Gotland University Welcomes One Year Game Degree Applicants

[lost]

http://evavhost.com/i/news/gotland.JPG

Fancy making a game? Gotland University wants to help and is accepting applications for its one year game game production course.

Make a game - get a degree

At Gotland University in Sweden the students spend one year developing one large game to earn their degree. All lectures and literature received during the one year course IGPS (International Game Production Studies) are connected to the game they make. Since the course is on-line based, anyone in the world with the right qualifications can apply.

Gotland University has several game related educations. The course IGPS, takes the students through different focus areas from idea, concept development, via planning and production, to release. All of the assignments given to the students are applied to the game they are developing. -”Learning by doing is by far the best way of learning. That’s why everything in this course is related to one game project that the students do. That means that all your efforts during the education will go to improving the game” says Troels Linde, teacher at Gotland University.

One of the games this year is “Penalty of Heroes” a game that will be released on Xbox Live this fall. -“This is a large project with over 10 people involved and we have to manage it like any other big budget project such as the games made by Blizzard or Valve. It’s a great way to get experience and education at the same time” says Håkan Mattsson, producer of the game.

Many of the former students at Gotland University are now working at well-known game studios such as DICE, Grin, Avalanche and Massive Entertainment. The cooperation with these established game studios is one of the key factors to good education. -“We get mentors from successful game studios that give us feedback and share their experiences regarding game development. It’s a true privilege” says Nicklas Johansson, student at IGPS.

Some students start their own game companies after their education. The well reviewed PC game “Penumbra – Overtune” released in 2007, was one of the first games developed at IGPS.

April 14th is the last application day for the class of IGPS starting in September 2009.

EvAv'er bulldozer.sweden is a student on this very course and speaks highly of it. Expect the exclusive Penalty of Heroes preview this coming Thursday.

[Johan]

I love the Swedes. They rock. :)

[Gusj]

Curse Swedish for being harder to read than Norwegian and Danish.

[Johan]

Curse Swedish for being harder to read than Norwegian and Danish.

You're Norwegian. From the Swedish perspective, everything would be harder for you! ;)

I'm kidding. Really!

[bulldozer.sweden]

Curse Swedish for being harder to read than Norwegian and Danish.

Well ,finnish is way harder ;)

* The original press release you can find here (there are some urls to the education):
www.databoxgames.com/press.html
(hope it's ok to post the url, otherwise I remove it :))

[Gusj]

Well ,finnish is way harder ;)

* The original press release you can find here (there are some urls to the education):
www.databoxgames.com/press.html
(hope it's ok to post the url, otherwise I remove it :))

Self-explanatory since Finnish is Uralic and not Germanic.

Anyway, I could be interested in this course since I actually don't know what I will be doing for the next year. Right now I'm at an IT-course, but I'm pretty sure I won't pass most of the exams anyway.

[bulldozer.sweden]

Anyway, I could be interested in this course since I actually don't know what I will be doing for the next year. Right now I'm at an IT-course, but I'm pretty sure I won't pass most of the exams anyway.
If you want to make games it's a good course. In the beginning you team up with other students and you decide to make a game, then everything in the course that you do is related to that game. We're making the game Penalty of Heroes for XBLA and we're 4 persons from IGPS and then we have 5 third years students from the game design program (bachelor) at Gotland University.

[bulldozer.sweden]

On our blog we just release a "teaser" for the game. In there we present the type of music in the game.

[potatorot]

Hey bulldozer.sweden, thanks for the helpful links and the info. I forwarded all the relevant info you've provided to several friends of mine, as I know a few of them have aspiring dreams to enter into the gaming industry in some meaningful way (beyond being a consumer, that is). Thanks a lot!

Here're some questions I'd like to ask. I'd PM you them, but I figure they're broad enough that other forum members would want to know your insight as well. Without further ado: How do you feel the course load is? Do the classes require a ton of work? Does this impinge on you being able to develop your game? How much prior experience does the university's program presuppose? It seems like a one year program would have to require prior work in game development. Several of my friends want to enter the game industry via character design, and thus, aren't program savvy. Is this problematic for Gotland University's program, or do they make room for this kind of work as well?

Thanks again for all the info you've provided! Best of luck on your game! I can't wait to play it!

[bulldozer.sweden]

Hi Potatorot,
I try to answer all of your questions here. If you have more questions just ask some more :)

I first write some more about the course:
IGPS (Internaltional Game Production Studies):
Is an internet based course on advanced level. The primary objective of this distance course is to provide practical experience and theoretical knowledge on international game production and management in on line production environments. You have to have a bachelor (three year degree) in computer, art, project management or similar to be able to take it


How do you feel the course load is?
Do the classes require a ton of work?
Does this impinge on you being able to develop your game?


This is a double edge sword. As you make a game I feel that I’m always working on it. All the “school” exercise and presentations are connected to the game so everything you do you can relate and use in your game (can be a presentation about concept/game play or target audience/marketing). But the the “school exercise/load” is not that much really (1 presentation 1-2 month).


How much prior experience does the university's program presuppose?
It seems like a one year program would have to require prior work in game development.


It’s good if you know about gaming, art, 3d or programming. Though I haven’t studied gaming before (worked as tester at a big Swedish game studio, during I went to university), I have a bachelor in Computer Science with specialization in project management within media. So I’m handling all the PR and the project management (with the producer) for PoH (Iäm also bugging everyone to implement more features). We are 4 people (that make Penalty of Heroes) that take the IGPS course, the other 5 persons on the project are hand picked persons that our producer Håkan knows at Gotland University (they all goes the third and last year of “game design” program at Gotland University).


Several of my friends want to enter the game industry via character design, and thus, aren't program savvy. Is this problematic for Gotland University's program, or do they make room for this kind of work as well?


The IGPS is heavily focused on production, so all kind of skills are needed (marketing, music, programming, 2d, 3d). But I think that you should take this course if you more into project management and producing (if you want to learn new things). Two of the people in our team that take IGPS are concept artist and they make concept for the game. They don’t really do that much of the school projects (if they read they might object), but it’s mostly me and the producer Håkan that do most of the school work. This mainly because we’re handling all of the things related to the assignments and presentations.
Hope I gave you some more information and answers or just ask some more : )
Best regards!

[Exodus]

one year isn't long enough to obtain all of the skills...it's like throwing yourself into the grinder. two years is hard as it is and I'm more of a fan of 3yr+ course for a video game degree. 1yr would have to be a hell of a boot camp and i'm talking living and breathing and only doing that. no half assing, in and outside of class you are with your team.

If it's like that i'm for it, not a half assed me too education offered by so many insitutions i see sprouting all over the place

[bulldozer.sweden]

one year isn't long enough to obtain all of the skills...it's like throwing yourself into the grinder. two years is hard as it is and I'm more of a fan of 3yr+ course for a video game degree. 1yr would have to be a hell of a boot camp and i'm talking living and breathing and only doing that. no half assing, in and outside of class you are with your team.
I agree one year is way too little :) This course you can only take if you have a bachelor (three year education). I also think that you can lear a great deal by yourself if you really want to go into the game development business. I have friends that's 3d artist that work at major game companies and they don't really have any "game" education. If you can show what you can do then you don't have to go to a game education (that's my opinion) :)

[potatorot]

Hey bulldozer! Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer all my questions; you've been really helpful!

Best of luck on Penalty of Heroes!