AIE News
Diversity in VR and Video Games
We hosted our very first Diversity in VR and Video Games event at KEXP last night on October 25th, 2018. Cami Smith (Industry Relations at AIE) and Sarah Tan (Gameplay Engineer at Against Gravity) delivered a short and sweet but empowering speech to prep everyone for the speed networking event. The purpose of the event…
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The Difference Between a 4-Year Degree and an AIE Degree
How is AIE different? What is the difference between a 4-year degree and an AIE degree? The AIE difference is not only what you make of it, but how our instructing method compares to a traditional 4-year college, or even an bootcamp. While both of these can offer intensive short-term classes, this can stifle student…
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What to Do When You’re Not Ready to Apply to College
Whether you have yet to graduate from high school or you need some more time to decide on a major, you might have wondered what to do when you’re not ready to apply to college. No matter the case, college is likely your next step. Define your financial means and establish a steady income. Even…
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STEAM Careers in Interactive Entertainment
What is STEAM? Much like STEM, this learning concept introduces Art as applied in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields. Including the arts introduces a learning platform for those who are resourceful, and creatively driven when it comes to problem-solving. For those with the passion to study toward a STEAM career typically enroll in…
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Portfolio Guide: Game Programming
This Portfolio Guide: Game Programming edition is designed specifically to help anyone looking to apply to our Game Programming course. Above all else, the best programmers are the ones who can communicate that they have a proven interest in programming that they’ve acted on. There’s more to it (as you’ll see below) than just that,…
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5 Essential Tools for Beginner Game Developers
It can be daunting to find which programs to use when you are creating your first game, and it wasn’t easy to narrow it down to just 5 essential tools for beginner game developers. All of these were ranked as what our instructors believe are the most user-friendly and industry standard tools for any game…
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How to Tell Your Parents That You Want to Become a Game Developer
How do you tell your parents that you want to become a game developer? Making any kind of long-term commitment when it involves your career is always a tricky subject. This is especially true if game development was not a career choice back when your parents were deciding what they would like to do for…
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How to Improve Public Speaking Skills
How do we improve public speaking skills? For the best advice, we ask TEDx speaker and our Game Design and Production instructor, Jim Flatmo. Jim has been designing games for most of his life, primarily active with live action role playing design, running his own independent game company, and being an advocate for gamification in…
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Portfolio Guide: Game Art and VFX
This Portfolio Prep Guide: Game Art & Animation edition is designed to specifically help individuals who are considering in applying in our Game Art & Animation program. Successful game artists must have stellar writing capability, the ability to communicate your creative ideas effectively, and evidence of putting a genuine effort in a secondary skill. If…
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APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN FOR 2019
Fast-track your future – 2019 applications are now open. AIE is currently accepting students for its range of specialist, practical courses that are starting in February 2019 at all campuses. This is a great opportunity to kick-start your career in games and film. Applications are open for the following courses: Game Art & Animation (Diploma…
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AIE at PAX 2018
What was the experience like for AIE at PAX 2018? Once again, the city of Seattle was fired up for PAX West 2018 at the Washington State Convention Center. Our booth was an engaging display of student games and creations, encapsulating what AIE is all about to PAX West attendees. We believe all young professionals…
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The Difference Between Game Design and Game Art
What is the Difference between Game Design and Game Art? We’ll be answering this question using the classic game of Chess. Chess is a well-known game with traditional white chess pieces, black chess pieces, set up on a field of black and white. The pieces have different positions and rules on how they move across…
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Portfolio Guide: Game Design and Production
This Portfolio Prep Guide: Game Design & Production edition is to specifically help individuals who are considering in applying in our Game Design & Production program. Successful game designers must have stellar writing capability, the ability to communicate your creative ideas effectively, and evidence of putting a genuine effort in a secondary skill. If you…
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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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Virtual Reality in the Classroom
How do our students learn how to optimize their games in virtual reality in the classroom? AIE is a college of the interactive entertainment arts, so it is natural for our team to embrace virtual reality in our studio-modeled classrooms. As virtual reality reaches new heights as a platform in the video game industry, the…
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How to Prevent Feature Creep
What is Feature Creep? How do you prevent feature creep? Let’s go over some prevention tactics that industry professionals use to help streamline their workflow. Feature creep – otherwise known as “requirement creep” or “scope creep”, feature creep can happen at any time during the production of a project. Whether it’s coming up with an…
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Orientation at AIE
How can I prepare myself for Orientation at AIE? Summer is almost over, and orientation at AIE has concluded. This means our first year class has begun for the next wave of future industry professionals. Every year, we host an orientation including all of our programs and we learn something new. Orientation is important to…
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How to Prevent Creative Block
If you aren’t sure how to prevent creative block – don’t panic. We’ll go over some simple techniques on creative block prevention that you can put into action right away. 1. Identify your inspiration triggers. Look at some of your best pieces of work. Reflect on why you created that piece and why it’s significant…
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The 3 Phases of Film Production
The 3 phases of film production will be different for every studio, but the film industry typically follows the basic protocol in film creation. We’ll also go through which part the VFX artist comes in. Everything from crowd effects, blemish cover, sky replacement to changing tree colors, the VFX team contributes more than most people…
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AIE Open House – Oct 20th
Discover the courses designed to get you started in game development, 3D animation and visual effects for film at AIE’s Open House. The Lafayette and Seattle campuses will be opening their doors to visitors eager to find out about AIE courses starting in 2018.
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Interactive Experience Day – Nov 17th 2018
AIE’s Interactive Experience Days are a great opportunity to learn about the local and international game development, 3D animation and visual effects industries.
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Gamification in the Aviation Industry
When you constantly think about the future, you’ll know that new innovations have the potential to forever change society as we currently know it. New inventions that spark more ideas to challenge people’s thought process, creating new concepts that often lead to a new industry standard. As we all know, the rapid evolution of the…
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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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Global Game Jam Next 2018
Pacific Science Center and AIE bring summer game dev camp to Seattle Center The Seattle Chapter of the Academy of Interactive Entertainment teamed up with their neighboring partners, the Pacific Science Center, to participate in Global Game Jam Next: a game jam for young creators. It was perfect timing, as the Academy of Interactive Entertainment…
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