Industry experts give valuable feedback to Limkokwing's Games students during Games Internal Presentation and Games Industry Review.
Limkokwing University recently held its Games Internal Presentation and Games Industry Review where Games students presented their works to a panel of Malaysian and International Games industry companies.
The Games Internal Presentation and Games Industry Review involved students, ranging from Semester 3 to Semester 6, from four different courses, namely Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Games Art Development, Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Games Design, Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Games Technology and Diploma in Creative Multimedia.
“We normally hold major presentations for our students and see it fit to bring in an external examinant from the Games industry to give insight on the readiness of students’ work from an industry perspective, also to expose our students to industry critique practices,” explained Sharizal Pujahaas, Programme Leader for Games Courses at the Faculty of Multimedia Creativity (FMC).
Students worked in small project teams which identified and agreed upon a marketable computer game idea. Each team developed their idea into a game concept, and then into a detailed logical design. They documented their design in the form of a Game Design Document, which will be a major portfolio piece and pitched their game concept through a group presentation to the evaluating panel.
The Games Internal Presentation was held two weeks prior to the Games Industry Review with the External Examiner, Sherman Chin, who gave constructive feedback towards the students’ works.
Sherman Chin is the Founder and Producer at Sherman3D, an independently owned video game developer. The company has worked on over 20 internationally recognised games, including ‘Drawn to Life’ (by THQ), ‘Scribblenauts’ (by Warner Bros) and many more. In 2011, Sherman3D created its own game, a sci-fi fantasy PC Role Playing Game entitled ‘Alpha Kimori’, to great success.
Sherman Chin was impressed by the students’ creative work, acknowledging they are more than ready for the multi-faceted Games industry.
“I have been in the Games industry for over 10 years, and extremely impressed by the work I saw today. Limkokwing University is doing a great job in grooming its students for the industry while still at a younger level.”
The presentation line up in the Games Internal Presentation was as follows;
- Two Semester 3 teams presented Unity Games under the titles ‘Y- Punch’ and ‘Lumosity’
- Semester 4 team presented UE4 Games under the titles ‘Reboot’ and ‘Baby Gone Mad’
- Semester 6 team presented games under the titles ‘Escape’, ‘Clash of Droids’, ‘Final Chaos’ and ‘Overshot’
Welson Gan Wai Su, semester 6 Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Games Design student, mentioned his team’s biggest challenges in completing their project were mainly conflict of ideas and time constraint.
“We are a creative bunch so having to stick to one idea requires a lot of going back and forth, but thanks to our lecturers because we have been trained to work on projects as teams from semester 1, so we were able to overcome these challenges swiftly and wisely.”
Subsequently, on 9 December, the University held a major Games Industry Review where it invited over 15 Malaysian and international Games industry companies to give final thoughts and insights on the students’ projects.
The Games Industry Review is one of the methods that Limkokwing University use to encourage scholarly dialogues and discussions between students and industry practitioners. Among the prominent companies that attended and gave feedback from the Games industry point-of-view toward the students’ works were:
- Streamline Studios: Renier Banninga (Co-Founder and Global Art Director) and Wendy Ooi (HR Associate)
- MDEC: Hasnul Hadi Samsudin (Director of Creative Multimedia)
- Sherman3D: Sherman Chin (Founder and Producer)
- iTrain: Mike Smith (Founder)
- Inspidea Animation: Andrew Ooi (Co-Founder and Managing Director)
“This has been a great showcase all together; it’s evident that students have mastered their area of expertise, as future designers, animators, 3D artists and programmers. I am more impressed that they were able to work as a team and create masterpieces I have seen today,” said Andrew Ooi of Inspidea Animation.
Limkokwing University modules are grounded in industry practices, with a strong focus on embedding graduates with employability skills at all stages. Games students will have the opportunity to learn concepts, issues and techniques relating to the design and production of successful interactive media, and to practice their own design techniques within a practical project.
“Involving industry reviews in our curriculum is a major priority, not only does it encourage scholarly dialogues between students and industry practitioners, it creates a platform to promote their talents, especially graduating groups to the relevant industries,” said Jeremy Choo, Limkokwing Games Design Principal Lecturer.