AIE News

Game Jam 2020 | AIE

Lafayette Campus Game Jam – November 8th

What is a game jam? The goal of a game jam is to come together and make a game (be it a videogame, board game, card game…) Jammers quickly come up with new ideas, and make quick sketches of how they might work to prototype and playtest. Often jammers have a theme or central idea…

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Minor Production Process Afterword | AIE

AIE Minor Production Process

One of the most valuable parts of the course for our Game Development students is the opportunity to collaborate with their peers from other disciplines for their final project at the end of each school year. Internally, those projects are referred to as “Minor Production” and “Major Production” respectively for our first year and second…

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History Meets Virtual Reality - Seattle Public Library 6 | AIE

History Meets Virtual Reality: AIE x Seattle Public Library

Not only does the Academy of Interactive Entertainment students get to collectively work together on projects for Minor and Major Production, but students are also given the opportunity to work with a real client. Working with a client varies with each program, and this time a team of our Game Art & Animation students are…

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Corwin Waldron 07 AIE Spotlight

AIE Alumni Spotlight: Corwin Waldron

Corwin Waldron was honored as a Valedictorian for the graduating Game Art & Animation class of 2019. Valedictorians are recognized for their dedication to one’s study, and you can always count on their eagerness to exceed the status quo. They lead by example, and as a result, they prove themselves to be exemplary individuals cherished…

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Talon Grijalva 10 AIE Spotlight

AIE Alumni Spotlight: Talon Grijalva

Talon Grijalva (Game Art & Animation) was honored with the AIE Legacy Award for the graduating class in 2019. The Legacy Award recognizes an individual’s impact that they have left at AIE and will continue to bring with them into the industry. Those who have earned the Legacy Award have proven themselves to be especially…

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A Tour Inside Valve Headquarters

Our students had the opportunity to get an inside look at the legendary Valve Corp Headquarters, the studio that has brought us the Half-Life series, and the distribution platform, Steam. Kelly Cline and Mike Belzer, who were our guides for our group throughout the tour, showed Valve’s state of the art motion-capture room, sound design…

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Artcade Shows How To Really Have Fun During A Storm 02 | AIE

Artcade Shows How to Really Have Fun During a Storm

The Academy of Interactive Entertainment in Lafayette once again hosted Artcade! The fifth annual Artcade event took place on May 11th with a wide array of local game developers, artists, and film exhibitors. However, this year the event location was not at the Lafayette Science Museum where it’s been previously held. This year, Artcade was…

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10 Games in 3 Days: Year 1’s Alphabet Game Jam

10 games in 3 days? How is that even possible?! In a game jam, anything is possible! When you are well-equipped with the top-tier tools and a studio environment with a creative team, you’d be surprised how easy it is to churn out 10 games in 3 days. About the Alphabet Jam This is the…

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Major Production Pitches 2019

Throughout the entire 2nd year, students enrolled in our Game Programming and our Game Art & Animation programs are divided into game development teams to create their first game. All student games below will have a demo presented at IFEST 2019, as it is a milestone shared among all teams. Before they get to showcase…

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Art Institute Seattle Displacement Info Sessions

If you are a displaced Art Institute student, please take note that the Academy of Interactive Entertainment Seattle Campus offers learning track towards careers in the following: Game Art & Animation Game Programming Game Design & Production 3D Animation & VFX for Film We are aware that every person’s situation is different, and there are…

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How to Find a Mentor in Game Development

You’re now at a point in your life where you know exactly what you would like to do as a career. You have done the pre-training to help you with admissions into college. Now what? Who will help direct you and make sure you do the right thing? It’s time to find a mentor. What…

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Jobs for Creative Introverts

A lot of people consider jobs for introverts to be ironic, but it’s more of a stigma than most people realize. At the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, an overwhelming majority of our students and those interested in studying on our campus, consider themselves to be introverts. Our staff and instructors understand and recognize that both…

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Game Art & Animation 1st Year Assessment: Character Pipeline

Erika Amos (Game Art & Animation) Kylie Walker (Game Art & Animation) The Game Art & Animation students are now is their team assessment, which features a Good vs Evil Character Pipeline. In this creative battle, students are split into team formation to produce a group of models that are ready for production, complete with…

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Big Fish Games at AIE

The art team at prestigious mobile studio, Big Fish Games, visited our Seattle campus today. The veteran artists reviewed portfolios of our students specializing in several forms of art and animation. “You all are doing a 2-year program? That’s awesome – I did exactly that too, years ago.” – John Nangle (3D Modeling, Unity, Game…

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5 Things Every Game Developer Needs to Know

Andrew Ward is a Game Programming Advanced Diploma of Professional Game Development alumnus, and CEO of successful indie game startup: Grunka Munka Games. Taking on the lead role among the team of AIE alumni, Andrew took Collidalot from prototype to the launch on Nintendo Switch. We asked Andrew what he would have done differently, and what kind of advice…

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AIE Alumni Launches Collidalot on Nintendo Switch

From college project, to launching on Nintendo Switch. We are immensely proud of our AIE Alumni Andrew Ward (Game Programming), Connor Adam (Game Programming), Matthew VanCompernolle (Game Programming) and Tim Tsai (Game Art & Animation) for launching their debut game on Nintendo Switch! All second-year students from all programs form into groups to create their major…

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Tips from Our Alumni

If you plan on starting your educational journey at AIE in 2019/2020, here are some awesome tips from our alumni. Leadership and being a team player are not mutually exclusive. “What I have discovered that gives you an edge in this industry, is learning the pipeline and how your role affects other team members. If…

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Mentorship at AIE

“The mentorship at AIE was enlightening. I got to see what the second years were working on and understand how they problem solved the very things I struggled with. I learned the importance of community, and being able to share your discoveries and grow as a team. It’s something I’ve taken with me into the…

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3 Unconventional Tricks for Storyboard Artists

We are immensely thankful to have expert storyboard artist, Victor Fuste, share with us what his top 3 Unconventional Tricks for Storyboard Artists are. Victor has taught as an Artistic Development Trainer for DreamWorks Animation for several years, and a plethora of creative studios in the animation industry. If your dream is become a storyboard…

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3 Reasons Why You Should Cross-Train

Cross-training in game development is not only more respected than you may think, but it is expected among an array of concentrations. While specializing in a certain software or mastering a technique or aspect of your expertise is what you should strive for, there are 3 great reasons why you should cross-train to solidify your…

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3 Things Studios Want in a Game Designer

Your obsession with playing games knows no bounds – but what about creating them as a game designer? Whether you’ve established yourself as a junior designer, or you’re looking into becoming a game designer, it’s good to know what studios are looking for. We’ll unravel the top 3 qualities studios will be looking for when…

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