This March, VFS will be at South By Southwest (SXSW), the annual music, film, and interactive conference and festival in Austin, Texas.
If you’re interested in VFS Game Design, you’ll want to join us at the SXSW Gaming Expo to learn more about our world-renowned one-year program. A VFS Unity Instructor will be on hand to offer demos, and we welcome participants to stop by our booth and help us build a Unity game. At the end of the event, we will be able to show off a Unity game, created by the attendees of SXSW!
Event: SXSW 2013 Gaming Expo
Date: Friday, March 8 – Sunday, March 10, 2013
Time: March 8: 3:00pm – 9:00pm • March 9 & 10: 12:00pm – 8:00pm
Place: Palmer Events Center, Booth #131
Address: 900 Barton Springs Road, Austin, Texas
You can also visit us at the SXSW Trade Show to meet with a VFS representative, as well as Michael Baser, head of the Writing for Film & Television program. For those looking to kick-start their writing career, Michael be sharing his insights during one on one and group consultations throughout the event. To book a session in advance, please contact eventinfo@vfs.com. Participants are also welcome to book their time while at the event.
Event: SXSW 2013 Trade Show
Date: Sunday, March 10 – Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Time: March 10 – 12: 11:00am – 6:00pm • March 13: 11am – 4:00pm
Place: Austin Convention Center, Exhibit Halls 3 & 4, Booth #14
Address: 500 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin, Texas
We’ll also be sharing a number exciting scholarship opportunities that will be available to potential students enrolling in any of our 13 programs. We hope to see you there!
Game Design Expo 2013 has come and gone, but if you couldn’t be there, here’s your chance to see what you missed. We’ve just launched hours of free video presentations captured at Industry Speaker Day. What’s in store? That’s on top of an archive of talks from 2012, 2011, and 2010 – it’s a whole lot of insight and inspiration. Check it all out at gamedesignexpo.com.
If you make indie games, you already have it on your calendar – the Independent Games Festival, held in conjunction with GDC, is a pretty big deal. And this year’s IGF (March 25-29) gives all of us here at VFS a little extra reason to celebrate. First, there’s the Game Design student game Pulse. With a Unity Award already under its belt, the game has been named one of eight IGF Student Showcase winners – out of 300 entries! That means it’ll be playable at GDC and vie for top Best Student Game honours. Meanwhile, the pro work of two Sound Design for Visual Media alumni is getting much-deserved attention. Ryan Roth did the audio for exploration/puzzler Starseed Pilgrim, which is contending for the Excellence in Design award and scored honourable mentions for the Nuovo Award – rewarding “unconventional” game design – and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Then there’s Hotline Miami - you know, the ultra-violent throwback that turned out to be one of the year’s best-reviewed games. It’s up for the Grand Prize, but what really got our attention was its nomination for Excellence in Audio. Behind that game’s audio? None other than VFS grad Jordan Fehr, who keeps racking up the indie cred after doing the sound design for Super Meat Boy. We know what we’re rooting for in March. Check out the full lineup of 2013 finalists right here.
No more sticky floors, temperamental change dispensers, or out-of-order signs – Arcade is here! Whether you’re already a part of our VFS Game Design community or just an aspiring game designer looking for your place in this big, wide world, welcome home. Arcade is where our students, faculty, graduates, and industry friends come together to share inspiration, ideas, and all the latest from the one-year program and beyond. But the real star is the student games. Never has it been easier to play the very best games made by students in the one-year VFS program – with everything on offer from first-person shooters to co-op platformers to angry narwhals. See what all the fuss is about! Launch Arcade and start playing!
Truth: On its own, loving games doesn’t equal designing them. If you’re happy enough sitting back and consuming them, hey, you’re a member of a pretty big club and more power to you! But if you’re reading this, it likely means you’re a different kind of gamer – one who plays the latest FPS/JRPG/RTS/MMO/CCG and can’t help but think about, discuss, and deconstruct what’s under the hood. You? You just might be a game designer. Taking that first step isn’t so easy. So to help you on your way in 2013, we’re offering a whole bunch of scholarships to the one-year VFS Game Design program. These scholarships can only be applied to the February, April, or June 2013 VFS Game Design start dates. In other words, this is no time to sit on your laurels. Let’s do this! $250,000 in scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 are a perfect head start for any aspiring game designer ready to get serious about a career. This full-tuition scholarship is designed to support and encourage women in the game industry. Since this scholarship was first launched, recipients have landed jobs at small and big studios alike.
When five VFS alumni put their heads together, out popped a new mobile game. Sometimes that’s just what happens. The game is Smash!, available now for iPhone, iPad, and Android, and it’s the brainchild of three Game Design and two 3D Animation & Visual Effects grads. (Four of them also took a year in Foundation Visual Art & Design.) Together, they’re known as Eleventh Level Interactive: Dustin Kaban (code), Evan Luty (design), Troy Otway (sound), Kyle Wall (art), and Humaira Thalayan (art). We reached out to the team to find out more about their debut game – and what’s next. What is Smash!? How did you decide on this concept as your studio’s maiden game? Evan: Smash! is a 2D action game where you play as a panda bear bent on destruction. It’s a take on the classic Rampage with a cutesy medieval twist. Smash! was decided as our maiden game because we wanted to create something small and simple to really get an understanding of development for mobile. We also had a hard time finding any game on the App Store similar to Rampage so it felt like a fitting choice for a standout project. What’s the story of Eleventh Level Interactive? What ultimately led you to band together to make games? Dustin: With all the corruption and evilness in the world we decided to form an elite crime fighting organization… I mean independent game studio. Honestly, though, Evan and I were on Sunset Beach one evening, and we got to talking about where we wanted to go in our careers. We both felt strongly about being able to work on something we loved every day. This ultimately led to the creation of Eleventh Level Interactive. Humaira: The reasoning behind the name is based on a couple things. The first being that we founded the company from our eleventh floor apartment and the second being that we wanted to create over-the-top experiences – referencing Spinal Tap, turn it up to eleven. How long was Smash! in development? Kyle: Smash! was in development for exactly 99 days from day one to App Store submission day. We originally aimed to make a game within three months and I think we stuck to our schedule quite well. What’s next for you? Where do you hope to take the company in the next year? Kyle: We plan to continue making games we love, with our short term goal being that we can financially support everyone to do this full time. Our long term goal is to set up a studio in Sri Lanka to complement what we have set up in Vancouver. Troy: We’re also hard at work on our second game right now, an underwater city builder which follows the freemium model. We’ve tentatively named it Underwater Metropolis. We plan to keep development cycles short but quality high. Thanks, guys! Readers can download Smash! for iPhone/iPad or Android. The team’s also made a demo available on Kongregate – check it out!
Game Design Expo 2013, the seventh annual gathering of professionals and gamers hosted by the VFS Game Design program, has come and gone – and what a memorable weekend it was! Hundreds of people came together for an entire weekend of learning, playing, and networking. A foggy morning gave way to a gorgeous winter’s day at the Vancity Theatre as a sold-out audience of game professionals and enthusiasts united to hear from industry luminaries at Industry Speaker Day. As speaker Clive Downie, CEO – Americas and Europe for leading mobile game company DeNA, said in his talk, “In the new world order, engagement is the key.” Downie would go on to describe how his company leverages market research and user patterns to craft successful mobile experiences, but his words could just as easily be applied to the entire weekend. It was a chance for attendees to engage directly with six speakers – from Halo 4: Spartan Ops Lead Designer Chris Haluke to Far Cry 3 Creative Director Patrick Plourde – and two panels. Great gathering, excellent game design conversations #gdexpo shining moment @ Vancity Theatre instagr.am/p/Ur8MQcv5yS/ — John F. Gray (@grayspective) January 20, 2013 “I want to try to propel our industry forward,” Haluke said – and the sentiment was echoed throughout a day that showed how mobile and social games are evolving into market drivers and ways AAA console developers are keeping up. In his thought-provoking presentation, which posited that designers fundamentally limit how they think about games’ true thematic and technological possibilities, Plourde said, “Every time it’s risky, it means it’s an opportunity for something to change.” The panels included a deep dive into the making of Halo 4, with Narrative Director Armando Troisi, Mission Designer Cory Hasselbach, and four members of the audio team – all VFS alumni from Game Design and Sound Design for Visual Media – alongside a panel moderated by Electric Playground‘s Scott Jones about the intersection of the gaming media and small devs struggling to be heard in a crowded marketplace. conferences at the @gamedesignexpo have been amazing. it’s crazy what you can learn in 1 hour of listening to the pros. priceless. #GDExpo — Cariño Mastretta (@manekicaro) January 19, 2013 A sincere thank you to our speakers, panelists, exhibitors, volunteers, and attendees for taking part, as well as our generous sponsors for making Game Design Expo possible. Stay tuned for full video of the day’s presentations! Sunday saw the one-year VFS Game Design program open its doors to the public in a packed Open House that picked up where Industry Speaker Day left off, as aspiring game designers and curious gamers checked out the campus, met faculty, played award-winning student games like Pulse, and took classes that included Storytelling and Level Design. Well over 200 guests – along with a CBC news crew – took in a sampling of what the program offers. It’s always fun to welcome such a diverse group into our home. If you missed it, you can learn more about the program here. The weekend culminated in the official unveiling of new Game Design scholarships for 2013, including: These scholarships can be applied to the February, April, or June 2013 start dates in Game Design. Scholarships are very limited so don’t wait - Find out more and get started!
Tickets to Industry Speaker Day at Game Design Expo 2013 have now sold out! Not only that, the free Game Design Open House, hosted by the VFS Game Design program, is also booked to capacity. On Saturday, January 19, ticket holders will have the chance to hear from some of the designers behind Halo 4, the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and many other titles. Then, on Sunday, January 20, we’ll welcome Open House registrants to our Game Design campus in Downtown Vancouver for an entire day of classes, gaming, and presentations. We look forward to meeting you all this weekend! If you missed out on tickets, follow us on Twitter at @gamedesignexpo for all the latest reports from the event. You can also join the Game Design Expo mailing list to be the first to hear about upcoming events. Want to know more about the VFS Game Design program? Speak with a VFS Advisor to get started.
For the Vancouver Film School community – both our students here in Vancouver and our alumni around the world – it doesn’t get much better than 2012. It was truly their year. They blazed trails. Broke ground. Shattered the status quo. They made jaw-dropping feature films and innovative games. In the world of entertainment and design, they made a difference. For 52 straight weeks in 2012, something big happened in film, TV, or games with the help of the VFS graduates behind the scenes. Watch this and see what we mean. Now, isn’t that something? Join us in looking back, month by amazing month, and celebrating their accomplishments!
“Plagued by tragedy, young Allie must uncover the truth to protect those she loves in this grand story of mystery, romance, and survival. Become part of the action and help Allie find clues, solve puzzles, and get the answers she needs.” Allie Hamilton is an interactive movie game for iOS created by Vincent Chi, a 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad and current Game Design Lighting instructor. The app includes over half an hour of animated video, 36 mini-games and puzzles, and 14 original music tracks. Vincent created Allie Hamilton as he felt that mobile devices would be a great way to experience animated films. The game is designed so players can bring the animated adventure with them and become part of the action through games and puzzle solving. To help him achieve his vision, Vincent enlisted a few fellow VFS grads to join the team, including Game Design grads Ryan Cramer (Principle Programmer), Jay Zhou (Production Artist), Grey Jenkins (Web Designer and Marketing), Gavin Dickson (Voice Actor), Sound Design for Visual Media grad Jennifer Wu (Composer and Sound Designer), and Acting for Film and Television grad Doreen Gordon (Voice Actor). “It is absolutely beyond my wildest dreams that I could direct and produce an interactive movie game like Allie Hamilton,” says Vincent. “Though the decision was hard to make back then, I am so glad I enrolled at VFS 15 years ago. My career and my life would be very, very different without Vancouver Film School. After working in the CG TV and film industry for three years and the video game industry for nine years, VFS still plays a big part in everything I do.” Congratulations to all involved! Allie Hamilton is currently available to download for free on the App store.
Video: Experience Game Design Expo with Hours of Fascinating Presentations
VFS Game Design and Sound Design Both Represented at IGF 2013
Game Design Arcade Is Open!
2013 Scholarships: Your Game Design Career Starts Here
Game Design Expo Scholarships
Deadline: Scholarships are extremely limited so apply today
Get Started: Ask your VFS Admissions Advisor for the Application Kit or speak with one now.Women in Games Scholarship
Deadline: February 18, 2013 (5pm PST)
Get Started: Download an Application Kit (PDF) or speak with an Advisor now.
Grads Make Smash!
Hundreds Get a Glimpse Into the Future at Game Design Expo 2013
Industry Speaker Day
VFS Game Design Open House
Don’t Miss Out on Exclusive Scholarships
Game Design Expo 2013 Has Sold Out!
2012: This Is What Exceptional Looks Like
How Much Would You Sacrifice For the One You Love?
