At Gotland University in Sweden the students spend one year developing one large game to earn their degree. All lectures and literature received during the one year course IGPS (International Game Production Studies) are connected to the game they make. Since the course is on-line based, anyone in the world with the right qualifications can apply.
Gotland University has several game related educations. The course IGPS, takes the students through different focus areas from idea, concept development, via planning and production, to release. All of the assignments given to the students are applied to the game they are developing. -”Learning by doing is by far the best way of learning. That’s why everything in this course is related to one game project that the students do. That means that all your efforts during the education will go to improving the game” says Troels Linde, teacher at Gotland University.
One of the games this year is “Penalty of Heroes” a game that will be released on Xbox Live this fall. -“This is a large project with over 10 people involved and we have to manage it like any other big budget project such as the games made by Blizzard or Valve. It’s a great way to get experience and education at the same time” says Håkan Mattsson, producer of the game.
Many of the former students at Gotland University are now working at well-known game studios such as DICE, Grin, Avalanche and Massive Entertainment. The cooperation with these established game studios is one of the key factors to good education. -“We get mentors from successful game studios that give us feedback and share their experiences regarding game development. It’s a true privilege” says Nicklas Johansson, student at IGPS.
Some students start their own game companies after their education. The well reviewed PC game “Penumbra – Overtune” released in 2007, was one of the first games developed at IGPS.
April 14th is the last application day for the class of IGPS starting in September 2009.