Press start on AWS Training for game development

Game developers face a common challenge: building cloud expertise while staying focused on game creation. Modern games require sophisticated cloud infrastructure to handle millions of concurrent players, manage real-time multiplayer experiences, and deliver seamless global gameplay—making cloud expertise key to game development.

This guide organizes essential training resources to help you build cloud expertise, from foundational courses to hands-on workshops and industry-recognized certifications. Whether you’re an independent developer looking to scale your first game, a technical artist requiring cloud-based rendering solutions, or a studio engineer architecting large-scale gaming infrastructure, you’ll find structured guidance for every stage of your cloud gaming journey.

Our guide covers four key areas:

1. AWS Skill Builder training via its digital courses and hands-on labs
2. Practical AWS Workshops and AWS Immersion Days to implement real-world gaming solutions
3. AWS Certifications aligned with gaming technology needs
4. Additional resources including GitHub repositories, architecture guides, and educational programs

Let’s explore how these resources can help you build cloud skills and expertise that is needed for today’s game development.

AWS Skill Builder trainings

Within AWS Skill Builder, AWS for Games content provides a holistic set of digital course and hands-on training. The courses below range from basic AWS service knowledge to games-specific AWS services, and are great for both AWS beginners and those with advanced skills.

It is recommended to go through the courses in the order listed below and select additional content from the AWS for Games product training list for specific auxiliary game service use cases.

• Getting Started with AWS for Games – Part I is the foundational AWS for Games course, focusing on an overview of all games-related AWS services and the benefits of the AWS Cloud for the gaming industry.
• Getting Started with AWS for Games – Part II expands upon Part I by covering more advanced game development topics such as game server management, game analytics and player management, live operations (LiveOps), and advanced infrastructure best practices.
• Game Server Hosting on AWS is a great course for those looking to host their game servers on AWS Cloud, discussing overall game server hosting considerations across performance, operations, and security, as well as highlighting AWS GameLift.
• AWS for Games Containers Principles dives into Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) for running microservice architectures for games on AWS.
• AWS for Games Learning Plan: Databases walks through all the possible AWS database and storage integrations with services like Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Aurora, Amazon ElastiCache Serverless, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and Amazon Kinesis in game-specific scenarios across different genres.
• AWS for Games Learning Plan: Game Servers includes five courses in a comprehensive learning plan, including everything from basic server concepts to advanced topics like Amazon GameLift implementation, containerization, multi-region deployment, and DevOps practices.
• AWS for Games: Cloud Game Development – Knowledge Badge Readiness Path includes nine courses that cover topics across the game development pipeline and provides validation of expertise in building cloud-based game environments with AWS.

AWS Workshops

For those who prefer to get hands-on experience with AWS, AWS Workshops are a great way to help you advance your practical skills. Workshops are lab-style, containing step-by-step instructions on how to develop games-related solutions within the AWS Management Console.

Amazon GameLift workshops

• Start a Full Stack Game with GameLift walks through how to create multiplayer, session-based games with Amazon GameLift, highlighting Amazon GameLift FlexMatch and Amazon GameLift FleetIQ.
• AWS Game Tech Workshop covers Amazon GameLift and Amazon GameLift Flexmatch, as well as how to create fast, efficient, and scalable build farms for both Unity and Unreal Engine projects.
• AWS Game Backend Framework Workshop is great for developers looking to learn about flexible backend deployments for Unreal Engine, Unity, and Godot.
• Amazon GameLift Testing Toolkit Workshop provides hands-on experience for deploying and using the Amazon GameLift Testing Toolkit.

Database and analytics workshops

• AWS for Games – Online Game Inventory with Amazon Serverless walks through how to build an inventory system for an online game using Amazon Aurora Serverless, AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, and more.
• Amazon Redshift for Gaming Industry focuses on near real-time analytics of player data using Amazon Redshift as a data warehouse.
• AWS for Games – Analytics & AI/ML teaches you to build your own analytics pipeline and to understand how your data can improve player engagement.

Ideation workshops

• Upgrade Your Game Storyboard with Multi-Modal Prompt Chaining uses generative AI models to create storyboards based on your initial ideas.

AWS Certifications

AWS Certifications validate your technical expertise in specific domains of cloud computing. These certifications are industry-recognized and demonstrate your technological knowledge on specific AWS domains. For game developers, three certifications align closely with the skills needed to build and scale games with AWS:

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Certification is widely considered the foundational AWS Certification that demonstrates your ability to design distributed systems and applications using AWS services. The exam tests your knowledge of how to architect secure, robust, high-performing, and cost-effective infrastructure solutions, covering key services like Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon S3, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), Amazon Route 53, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), as well as various compute, storage, and database options.
• AWS Certified Developer – Associate Certification covers common games-related AWS services, with a focus on best practices for developing and maintaining applications with AWS. The exam tests your understanding of services like AWS Lambda, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon API Gateway, Amazon S3, and AWS CloudFormation. You will also learn serverless application concepts, containerization, continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, and security best practices including IAM roles and encryption.
• AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty Certification is suitable for developers designing and implementing complex games networking solutions with AWS. It covers advanced topics like hybrid IT architectures, Amazon VPC design, AWS Transit Gateway, AWS Direct Connect, AWS Global Accelerator, AmazonRoute 53, and complex routing policies. The exam emphasizes network security, connectivity troubleshooting, and automation of network deployments at scale. For game developers, this certification is particularly valuable because modern games often require sophisticated networking infrastructure to support features like low-latency multiplayer gameplay, global player matchmaking, and real-time data synchronization.

Additional resources

To complement your learning journey, we’ve assembled some extra resources for deeper insights and practical implementation guidance:

• AWS game tech on GitHub offers a collection of resources for hands-on implementation. You’ll find ready-to-deploy sample game server implementations alongside complete reference architectures for common gaming scenarios. The repository includes integration examples for popular game engines like Unity and Unreal, plus comprehensive step-by-step tutorials covering essential features like matchmaking, session management, and player authentication.
• AWS game tech resources serves as your comprehensive hub for game development resources. The portal features an extensive collection of case studies showcasing real-world implementations by leading game companies, detailed technical whitepapers covering best practices and architectural patterns, and educational videos demonstrating the latest AWS gaming technologies. You can also find access to live and on-demand webinars led by AWS experts.
• AWS for Games blog keeps you at the forefront of cloud gaming innovation. The blog features technical deep dives from AWS for Games specialists, compelling customer success stories, and detailed case studies. Stay current with the latest updates on AWS Games services and features, while gaining valuable insights into performance optimization techniques and emerging industry trends.
• AWS Educate opens doors for aspiring game developers and students. This platform provides free cloud computing courses specifically tailored for gaming development, complete with access to the AWS Console for hands-on practice. Students and educators can follow gaming-focused learning paths and connect with other aspiring game developers through various collaboration opportunities.

Conclusion

The future of gaming lies in the cloud, and AWS Training and Certification is here to help you build the expertise needed to succeed in this evolving landscape. Through our structured digital courses and learning paths, hands-on labs, and specialized certifications, you’ll gain the skills to leverage AWS services effectively for your game development projects. Start your learning journey today and join a growing community of cloud-savvy gaming professionals who are building the next generation of games on AWS.