The Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) has announced the speakers from the local games industry for Melbourne campus as part of their National Open Day on Sunday 16th August from 10am until 4pm. As part of the program one of the industry speakers on the day will be the Art Director from Big Ant Studios, Adam Briggs. Mr Briggs will be leading a discussion at 11am about what’s needed to land a job in the games industry and give everyone a bit more of an understanding about what’s involved in game development for next generation consoles.
Big Ant Studios, one of the many local studios employing AIE graduates, develop premium character action and racing content for platforms that include the Sony PlayStation2, PlayStation3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox360, and PC. Every console title developed by Big Ant Studios has gone on to sell multiple hundred thousand units and they are currently developing the Australian Rules Football game for the next-gen consoles which is due for
elease next year.
“It’s really important that people wanting a career in games develop their skills through practice and training which is kept current with video game industry needs” said Mr Briggs, who has also worked in the Melbourne studios Transmission Games and Firemint. “While being a lover of games is certainly beneficial, solid artistic and programming knowledge is a requirement to getting employment in the industry and crucial to development of products that are competitive in the current world market.”
AIE is located on Level 8 of the Atari Building at 14 Queens Rd in Melbourne, and the Open Day offers a variety of talks and demonstrations designed to inform aspiring 3D artists and games programmers of the career and training options available. AIE staff, students and graduates working in a variety of roles in the games and animation industries will be available will be to answer your questions and show you around. Other studios available to on the day to chat with include Iron Monkey Studios and Tantalus Media.
The full program of events for Open Day is available at www.aie.edu.au/openday and enquiries are welcomed on (03) 9820 8201 or melbourne@aie.edu.au