NEWS: PIETRO RIGHI RIVA WINS BIG AT INDIECADE 2018

Pietro Righi Riva’s latest game, Asta Grande, won the Innovation in Experience Design Award at Indiecade 2018.

The Innovation in Experience Design honors the craft or design of the game that provides a unique, curated experience. This year, the award was given to Asta Grande, a drop-in, drop-out crowd game for thirty people, described as

A pretend auction of legendary items mediated by a digital interface that is used by the auctioneer to present the lots and keep track of players’ objectives and funds. Players receive a character card that doubles as their bidding paddle, and they raise it when they are interested in an item being auctioned.

This game was originally commissioned by the NYU Game Center for the 2017 No Quarter exhibition.

The IndieCade Festival is the premiere international event dedicated to celebrating independent games from around the globe. Now in its second decade, IndieCade is held each October in the Los Angeles area and this important, fun-filled event draws industry and public from around the world.

IndieCade Festival 2018, October 12th - 13th offered a unique opportunity to play and preview the latest innovative indie games of all types and from around the world. Attendees enjoyed the opportunity to play new and innovative games and meet with their creators, as well as sessions, workshops, business networking, social activities, tournaments, entertainment and more. IndieCade kicks off with an in-depth game developer summit with creators of new titles, as well as legends from across the industry.

Pietro Righi Riva teaches GAME PRODUCTION in the M.A. in Game Design at IULM University. He is co-founder and studio director at Santa Ragione where he worked on multiple award-winning independent games, such as MirrorMoon EP, FOTONICA, and Wheels of Aurelia. Righi Riva received his Ph.D in Interaction Design from Politecnico di Milano. Pietro has been a lecturer at Politecnico di Milano, California College of Arts, Shanghai Theater Academy, Tsinghua University among others. He lectured at several international conferences and festival including the Game Developers Conference, Fantastic Arcade, and many more. Righi Riva’s design philosophy is aimed at developing games that are not objective-driven, and adopts the concept of playful technology to integrate expressive technical limitations in his designs. His work was displayed at the Venice Biennale and the MCA in Chicago. In 2016, Pietro published a manifesto for nontraditional playable media called “rejecta”. He lives and works in Milan. 

Read more about Asta Grande

Read more about Pietro Righi Riva

All images courtesy of Indiecade

NEWS: VIDEO PRESENTATION OF THE M.A. IN GAME DESIGN

On September 19, 2018, Matteo Bittanti and Pietro Righi Riva introduced the 2018-2019 Master of Arts Program in Game Design at IULM University during the Fall Master Day. You can watch the full presentation above.

Highlights:

NEW PROFESSORS & NEW COURSES: Jake Elliott (GAME WRITING),Tamas Kemenczy (GAME ART), Raigan Burns (GAME LIT), and Lorenzo Mosna (GAME CAM).

GAME DESIGN AWARDS: The most engaged, talented, and creative students will received a 4,000 (four thousand) euros award at the end of the year.

GAME SHOW: Our excellent graduates will present their projects on October 12, 2018. The event is free and open to the public. 

GAME TALKS 2019: The 2019 line-up of talks, performances, and lectures is going to be massive. Stay tuned for more information.

DEADLINE: There are still a few spots available: the application is less than a month away (October 19, 2018).

NEWS: LORENZO MOSNA JOINS THE M.A. PROGRAM IN GAME DESIGN AT IULM UNIVERSITY

PHOTO BY GABRIELE PUTZU, TICINO PRESS, 2018

STRIKE FOUR: Lorenzo Mosna will be teaching GAME CAM, a brand new extended workshop in the Master of Arts Program in Game Design at IULM.

Lorenzo Mosna received his B.A. in Cinema, Television and New Media with a Thesis focusing on the relationship between cinema and video games. Since 2007, he has been working as a game and film critic. His contributions have appeared on some of Italy's leading national publications. He was Editor in Chief of the international network Game Reactor and Managing Director of Spaziogames, one of the largest game web magazines in Italy. A Lecturer at IULM University where he teaches Practice and Techniques of Streaming Media, Mosna is also Professor of History and Critique of Video Games at Civica Scuola Luchino Visconti in Milan. Read more about Lorenzo Mosna’s projects here.

GAME CAM focuses on the relationship between the cinematic camera and the virtual camera used in video games and 3D animation. This extended workshop examines the rules of image composition, starting from the notion of cinematic framing to the way in which the conventions of Renaissance painting can be applied to video game graphics. GAME CAM provides an overview of film techniques and their possible uses in digital gaming, drawing a trajectory that begins with Orson Welles and culminates with Hideo Kojima. Particular attention will be devoted to film grammar and editing, in order to develop skills that will allow students to produce a cut scene or a fiction/nonfiction machinima. Students will master advanced editing softwares and apply the rules of filming to a virtual environment. For their final project, participants will create a non-interactive video by appropriating sequences from a video game.

NEWS: RAIGAN BURNS JOINS THE M.A. PROGRAM IN GAME DESIGN AT IULM UNIVERSITY

YES INDEED: THE CO-FOUNDER OF METANET SOFTWARE, RAIGAN BURNS, IS TEACHING A BRAND NEW COURSE IN THE M.A. PROGRAM IN GAME DESIGN AT IULM UNIVERSITY, GAME LIT (AS IN “LITERACY”).

Raigan Burns is a programmer and game designer with a background in computer science, philosophy, and cinema studies. He is the other half of Metanet Software Inc., a boutique game developer founded in Toronto in 2001 that produced the acclaimed series N, N+, and N++. His games focus on revisiting the great designs of the past and re-evaluating them from a fresh perspective, making games which are engaging, innovative, intriguing and most importantly: fun. Raigan's obsessions include electronic music, emergent behaviour, systemic game design, the rehabilitation of the term roguelike, and cats. Read more about Raigan’s projects here.

GAMES LIT is a short course that exposes students to a range of novel game designs and styles in order to develop basic literacy, in terms of both game design and knowledge of the field. A variety of games will be explored via play, guided discussion, and critical analysis. The works covered are exclusively independently developed, predominantly from solo or 2-person teams; beyond ensuring that students are well-read in contemporary independent games, this course is also designed to show students what tiny teams with limited resources can - and can't - accomplish.

NEWS: TAMAS KEMENCZY JOINS THE M.A. PROGRAM IN GAME DESIGN AT IULM UNIVERSITY

We are thrilled to announce that Tamas Kemenczy has joined the M.A. program in Game Design at IULM University. In the 2018-2019 academic year, Jake will teach GAME ART.

Tamas Kemenczy is co-founder and one-third of Cardboard Computer, an award-winning studio known for Kentucky Route Zero, where he does game design, visual art and graphics programming. His visual work on the game has received awards from both IGF and IndieCade, and has been shown at the Art Institute of Chicago, Victoria & Albert Museum, Museum of Pop Culture (EMP), and The Museum of the Moving Image. His visual art takes an art-historical approach, calling back to early video hardware and computer graphics efforts by artist-programmers. He has a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied new media and art games. Read more about his work here.

GAME ART will guide students in developing the visual style for their games. An emphasis will be placed on a practical framework for individuals and small teams, with students approaching art direction and production as artist-programmers, moving laterally between all aspects of the pipeline, from research and outlining, to digital content creation, to shading and procedural graphics. 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 using 3D CAD software for modeling, rigging and animation, and 2D software for texturing, typography and UI work. The DCC software we will be using in coursework, Blender and GIMP, are known for their prowess in scripting and students will learn to use these tools programmatically/procedurally as well. Shader programming will also be emphasized in coursework, to exemplify the various alternative and creative ways they can be used to develop a visual style and language beyond photorealism, which is already provided by Unity as a default.

NEWS: JAKE ELLIOTT JOINS THE M.A. PROGRAM IN GAME DESIGN AT IULM UNIVERSITY

The rumors are true: We are delighted to announce that Jake Elliott has joined the M.A. program in Game Design at IULM University. In the 2018-2019 academic year, Jake will teach GAME WRITING.

Jake Elliott is co-founder of Cardboard Computer, where he is a writer, programmer, and designer on the game Kentucky Route Zero. His work is characterized by playful text, reflective pacing, and human-scale drama. He has been designing nonviolent, slow-paced, narrative games since early 2010. In 2011, his game A House in California was a finalist in the IGF's Nuovo category. Around that time, Jake co-founded game studio Cardboard Computer with Tamas Kemenczy, and started working on our first game, Kentucky Route Zero. Jake has taught videogame design, programming, and experimental animation at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, DePaul University and Northwestern University. He lives in central Kentucky. Read more about Jake’s projects here.

GAME WRITING is a hands-on study of the many ways text and writing can figure into videogame design -- branching dialog, narrative design, hypertext fiction, and text as digital material. The course combines technical tutorial with writer's workshop. Students will learn the writing-centric scripting language Ink, and how to integrate it in to their own larger projects. Games and other playful texts, electronic and otherwise will be also analyzed and discussed in class.

EVENT: GAME SHOW (OCTOBER 12, 2018)

FULL VIDEO BELOW

GAME SHOW
Friday October 12 2018
6.00 - 7.00 pm
Aula Seminari (sixth floor)
IULM University
Via Carlo Bo 1
20143, Milano
Free entry

IULM University is proud to present the projects developed by the graduating students of the M.A. in Game Design, a new generation of game designers.

MILAN, ITALY - Friday October 12, 2018, from 6 pm, IULM University will host the first edition of GAME SHOW, an event open to the public showcasing the projects developed by the students of the Master of Arts in Game Design throughout the 2017-2018 academic year. During the ceremony, students will be handed their diplomas. GAME SHOW will be broadcast live on the YouTube channel of the IULM University, in English.

Ranging from advanced video games to interactive experiences situated at the intersection of  design, storytelling and simulation, the works display a high level of ingenuity, creativity, and diversity. The line-up features:

Can’t You See It? di Laura Carrera

HackTheCube di Gemma Fantacci

Half-True di Eduardo Tassi

Heritage di Alessandro Colantonio e Francesco Montibello

Horses di Andrea Lucco Borlera

Paradise Valley di Stefano Pedrocchi

Sketched Out di Giacomo Pettinato

Unwhole di Petar Mavroviev

Directed by Prof. Gianni Canova and coordinated by Dr. Dott. Matteo Bittanti, the Master of Arts in Game Design debuted in November 2017. The Second edition will start on November 13 2018. Applications will be considered until October 19, 2018.

A unique program in Europe, the Master of Arts in Game Design is a groundbreaking one-year, full-time, English-only, studio-based Master of Arts (M.A.) program located in the center of Milan, Italy's most vibrant city. Designed for students interested in creating innovative games and interactive experiences, this Program will lead graduates to advanced work in game design and new media production. The Faculty features some of the most talented designers, scholars, and authors working today who are highly committed to their research, practice, and teaching.

CONTACTS

Matteo Bittanti matteo.bittanti@iulm.it (Coordinator, Master of Arts in Game Design)

Debora Rigato debora.rigato@iulm.it (Director, IULM Communication)

Alessia Scordo alessia.scordo@iulm.it (Managing Director, Scuola di Comunicazione IULM)

GAME SHOW
Venerdì 12 ottobre 2018
Dalle ore 18.00 alle ore 19.00
IULM Aula Seminari (sesto piano)
Via Carlo Bo 1
20143, Milano
Ingresso gratuito

L’Università IULM celebra le opere interattive realizzate da una nuova generazione di game designers, i primi diplomati del Master of Arts in Game Design.

MILANO - Venerdì 12 ottobre dalle ore 18.00 presso l’Aula Seminari dell'Università IULM si terrà GAME SHOW, un evento aperto al pubblico nel quale saranno presentati i progetti realizzati dagli studenti del Master of Arts in Game Design nell’anno accademico 2017-2018. Durante la cerimonia verranno inoltre consegnati i diplomi. GAME SHOW verrà trasmesso in diretta streaming sul canale YouTube dell’Università IULM, in inglese.

Le opere presentate - che spaziano da sofisticati videogiochi ad esperienze interattive in bilico tra arte, design, narrazione e simulazione - dimostrano un notevole livello di inegnosità, creatività e diversità. Line-up:

Can’t You See It? di Laura Carrera

HackTheCube di Gemma Fantacci

Half-True di Eduardo Tassi

Heritage di Alessandro Colantonio e Francesco Montibello

Horses di Andrea Lucco Borlera

Paradise Valley di Stefano Pedrocchi

Sketched Out di Giacomo Pettinato

Unwhole di Petar Mavroviev

Diretto dal Prof. Gianni Canova e coordinato dal Dott. Matteo Bittanti, il Master of Arts in Game Design è stato inaugurato nel novembre 2017. La seconda edizione avrà inizio il 13 novembre 2018. Le iscrizioni sono aperte fino al 19 ottobre 2018.

Unico nel suo genere in Europa, il Master of Arts in Game Design è indirizzato a studenti desiderosi di creare esperienze ludiche e interattive di altissimo livello, capaci di comunicare idee ed emozioni profonde attraverso il gameplay. Il programma offre nove moduli tenuti da sviluppatori di videogiochi professionisti, designer, artisti e accademici di fama internazionale. Il Master Universitario di Primo Livello dell’Università IULM fornisce tutti gli strumenti necessari per intraprendere una carriera specialistica nel settore videoludico.

CONTATTI

Matteo Bittanti matteo.bittanti@iulm.it (Coordinatore, Master of Arts in Game Design)

Debora Rigato debora.rigato@iulm.it (Responsabile, IULM Communication)

Alessia Scordo alessia.scordo@iulm.it (Responsabile, Scuola di Comunicazione IULM)

EVENT: MASTER DAY (SEPTEMBER 19 2018)

SEGNATEVI LA DATA!

Mercoledì 19 settembre 2018 sveleremo il programma completo del Master of Arts in Game Design 2018-2019. La presentazione avrà luogo in Aula Seminari (IULM 1, sesto piano) dalle 11.30 alle 12.00.

La presentazione è gratuita e aperta al pubblico.

Vi aspettiamo!

L'evento sarà trasmesso in diretta streaming sul canale YouTube dell'Università IULM.

Come arrivare in IULM

Contatti

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

On Wednesday September 19 2018 we will officially unveil the full program of the Master of Arts in Game Design 2018-2019. The presentation will take place in Aula Seminari (IULM 1), from 11.30 to 12.00 am.

The event is free and open to the public.

See you there!

The presentation will be live streamed on IULM's YouTube channel. 

How to reach IULM

Contacts

NEWS: SCHOLARSHIPS & PRIZES FOR THE 2018-2019 ACADEMIC YEAR

Il Master of Arts in Game Design della IULM offre 5 Premi di Studio che ammontano a €4000.

I premi saranno assegnati sulla base della valutazione dei docenti al termine degli studi agli studenti che avranno ottenuto il migliore rendimento.

I Premi di Studio coprono all'incirca il 50% dei costi delle tasse (per gli studenti Italiani ed EU), ma non prevedono la copertura delle spese di vitto e alloggio e di viaggio.

Possono vincere un Premio di Studio gli studenti regolarmente iscritti al Master of Arts in Game Design (2018-2019) secondo i termini previsti e le modalità di pagamento delle rate indicate.

I Premi di Studio sono rivolti a studenti italiani, appartenenti alla comunità europea ed extra-EU.

La pubblicazione delle graduatorie sarà comunicata il 15 luglio 2019.

Per ulteriori informazioni, cliccate qui.

The M.A. program in Game Design at IULM University is offering 5 PRIZES each amounting to €4000.

The prizes will be awarded to the best students based on an evaluation of their performance throughout the year by the entire Faculty. 

Each prize covers approximately half of the overall tuition fees (for Italian and EU students). Meals, accommodation, and travel expenses are not included.

To be eligible for a prize, students must be properly enrolled in the 2018-2019 M.A. in Game Design at IULM University, in good academic standing, and with tuition fees paid in full.

These prizes are available to all enrolled students, that is, Italian, EU-, and extra-EU students.

The awarded students will be notified on July 15, 2019.

For more information, click here.

 

 

COMUNICATO STAMPA

Scuola di Comunicazione IULM mette a disposizione una serie di premi studio a copertura totale o parziale dell’intero importo dei Master Universitari ed Executive erogati presso la sede di Milano e Roma. Il premio sarà sempre un compenso economico a copertura totale o parziale del percorso formativo e potrà essere conferito solo agli studenti iscritti.

L’ampia offerta formativa comprende percorsi dedicati a laureati che intendono completare il proprio percorso di studi e a professionisti che desiderano aggiornare le proprie competenze.

I master prevedono stage, project work e study tour, partecipazione ad eventi in Italia e all’estero finalizzati ad accelerare la tua crescita personale e professionale.

Scuola di Comunicazione IULM vanta una faculty di livello internazionale ed una percentuale di placement dopo gli studi del 70%.

Compila il form e sarai contattato dallo staff di Scuola di Comunicazione IULM che ti fornirà tutte le informazioni di cui hai bisogno.

EVENT: STUDENTS' FINAL PRESENTATIONS!

On July 20, 2018, the students of the 1st Edition of the Master of Arts in Game Design presented their final projects to their peers and faculty. It was a showcase of sheer creativity, ingenuity, and craft.

The finished projects will be presented to the general public at GAME SHOW on Friday October 12, 2016 at IULM University between 6 and 7.30 pm.

Mark your calendar and stay tuned for more!

More photos here.

EVENT: IULM MASTER DAY (13 GIUGNO 2013/JUNE 13 2018)

Matteo Bittanti, Pietro Righi Riva and Paolo Tajè introduce the Master of Arts in Game Design, now in its second edition (Academic Year 2018-2019).

If you dream of becoming a game designer, this is the program for you!

The presentation is in Italian.

Matteo Bittanti, Pietro Righi Riva e Paolo Tajè introducono il Master of Arts in Game Design della IULM, giunto alla seconda edizione (Anno Accademico 2018-2019).

Se il tuo sogno è diventare un game designer, questo è il Programma che fa per te!

La presentazione è in italiano

EVENT: PIETRO GUARDINI AT IULM

Master of Arts in Game Design
IULM University
June 27, 2018
gamedesign.university

PIETRO GUARDINI

GAMES USER RESEARCH: HOW TO AVOID THE DESIGNER'S FACEPALM

Designers have to tell in advance how gamers will comprehend, feel and interact with their games in order to craft successful gaming experiences and avoid frustration, doubts or uncertainty. And since user testing is a powerful tool to verify designers' intents and predictions, Games User Research is a powerful ally. In this workshop, I will show how the science of user testing made your favorite games perfect and I will provide attendees with takeaways they can use to improve their own projects.

Short Bio

Pietro Guardini is an independent Games User Researcher with a PhD in Experimental Psychology and 19 years of research experience. He started doing research on Human-Computer Interaction in 1999 in the academy and later he entered the gaming industry by introducing User Research activity in Milestone – the major videogame studio in Italy – and by supporting Management, Design and Marketing departments with research and testing on 20+ published titles. More recently he founded StopGuessing.it and today he assists several studios in developing their best gaming experience. He had the pleasure to present his work in several publications and talks, including the Game Developers Conference.

Read more at stopguessing.it

More photos here