NEWS: MEET OUR FACULTY: NICOLÒ SALA (A.A. 2020-2021)

WE’RE DELIGHTED TO INTRODUCE NICOLÒ SALA, A TALENTED SOUND DESIGNER WHO WILL BE TEACHING GAME SOUND IN OUR PROGRAM.

Nicolò Sala is a freelance Graphic Designer, Sound Designer and Music Composer. He founded his own company in 2015, Studio Clangore, specialized in digital adaptations of board games. In his +10 years experience in the gaming industry, he collaborated with many companies in the industry, including Asmodee Digital, Slitherine, Colorado Film, Horrible Guild, Cranio Creations, Santa Ragione. He teaches Digital Image Elaboration at LABA University, Brescia. Sala received his B.A. in Communication Design from Politecnico di Milano, and was certified by SAE Institute di Milano in Sound Design and cinema audio production. Today, he is charge of a product’s audio-visual design and production, composition, animation, and interaction.

With GAME SOUND students will be able to grasp the basic concepts of game audio and what it means to design and produce audio for non-linear media. Starting from the fundamentals of sound creation, recording, sourcing, mixing and editing common to film and music, the course will illustrate the best design practices, what to expect while working with different platforms and audiences, roles and skills, and the specific limits and the possibilities of interactive audio.

Nella stessa serie: MARE SHEPPARD (GAME CONTEXTS), PIETRO POLSINELLI (GAME WRITING), AURIEA HARVEY & MICHAËL SAMYN (GAME ART)

NEWS: MEET OUR FACULTY: AURIEA HARVEY & MICHAËL SAMYN (A.A. 2020-2021)

SIAMO FELICI DI PRESENTARVI UNA BREVE VIDEO CHAT CON AURIEA HARVEY & MICHAËL SAMIN CHE ANCHE QUEST’ANNO INSEGNANO GAME ART NEL MASTER OF ARTS IN GAME DESIGN DELL’UNIVERSITÀ IULM DI MILANO.

GAME ART will guide students in developing the look and feel of their games. An emphasis will be placed on a practical and experimental frameworks for individuals and small teams, with students approaching art direction and production as artists, moving laterally between all aspects of the pipeline, from research and outlining, to digital content creation in 2d and 3d. As an introduction to this approach, the course will start with a brief survey of video and computer graphics history and look at how artists and programmers have creatively incorporated the features and limitations of their tools and hardware as parameters of a visual language, or how they have side-stepped them altogether. Students will learn valuable skills in creating authored content, such as: how to imagine the player's experience inside your virtual world; using 3D software for modeling, rigging and animation, photogrammetry, 3D scanning and motion capture; and use of 2D software for imaging, digital painting, texturing, typography and UI work. Unique approaches for building Materials, Shaders, Lighting, and Effects, will also be emphasized in coursework, to exemplify the various alternative and creative ways to develop a visual style and atmosphere beyond photorealism.

Auriea Harvey is co-founder of Tale of Tales. Net art pioneers, she and Michael Samyn have been creating award winning independent games and digital artworks together for the past twenty years. From multiplayer deer screensaver The Endless Forest to IGF Nuovo prize winning sex game Luxuria Superbia to the extreme politics of Sunset to technicolor horror fairy tale The Path; Auriea has designed, modeled, and experimented with the medium of polygons inside game engines. Her philosophy is to do whatever it takes, whatever she can, to get across a concept. Using digital and analog techniques, drawing from diverse cultural references, she creates works of subtle (and not so subtle) expression. Her emphasis is always on what it means to be human with your finger on the button. She is currently creating paintings, sculptures, and experiments with VR. She teaches in Kassel, Germany, and Milan, Italy.

Michaël Samyn is half of Tale of Tales, an artist couple that has been masquerading as an independent game development studio for 12 years during which they published 8 games - The Endless Forest, The Graveyard, The Path, Fatale, Vanitas, Bientôt l'été, Luxuria Superbia and Sunset -, each of which was met with equal measures of applause and consternation. Michaël sort of hates games. But he loves the medium that videogames use because he sees in it the possibility to continue the great tradition of art and culture that was rudely interrupted by the modernism of the 20th century. With a background in graphic design, furniture design, music, web design, net.art and videogames, and a passion for Old Master art and Christian architecture, Michaël currently explores the amalgamation of the sacred and the digital in Tale-of-Tales' first post-games project, Cathedral-in-the-Clouds.

Nella stessa serie: PIETRO POLSINELLI (GAME WRITING)

NEWS: LORENZO SALVADORI JOINS THE FACULTY

We’re happy to announce that Lorenzo Salvadori has joined the faculty of the Master of Arts in Game Design at IULM University.

Lorenzo will teach GAME SOUND, an extended workshop focusing on the process of creating music and sound design for video games, both as a personal endeavor or working in a small team. It will cover cover common audio mistakes and highlight areas often neglected by game developers. One of the topics discussed is how sound can be used as a game design tool, discussing primarily player feedback and providing examples of how using audio early in development can help when playtesting and pitching, to give greybox environments a sense of space and to better communicate mechanics to players. Software used includes Audacity, Ableton Live, Unity.

Taught online in English - like all our courses - GAME SOUND will be available to non-enrolled students as well. For additional information, click here. GAME SOUND starts April 30 2020.

Lorenzo Salvadori is a sound designer with a Bachelor of Science in Astronomy and an extensive background in music. Currently living in Leamington Spa, Great Britain, Lorenzo works as an Experienced Sound Designer at Codemasters, where he is responsible for vehicle sounds and their implementation, mixing the game and sound design for in-game and marketing videos and trailers. His previous work experiences include Ivory Tower and Milestone s.r.l.. He also taught sound design in a game design school in Milan, Italy.

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Siamo felici di annunciare che Lorenzo Salvadori è entrato a far parte della facoltà del Master of Arts in Game Design dell’Università IULM.

Lorenzo insegnerà GAME SOUND, un workshop intenso si concentra sull’esplorazione del processo di creazione di musica e sound design per videogiochi, sia a livello individuale che in team di piccole dimensioni. Verranno esaminati gli errori audio più comuni, evidenziando aree spesso trascurate dagli sviluppatori di videogiochi. Uno degli argomenti trattati è l’uso del suono come strumento di progettazione, concentrandosi principalmente sul feedback dei giocatori, illustrando il ruolo e la funzione del suono durante i test e le fase di pitching per dare creare un senso di spazio e per comunicare meglio meccaniche e dinamiche ludiche. Il software utilizzato nel workshop include Audacity, Ableton Live, Unity.

Il workshop sarà insegnato in lingua inglese, attraverso la modalità della didattica a distanza: è offerto à la carte a tutti gli interessati, al di là degli studenti iscritti al Master. Per ulteriori informazioni, cliccate qui. GAME SOUND avrà inizio il 30 aprile 2020.

Lorenzo Salvadori è un sound designer con una laurea in Astronomia e un vasto background musicale. Vive attualmente a Leamington Spa, nel Regno Unito, e lavora come Experienced Sound Designer presso Codemasters, dove è responsabile dei suoni dei veicoli e della loro implementazione, mixando il gioco e il sound design per video e trailer in-game e marketing. In precedenza ha lavorato presso Ivory Tower e Milestone s.r.l. e ha insegnato sound design in una scuola di game design a Milano, Italia.

NEWS: MEET OUR FACULTY AURIEA HARVEY AND MICHAËL SAMYN

VIDEO GAMES ARE MORE THAN STORIES: THEY ARE FICTIONAL SPACES THAT CAN BE EXPLORED, TRAVERSED, INHABITED. MEET THE ARCHITECTS WHO WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO DESIGN A FICTIONAL WORLD THAT DOES NOT FALL APART IN TWO DAYS: AURIEA HARVEY AND MICHAËL SAMYN

Meet Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn, aka Tale of Tales, one of the most celebrated real time artist collective. Auriea and Michael return to Milan to teach GAME ART. Check them out in this great interview from IndieCade Europe 2018. The interview was conducted by Laurent Checola, coordinated with the help of Romain Taupin, with François Glévarec in sound and images, edited by Tiphaine Tribouilloy and animated by Baptiste Glévarec.

GAME ART will guide students in developing the look and feel of their games. An emphasis will be placed on a practical and experimental frameworks for individuals and small teams, with students approaching art direction and production as artists, moving laterally between all aspects of the pipeline, from research and outlining, to digital content creation in 2d and 3d. As an introduction to this approach, the course will start with a brief survey of video and computer graphics history and look at how artists and programmers have creatively incorporated the features and limitations of their tools and hardware as parameters of a visual language, or how they have side-stepped them altogether. Students will learn valuable skills in creating authored content, such as: how to imagine the player's experience inside your virtual world; using 3D software for modeling, rigging and animation, photogrammetry, 3D scanning and motion capture; and use of 2D software for imaging, digital painting, texturing, typography and UI work. Unique approaches for building Materials, Shaders, Lighting, and Effects, will also be emphasized in coursework, to exemplify the various alternative and creative ways to develop a visual style and atmosphere beyond photorealism.

Auriea Harvey is co-founder of Tale of Tales. Net art pioneers, she and Michael Samyn have been creating award winning independent games and digital artworks together for the past twenty years. From multiplayer deer screensaver The Endless Forest to IGF Nuovo prize winning sex game Luxuria Superbia to the extreme politics of Sunset to technicolor horror fairy tale The Path; Auriea has designed, modeled, and experimented with the medium of polygons inside game engines. Her philosophy is to do whatever it takes, whatever she can, to get across a concept. Using digital and analog techniques, drawing from diverse cultural references, she creates works of subtle (and not so subtle) expression. Her emphasis is always on what it means to be human with your finger on the button. She is currently creating paintings, sculptures, and experiments with VR. She teaches in Kassel, Germany and Milan, Italy.

Michaël Samyn is half of Tale of Tales, an artist couple that has been masquerading as an independent game development studio for twelve years during which they published 8 games - The Endless Forest, The Graveyard, The Path, Fatale, Vanitas, Bientôt l'été, Luxuria Superbia and Sunset -, each of which was met with equal measures of applause and consternation. Michaël sort of hates games. But he loves the medium that videogames use because he sees in it the possibility to continue the great tradition of art and culture that was rudely interrupted by the modernism of the 20th century. With a background in graphic design, furniture design, music, web design, net.art and videogames, and a passion for Old Master art and Christian architecture, Michaël currently explores the amalgamation of the sacred and the digital in Tale-of-Tales' first post-games project, Cathedral-in-the-Clouds. 

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I VIDEOGIOCHI SONO PIÙ CHE SEMPLICE STORIE: SONO SPAZI FANTASTICI CHE POSSONO ESSERE ESPLORATI, ATTRAVERSATI, ABITATI. VI PRESENTIAMO GLI ARCHITETTI CHE VI INSEGNERANNO A PROGETTARE UN MONDO IMMAGINARIO CHE NON CADE A PEZZI IN DUE GIORNI: AURIEA HARVEY E MICHAËL SAMYN

Siamo felici di annunciare che Auriea Harvey e Michaël, aka Tale of Tales, uno dei più collettivi di real time artists più celebrati, fanno ritorno a Milano per insegnare GAME ART presso il Master of Arts in Game Design dell’Università IULM. Abbiamo preso in prestito questa splendida intervista realizzata dal team di IndieCade Europe 2018 per presentarveli. L'intervista è stata condotta da Laurent Checola, coordinato con l'aiuto di Romain Taupin, con François Glévarec in suoni e immagini, a cura di Tiphaine Tribouilloy e animato da Baptiste Glévarec.

GAME ART guiderà gli studenti nello sviluppo del look- and-feel dei loro videogiochi. Il corso prevede un approccio pratico e sperimentale per singoli e gruppi, avvicinando gli studenti alla direzione artistica e alla produzione, esaminando tutti gli aspetti del processo, dalla ricerca alla progettazione, passando per la creazione di contenuti digitali in 2D e 3D. Il corso prevede una sintetica rassegna della storia del video grafica e della computer grafica, con l’obiettivo di mostrare come artisti e programmatori hanno integrato in modo creativo gli strumenti tecnologici e le caratteristiche dell’hardware, trasformandoli nei parametri di un nuovo linguaggio visivo. Gli studenti apprenderanno preziose competenze per lo sviluppo di contenuti d’autore, tra cui la capacità di visualizzare l’esperienza del giocatore all'interno del mondo virtuale; l’utilizzo di software 3D per la modellazione, il rigging e l’animazione, la fotogrammetria, la scansione 3D e la cattura del movimento; e l’uso di software 2D per l’imaging, la pittura digitale, la testurizzazione, la tipografia e la creazione di un’interfaccia. Il corso enfatizza approcci innovativi per quanto concerne l’uso di shaders, illuminazione e shaders per illustrare tecniche alternative per sviluppare uno stile visivo e un’atmosfera che trascende il mero fotorealismo.

Auriea Harvey è co-fondatrice dello studio Tale of Tales. Pioniera della net art, insieme a Michael Samyn, negli ultimi vent’anni ha sviluppato giochi indipendenti pluripremiati e opere d'arte digitale. Dallo screensaver multigiocatore The Endless Forest al pluripremiato gioco sul sesso Luxuria Superbia, che ha ottenuto il primo premio nella categoria IGF Nuovo, fino alla politica estrema della favola in technicolor The Path, Auriea ha progettato, modellato e rivoluzionato il mondo dei videogiochi. La sua filosofia è fare tutto ciò che occorre, tutto ciò che è possibile per comunicare un concetto. Utilizzando tecniche digitali e analogiche, attingendo da diversi riferimenti culturali, Auriea crea opere espressive concettualmente sofisticate ed esteticamente impeccabili. Pone l’enfasi sulla relazione tra umanità e interazione videoludica. Oggi crea dipinti, sculture e esperimenti con la realtà virtuale. Insegna a Kassel, in Germania e a Milano.

Michaël Samyn è il cofondatore di Tale of Tales, una duo artistico che si è spacciato per oltre dodici anni come studio indipendente di sviluppo di videogiochi durante i quali ha pubblicato otto titoli, tra cui The Endless Forest, The Graveyard, The Path, Fatale, Vanitas, Bientôt l'été, Luxuria Superbia e Sunset, accolti in uguale misura con applausi e sorpresa. In un certo senso, Michaël odia i videogiochi. Ma ama profondamente il mezzo che essi utilizzano perché in esso egli vede la possibilità di proseguire la tradizione artistica e culturale che è stata bruscamente interrotta dal modernismo del XX secolo. Con una formazione in graphic design, furniture design, musica, web design, net.art e videogiochi e una passione sfrenata per l’arte classica e l’architettura cristiana, Michaël esplora attualmente la fusione del sacro e del digitale nel primo progetto post-ludico di Tale-of-Tales, Cathedral-in-the-Clouds.

KIERAN NOLAN JOINS THE FACULTY

We are delighted to announce that Kieran Nolan has joined the faculty and he will be teaching GAME AESTHETICS.

Kieran Nolan is an artist-researcher, indie-game designer, and academic. He is a lecturer with the Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music at Dundalk Institute of Technology, where he is Programme Director of the BA in Media Arts and Technologies and the BA (Hons) in Communications and Creative Multimedia, and co-organiser of the Picteilín Creative Media and Games Studies Conference. Kieran is also a PhD candidate in Digital Arts and Humanities with the Graphics Vision and Visualisation group at Trinity College, Dublin. His PhD research explores the aesthetic, material and connective properties of the arcade videogame interface. Kieran’s research work has been published at conferences and exhibitions worldwide, including Vector Game Art and New Media Festival (Toronto), The Science Gallery (Dublin), Eurogamer Expo (London), Future and Reality of Gaming/F.R.O.G. (Vienna), International Symposium of Electronic Art /ISEA (Belfast, Hong Kong), ZIL Cultural Centre (Moscow), the A MAZE. International Independent Video Games Festival (Berlin), METEOR (Tokyo), MAKE (Cork), Transmediale (Berlin), Art.CHI (Seoul), Game On! El arte en juego (Buenos Aires), and Playing The Game (Milan).

Among his games are Arcade Operator (2017)

And Control (2015)

Read more about Kieran Nolan's games and project here.