专访505Games亚太区副总裁Thomas Rosenthal：一所专门培养游戏人才的大学是什么样的？(8)

Q：Far from I understanding that 505 Games has founded a game academy, what is the reason for founding such an academy? What is the current size of the academy?

Geoff Davis： We created the Academy in 2014 with the mission to identify and train new talent for the video games industry, preparing our students professionally and helping them to become job ready so they can get start a career in the industry. Our objective is close the gap between professional training and the jobs market.

On one side, as a leading global gaming company we feel we have a responsibility to support the growth and evolution of the video games industry and at the base of our industry is Talent. Without great talent, we wouldn’t have the video games we love, i.e. the ones we play on our smartphones or on our consoles. On the other side, we know there are many hidden gems out there searching for a professional training course geared to prepare for a future in the industry. Our job is to discover these hidden gems and work closely with them in developing and expressing their potential.

We have four different areas of training in our ecosystem, 3 of which are professional training programs:

•DBGA Campus: a 2-year on-site training program for Game Design, Game Programming, Concept Art, Game Art 3D)

•DBGA Online Blended: hybrid self-directed learning and lessons/mentoring in live streaming for Game Design and Game Programming)

•DBGA Plug-N-Learn: vertical training courses, using the online blended methodology, on topics like Product & Project Management, creation of video game spaces, UI/UX for video games, World Building in Unreal Engine, Procedural Generation, Tools Building and many more

•DBGA Kids: this is our early stage program for ages 8 – 16. Italy is lacking programs for this age group and we want to get them excited and interested in the video games industry. We strongly believe it’s important to start and motivate early. Learning to develop video games is not only fun, but can stimulate important skills like critical thinking, decision making, effective communication and listening, planning and time management. These are all skills that we need throughout our professional and personal lives to be successful regardless of whether we become game devs.

Since our the launch of our first courses in 2015, we have trained over 800 students. Many of them are now successfully working in the industry.

Q：Where do the students trained by this game academy come from ? Besides the training of 505 games staff, what other students will be enrolled in?