Finishing School for Gamermakers Launches Dates for 2011

Video games are big business these days but according to the Livingstone-Hope review published today, many developers are finding games graduates still have a way to go before they can be let loose on a live project.

With this in mind, Gamer Camp (Gamer Camp : Apply now for our game console design courses) a highly practical, industry-backed, finishing school for gamemakers from Birmingham City University, has launched three new training schemes based in the bustling city; Nano, Mini and Pro.

Each Gamer Camp scheme runs over full-time hours in a fantastic studio complex in Birmingham city centre. We provide quality, intensive training for budding games artists and programmers to help launch their careers in the games industry, says course mentor and former Head of Studio at Codemasters Guy Wilday (Colin McRae Rally, SEGA Rally).

Gamer Camp has been shaped from the ground up by major developers to ensure students are equipped with the techniques, skills and experience that studios demand, but dont often see, in new recruits.

Viewed by many as best practice, a major development period compliments the training sessions; recreating a working studio environment within NTI Birminghams impressive facilities. In project teams, students are set a brief and mentored by the likes of Blitz, Codemasters, Freestyle or Rare to produce a working game that will then be published via a platforms online store.

The shortest of the sessions, Gamer Camp Nano, runs for 1 month from 4th to 29th July, and costs 499.00 per person, as up to 8 programmers and 4 artists or animators create games for a smartphone platform.

Gamer Camp Mini, the intermediate version of the course, lasts 3 months from 20th June to 22nd August 2011 and costs each participant 1,499.00. Mini focuses on handheld gaming, with students using more advanced development hardware to create a game for the PSPGo.

Gamer Camp Pro students, meanwhile, will be awarded with an MA in Video Games Development from Birmingham City University for completing the 9 month course starting in September 2011, and developing a game for the PlayStation 3 using the latest PlayStationMove technology. Gamer Camp Pro will cost EU students 8,000 and non-EU students 10,050.

Applications for each course can be made online via Gamer Camp : Apply now for our game console design courses. Payment is made upon acceptance onto a course, all of which are subject to an interview.

NTI Birmingham (The New Technology Institute in Birmingham >> Home Page), a software training centre and design studio is part of Birmingham City University, hosts each Gamer Camp course in its city centre facility.