23—May 15, 2026

Multiplayer networking

Procedural generation

State machines & gameplay systems

Learn more

How to apply

$1299

(USD) fee per person

Submit your application

After submitting your application, expect to hear back within 1-2 weeks if you're selected for an interview.

Interview

Interviews will include a mix of technical and personality questions. It’s a chance to showcase your passion for game dev and demonstrate a solid foundation in programming.

Get started

Once accepted, you’ll be invited to the server and get started!

Apply now

Who is this for

Students

Work in a studio-style workflow on real production projects, with office hours and code reviews that build strong professional habits early.

New grads

Turn solid skills into credible, job-ready experience by shipping real work, polishing your resume, and practicing interviews with structured feedback.

Hobbyists and career switchers

Break into the industry with proof beyond solo projects by learning production habits in an existing codebase, delivering to constraints, and building a strong portfolio.

Professional game devs

Add sharper resume signals and get out of autopilot through rigorous reviews, deeper technical polish, and direct critique that stress-tests fundamentals and raises your ceiling.

Don't take our word for it

See what our past students have to say.

"As a self-taught game developer, I lacked both a network and confidence in my skills—RealXP Lab provided me with both. The program not only connected me with like-minded peers and invaluable mentors, but also gave me hands-on experience in a professional environment and the reassurance of feedback from industry experts."

Zack Coleman

Freelance Game Developer

"Compared to my last internship, this absolutely blows it out of the water. This is a very engaging program, and I appreciate that it feels more like actual work rather than someone holding my hand through every step."

Ryan Smith

Software Engineer, Smith Parker Elliott

"Students are trusted with meaningful ownership and given the freedom to explore. Effort is rewarded: the more dedication invested, the richer the experience becomes through deeper mentorship, greater responsibility, and accelerated growth. It’s a strong bridge between personal projects and real-world production workflows."

Murat Diken

Unity Developer, Æ Labs

"The instructors were all very knowledgeable, experienced. In addition to learning coding skills, we also learned a lot of "on the job" skills like agile workflows, code reviews, and how to work with a team of other programmers. Overall, I think it was a great experience that will help me land a great game dev job."

Ryan Maidhof

Mechanical Design Engineer, ASML

"RealXP Lab was one of the most valuable learning experiences I've had so far as a game developer. The pacing and environment felt much closer to a real studio than anything I've experienced in college, and I came out of it feeling confident that I can hit the ground running in a professional role. I also met amazing people and built connections that I know will be extremely valuable."

Zach Petty

B.S. in Game Programming and Development, SNHU

"This program has given me more game development knowledge than three years of studying game programming, and I'm really glad to have the chance to work with so many great people."