Coffs Harbour TAFE NSW’s Jon McMillan passing on Unreal Engine gaming development skills to help students break into huge industry

A Coffs man at the forefront of the gaming industry – bigger than both movies and music – is helping others skill up for the future with a program which helped deliver the Fortnite colossus. Find out more.

TAFE NSW Information Technology teachers Jon McMillan and Jason Vallely at the Coffs Harbour Education Campus, where they teach gaming development. Picture: Chris Knight

The Coffs Coast’s Jon McMillan is in rarefied air – he’s one of just four people in Australia anointed to show students how to use one of the billion-dollar gaming industry’s premiere graphics platforms.

The 26-year-old Coffs Harbour TAFE NSW teacher had to pass a series of gruelling tests to become qualified as an instructor for the popular Unreal Engine program.

This is the platform that helped create behemoth online multiplayer game Fortnite by Epic Games and even TV series The Mandalorian, a Star Wars franchise spin-off.

Globally, gaming is massive business. Last year, revenue from the worldwide gaming market was estimated at almost $US347 billion.

“There’s more (Australian government) grants for music and film – but games is bigger than those two combined,” Mr McMillan said.

Fellow Coffs TAFE teacher Jason Vallely said: “Australia is a little bit behind.”

Fortnite has become one of the biggest video games on the planet. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The pair teach gaming development to students face-to-face at the Coffs Harbour Education Campus, and online to pupils farther afield at Nambucca Heads and Port Macquarie.

The potential rewards for people who get into the industry are mind-blowing.

“Netflix has just advertised $1.3 million a year for an AI (artificial intelligence) creator,” Mr Vallely said.

TAFE NSW information technology teacher Jon McMillan.

As one of only a handful of Unreal authorised instructors in Australia, IT teacher Mr McMillan works with production company Cheeky Little on a job readiness program.

The incredibly popular game Fortnite is just one of many Unreal Engine games. Picture: Epic Games

The program trains potential candidates looking to enter the workforce in Unreal Engine animation features, including storyboarding, look development, editing, lighting, dressing, rendering and quality control.

Bowyn Abbott is doing a Diploma in Digitally Interactive Games at the Coffs Harbour Education Campus. Picture: Chris Knight

“Even though we teach games it leads to a plethora of industries,” Mr McMillan said.

Dorrigo teenager Bowyn Abbott is one of the students doing a Diploma in Digitally Interactive Games.

“I’ve always been doing games, I like breaking games,” the 19-year-old said.

He has been exploring AI and is interested in character creation.

Animation, gaming, 3D modelling and project management are some of the core teaching areas delivered by Mr McMillan. Picture: Chris Knight

“I am looking at going into teaching, but I want to keep my options as open as possible,” he said.

Mr McMillan said the path to becoming an Unreal Engine sensei was fairly onerous.

After applying to the US company, he had to meet a number of criteria, sit an examination and produce a lesson plan, he said.

And the work to stay ahead of the game is never done.

“The technology we are using in the gaming and animation industry is literally changing every day,” Mr McMillan said.

“As educators, it is our job to ensure graduates have the skills they need to use platforms like Unreal Engine because that is what industry is using and they expect their new hires to be up to speed.”