CNA students’ video game scores at Toronto Film Festival
2/16/2011 11:28:04 AM
Stephenville - A group of students from College of the North Atlantic’s Video Game Design program have won a national competition that will help them ‘level up’ as they start their careers in the industry.
The Binding will be one of five student-designed games to be featured at Future Frames and Games during Sprockets: The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for Children and Youth, which will take place April 5 – 17, 2011.
Developed by Shane Brake, Morley Elliott, Jared Gilbert, James Kerfont, and Jeremy Morgan when they were first year students at the college’s Bay St. George Campus in 2010, the game beat out dozens of offerings from colleges across the country to become one of five games that will be showcased during the festival.
Nick Pagee, who sits on the TIFF committee that selected The Binding, says he was impressed with the game’s comprehensive development.
“The great thing about The Binding is that it has these very inventive character mechanisms, and the way the character transforms to overcome problems is a really fresh twist,” he said. “To me that showed that they went through more of an artistic and well-reasoned creative process, refining the mechanics of the game until it became new. That means that they pushed the boundaries a bit.”
Pagee said it was refreshing to be able to offer a spot in the showcase to students from College of the North Atlantic.
“Future Frames and Games is the best of the best of student-made video games collected into one event,” he said. “It made me so happy because typically the schools that win these things are the big heavyweights. It was a real win in my opinion to be able to include the College of the North Atlantic.”
Janice Hertel is the Coordinating Instructor of the Video Game Design program. She said the selection of The Binding is good news for the college.
“It''''''''s encouragement that it’s a quality program and that the work is recognized,” she said, adding that the students will also reap the benefits. “It puts them in the spotlight and it’s definitely something to put on your resume that your student game was chosen for something like this.”
As part of Future Frames and Games, The Binding will be played by high school students who attend the film festival, and will also be reviewed by industry professionals.
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Media Contact:
Gina MacArthur
Public Information Officer
College of the North Atlantic
Ph: 709-643-7928
gina.macarthur@cna.nl.ca