Are you looking for a college but don’t know where to start? Finding schools that fit your desired field of study can be challenging! If your passion lies in game design or if you’re an art student, you may wnat a career path toward the gaming industry. Here are a few ideas to start with. For students looking in anywhere in Canada, you may want to apply to the following programs for design, animation, and art.
Vancouver Film School
If there is any school worth looking into in British Columbia for game design and animation, the Vancouver Film school would be your first stop. Boasting its twelve-month program and great city location, VFS offers one of the best Game Design Programs in North America. The program focuses on three different areas: Level Design, Coding, and Game Art, each of which takes another year to master. The program works with the university at home and abroad to provide an accelerated two to three-year undergrad or graduate pathway. By the end of your education, you will have a portfolio, your diploma, and access to many potential connections into the gaming industry through VFS’s alumni directory and job board system. Those alumni have gone on to work at major video game companies such as Electronic Arts and even major animation studios with their hands in the industry, such as Pixar, Industrial Light and Magic, Dreamworks, and Paramount. VFS’s top-rated and highly awarded Game Design Program streamlines pathways to get you working in the Gaming Industry.
Each of the three Gaming Design Programs prepares students for a list of potential careers through their classes. The Level Design portion of the program helps students work towards not only level design careers but narrative, environment, creative, and production and oversight positions. The Art portion focuses on 3D animation, UI art and design, and initial concept art. The programming pathway teaches coding to prepare students for programming careers that work with software, audio, and the programming foundation of video games.
Capilano University
Capilano University makes a great choice if you’re looking to become an animator in the Gaming Industry. With its two-year degree, Capilano University offers an excellent pathway for students wanting to start a career through its 3D Animation program. The school places an extra emphasis on film and games for these students to work towards. Located in North Vancouver and looking to expand to other locations, Capilano makes an excellent choice for students looking into the industry.
Students, through participation in the 3D Animation program at CapU, will build a portfolio of work to show off the art skills that they have honed. Suppose you’re looking to make a career out of art in the gaming industry. In that case, you can expect to learn techniques in concept art, rigging, direction, and production that would be useful in careers such as modeling, design, animation, and all kinds of artistry.
Visual College of Art and Design Vancouver
The Visual College of Art and Design of Vancouver, or VCAD, holds a prestigious place as an excellent school for game design and other art programs. The school’s Game Development and Design degree program connect closely to the gaming industry to tailor its classes to the needs of modern gaming industry standards and companies. If you work well under a deadline, have artistic skills, and have aspirations to work in a gaming-focused career, consider applying!
The Game Development and Design program at VCAD offers all sorts of classes and requirements that a degree from here should prepare you for various potential positions in most game design careers. Art-based classes focus early on in the course before ramping up to significant aspects of design, from 3D modeling to narrative and level design. Throughout this seventy-two-week program, students will take classes over six terms before earning their degree. This degree in game design and other programs can also take you to other heights of animation or environmental art.
VCAD is a small school that hones its students with class sizes that offer availability for extra help for students with extra needs. As a school, VCAD broke off from Victoria College of Art and Design to build its image as a premier art school in Vancouver. If you’re looking for a good art school for any industry, VCAD makes it easy with its simple application requirements.
Art Institute of Vancouver
As one of Vancouver’s many art schools, the Art Institute of Vancouver takes game design to another level as one of the top schools for the Gaming industry in the United States and Canada. As a branch of the overall Art Institute program, anyone interested in joining the industry to start a career should look here first. Students should know what kind of school they want and what program they can get into, especially if their grades and transcript hold high marks. The various Game Art & Design Degree Programs are an excellent way to put yourself out there and test yourself to find a potential future career path.
Much of the program’s success comes as a credit to the director of the various Game Art Design and Degree Programs at AIV, a former employee of Electronic Arts. That has helped carefully craft the curriculum to meet industry needs and better prepare students for their careers. Insight like this from a development company that makes successful series, such as FIFA, Marvel Nemesis, and Need for Speed Underground, has pushed this program to the forefront and attracted the eyes of employers.
As part of your time at AIV, your Game Art and Design and Degree Program will require you to build both a portfolio and a working game to show off your creativity and potential. With these, you can go on to events to show to industry leaders and make connections. The school hosts many student and industry events to enable you to put your name into the creative sphere. Some of the careers alumni have gone on to include general game design, artists in lighting, textures, environments, model, and many more. The on-campus career center will help you find possible jobs and set your feet on a great career path!
