Today is International Women’s Day, a time to reflect upon and celebrate the achievements of women the world over. And in honour of the occasion, we’d like to tell you about our Women in Games Scholarship, presented in conjunction with Game Design Expo 2010.

The Women in Games Scholarship covers the full tuition for the one-year Game Design program at VFS.

“The Game Design program at VFS has been a very rewarding and enjoyable experience thus far,” last year’s winner, Shannon Lee, told us. “Applying for the scholarship was the best decision I’ve ever made and I’m sure that the next recipient will feel the same.” Shannon started in the program in late October.

The scholarship is a big part of our ongoing initiative to support women who aspire to be professional game designers. It’s about giving women opportunities to excel – and, as we’ve seen with our past female graduates, we believe our Game Design program is a great launchpad for just that.

The 2010 Women in Games Scholarship will be officially unveiled with full details at the Open House on Sunday, April 11!

We’re very pleased to announce an official partnership between Vancouver Film School and 5 Alarm Music, America’s largest independent production music library for film, television, radio, and commercials.

This partnership means students throughout VFS will have full and easy access to music that can really make their work pop. 5 Alarm’s huge library of high-quality music is already used extensively by students in 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Classical Animation, Digital Character Animation, Acting, Digital Design, Film Production, Foundation, Game Design, Sound Design, and Writing as they create and polish their films, reels, and other projects.

5 Alarm has contributed music to such productions as Transformers, A Christmas Carol, and HBO’s True Blood – and that’s just a tiny selection.

“VFS partnerships are very important to the student experience,” explains VFS Managing Director Marty Hasselbach. “5 Alarm Music is great example of an opportunity for students to have access to a phenomenal music library which truly enhances the work they create while they’re here. It also becomes the perfect go-to resource after they’ve graduated and enter their own production world.”

Cassie Lord, General Manager at 5 Alarm Music, tells us: “We’re excited to partner with VFS and believe that providing professional tools to students is a valuable asset to their education. Understanding music rights can be cumbersome and we want to aid their understanding of music licensing and gain an appreciation for production music.”

Everyone here at VFS is very proud to make this partnership official, and we look forward to seeing the results in action!

Today sees the release of SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3, developed for PSP by Vancouver’s Slant Six. The game picked up a good review from IGN a couple of weeks ago and looks pretty promising for anyone in the market for a third-person tactical shooter for the handheld.

VFS alumni behind the scenes of the game include Game Design grads Pamela Livara and Chris Lee - both serving as game designers, naturally – as well as artist Kirk Takei, a 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad. Quite a few grads who have landed at Slant Six in recent years, so it’s quite possible many more worked on the title!

With Industry Speaker Day ticket sales and Open House registration opening today, we’re very pleased to announce the speaker lineup for Game Design Expo 2010, taking place April 10-11, 2010.

Speakers on April 10 include Armando Troisi, Lead Cinematic Designer on BioWare’s runaway hit Mass Effect 2, to discuss the game’s groundbreaking approach to interactive narrative, and United Front Games’ William Ho, who will explore user-generated content through the lens of the highly-anticipated PS3 title ModNation Racers.

Other speakers include creative movers from the legendary California-based developer Obsidian Entertainment (Alpha Protocol), Blue Castle Games (Dead Rising 2), Propaganda Games (Tron: Evolution), and Big Sandwich Games (Sky Pirates of Neo Terra). The day culminates with a spirited industry panel hosted by Electric Playground’s Victor Lucas called “The Future of Gaming.”

Tickets to Industry Speaker Day, which have sold out quickly every year, are on sale now.

Click for Industry Speaker Day Tickets and Schedule

On Sunday, April 11, VFS will throw open the doors to its acclaimed one-year Game Design program for a free, day-long Open House. Sunday’s event offers a hands-on look at the program, providing you with the opportunity to test-drive student- and alumni-created games, take sample classes, meet faculty, and learn about the program.

The Open House will also launch the 2010 Women in Games $30,000 scholarship to VFS. Inaugurated last year, the scholarship is part of VFS Game Design’s ongoing initiative to actively support women entering the game industry – the only one of its kind in the world.

Because space is limited, anyone interested in attending the Open House is strongly encouraged to register now, before it fills to capacity.

Click to Find Out More About the Open House and to Register

iPhone development is a funny thing – it empowers the little guy, but there’s a lot of little guys. Still, whatever the challenges in being heard above the App Store din, the fact is that the iPhone is basically unrivaled as a petri dish for independent game designers who actually want a shot at finding an audience.

So it’s no surprise that you’ll find VFS grads in the mix and making their iPhone offerings available to all. We caught up with the alumni involved in two recent examples.

Flip TacTic

Jesus Rodriguez graduated from the 3D Animation & Visual Effects program in late 2008. He would go on to establish the Florida-based Playmore Games as a way to work his way into the game industry. Long-term, he hopes the company can be a testbed for recent grads like him: “Ideally, I would love to gain enough interest to begin getting projects and giving recent grads from VFS a place to get their feet wet. I want a place where grads can come learn, get some quick games and experience under their belt, see how the development process is, and move on to bigger things.”

Flip TacTic is his first offering, a “3D tic-tac-toe game unlike any other out there,” as he calls it. “What sets our game apart from the rest is the balance and strategy we added to an otherwise simple game. You can use two main abilities or one super ability either defensively or offensively to win.”

(Flip TacTic on iTunes)

Alien Space Lizards ATTACK!!!

Alien Space Lizards ATTACK!!! is a 2D actioner with a lot of personality and many VFS grads behind it - Game Design Senior Instructor Andrew Laing helped group Game Design alumni together (as well as a Sound Design for Visual Media grad and a member of the VFS Resources staff – full credits here) and published the game to the App Store through his own company.

For the team of alumni, it was a great chance to keep their skills sharp and tackle the challenges of the medium. “The most interesting part of designing for the platform was making a control scheme that worked without any of those buttons that us designers depend on,” says Game Design grad Andrew Myers, Design Lead and Programmer. “But with that challenge, I think something great came out of it. The innovative control scheme that we came up with adds that layer of fun and accessibility that a lot of iPhone games are missing.”

Andrew acknowledges the challenge of rising above a flooded market – “no matter how well-designed the game was or how fun it was to play, without any marketing or reviews, the game will slip between the cracks and into App Store obscurity” – but at the end of the day, it’s about successfully creating an enjoyable play experience for gamers. The team knows it’s done that. (Video showing off the gameplay can be found here.)

“Once you start playing the game and getting into the flow of shooting enemies, gravity nodes, and coins, it’s quite difficult to put down,” he says. “I’ve heard quite a few reports of people missing their stops on the Skytrain…”

(Alien Space Lizards ATTACK!!! on iTunes)

Alien Space Lizards ATTACK!!! and Flip TacTic are two recent examples of VFS alumni finding ways to get their work out there. Are you a VFS grad developing for the iPhone, or finding other distribution avenues for your indie projects? Let us know at blog@vfs.com!

There’s no doubt Avatar is huge. Like, Titanic huge.

Even before James Cameron’s mainstream masterpiece was released, the buzz was hard to ignore. Everything was top secret, from the characters to the world designs and — probably — the exact shade of Na’vi blue.

In the lead up to the hard release date of Ubisoft’s James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game, Film Production grad Kevin Shortt took the reins as Lead Scriptwriter, charged with delivering a storyline that would satisfy what would soon be a legion of Avatar fans.

Talk about pressure to perform.

As we recently blogged, Kevin and Writing for Film & Television instructor John Meadows were quickly immersed into the world of Avatar and worked directly with Cameron’s staff and some of the film’s stars.

Kevin graciously made some time to answer our questions about the demands of writing the game adaptation of one of the biggest films in recent history.

Could you start off by talking about what you currently do at Ubisoft?

Kevin: I’m a scriptwriter and story designer at Ubisoft Montreal. I’ve been with the company for over three and a half years. I started as the Lead Scriptwriter on Lost: Via Domus, then I wrote for Far Cry 2.  And now I’ve just completed James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game.

What was your role on the game adaptation ? Can you explain how you collaborated with Cameron’s team on this project?

Read the rest of this story »

When BioWare’s Mass Effect hit shelves in late ‘07, it was with a great deal of anticipation. And although the game wasn’t without its flaws, it’s also very fondly remembered – all in all, a great kickoff for an original IP.

Which explains the buzz surrounding Mass Effect 2, due tomorrow. ME2 promises a giant leap in interactive narrative, while ironing out the kinks of the first game.

We mentioned this fall that VFS grads have a huge presence at BioWare when we interviewed alum and designer Mark Barazzuol about eventual RPG of the Year and PC Game of the Year Dragon Age: Origins. Well, VFS’s connections with Mass Effect 2 run even deeper. By our count, at least 12 14 VFS grads worked on Mass Effect 2, from programs like Sound Design for Visual Media, 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Game Design, and even Film Production.

Game Design grad and ME2 Lead Cinematic Designer Armando Troisi was interviewed by ND Net recently. Choice quote: “Overall, this title propels the cinematic design from ME1 forward an entire generation and I’m excited to see the reactions from the public.” (Here’s our own interview with Armando from the time of the first game’s release.)

We can also tell you, by way of a VFS Blog exclusive preview, that Armando will be joining us at Game Design Expo 2010 (April 10-11) with a talk titled Get Your Game Out Of My Movie! Interactive Narrative Design in Mass Effect 2. More announcements – and ticket sales – coming soon! Visit gamedesignexpo.com for the latest.

Also, stay tuned for more ME2 talk right here on the blog tomorrow.

Full list of VFS grads on Mass Effect 2 after the jump:

Read the rest of this story »

Last week, CIS Vancouver’s Visual Effects Supervisor Bruce Woloshyn dropped by to chat with students from the 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Game Design, and Digital Design programs.

Bruce gave an insider’s look into how visual effects and green screen technology are used in movies today, as exemplified in CIS Vancouver’s lengthy list of credits.  He also noted how, due to vast improvements in technology, visual effects are starting to invade other more expensive departments on a film shoot, such as stunts and makeup.

You can check out Bruce’s recent work in the upcoming film Tooth Fairy, which also features the work from this VFS Makeup Design grad.

If you come here often, you know the kind of year 2009 was for VFS. ”Banner year” doesn’t begin to describe it.

We’re proud – proud of what our students and alumni accomplished in 2009, proud of their incredible talent, proud of the profound effect they had on the global entertainment industry and beyond.

It’s not easy to pick favourite moments of the year. Was it District 9, which truly cemented the VFS community as a creative force to be reckoned with?

Or was it those moments that truly inspired us – students shedding light on unrest in Iran, or young women breaking down barriers in the game industry, or emerging filmmakers making a difference in Uganda?

2009. It was big.

So big, in fact, that it couldn’t be contained in a blog post. So we’ve put together a page for you: Vancouver Film School in 2009: A Restrospective. It’s a month-by-month celebration of this incredible year – videos we loved, stories and interviews that defined our year, plus alumni credits, trivia… you name it.

Check it out: vfs.com/2009

The VFS Blog Team and all of us here at Vancouver Film School wish you and yours a happy, safe holiday season and a very Happy New Year. We’ll still be posting over the holidays, so stay tuned!

“This is really a prequel to the movie,” says Writing for Film & Television instructor John Meadows (WiseGirls, Lost: Via Domus). During a recent Writing for Games master class, John walked current Writing and Game Design students through his most recent writing project: an XBox 360 adaptation of James Cameron’s much-anticipated film, Avatar.

After writing the game adaptation for the hit television series Lost, John was no stranger to meeting the high demands of Hollywood’s A-list talent. Avatar: The Game put him in frequent contact with the likes of the film’s producer John Landau along with Sigourney Weaver.

“We had a lot of pressure to make sure everything was up to speed,” he said to the audience inside the new Writing campus‘ HD theatre.

As students are learning in a newly-added course on Writing for Games, the writing process greatly differs from writing for film or television. In John’s experience adapting pre-existing films and television series to video games, writers come in toward the end of the production and rush to meet the game’s release deadline.

“The first week I was there [at Ubisoft Montreal], I got slapped with the whole glossary of Na’vi,” John says, referring to the native language of the film’s mystical planet, Pandora.

Along with his co-writer on this project – Film Production grad Kevin Shortt — John penned a script that reached approximately 900 pages. [Considering the average film screenplay is about 110 pages -- wow!]

A big congratulations to John on the game’s release and his continued success!

Click here to learn more about Avatar: The Game.