Video games are for many the ninth art and for everyone a multi-billion dollar industry with almost infinite opportunities. In Spain it is no exception and the sector is growing unstoppably, expecting it to exceed 2.2 billion euros in revenue by 2025 and more than 13,000 jobs, according to the White Paper on Spanish Video Game Development.
But where do we come from and where are we going? The U-tad University Center celebrates a decade of its master's degrees in 'Art and Visual Design of Video Games', 'Game Design' and 'Video Game Programming' and Belén Gómez, director of postgraduate video game projects at the U-tad University Center tad considers that “the key point for quality video game training is that the university remains strongly connected to the industry.”
Gómez highlights that “this is something that U-tad has strictly maintained since the creation of the postgraduate courses ten years ago, and that is that the professors are professionals currently active in the industry” and that “it allows the programs and contents “They constantly evolve, adapting to what is happening in the real world.” Furthermore, “many times it is the teachers themselves who hire the students for the video game studios where they are working.”
“We do not want to educate students in a fishbowl, but rather prepare them so that they can integrate into the labor market as they finish studying. For this, the 'Projects' subject is key in the training, where a large part of the master's time is dedicated to students developing their own video game project. They are encouraged to experience what it would be like to have their own studio and to deal with the real problems of working as a team, in addition to the technical complications,” explains the teacher.
In this sense, he believes that it is important to focus on another type of education: “University training has traditionally been very theoretical and, although theory is very important, we try to make it go 100% hand in hand with practice. It has been evolving towards the simulation of professional experience within the master's ecosystem itself. Not only do you learn the theory of level design or texturing, but you also have to deal with its actual implementation in a game,” he notes.
On the other hand, he explains that “more and more emphasis is being placed on so-called soft-skills, so that students learn to communicate, listen, give feedback, resolve conflicts, receive criticism or prepare to be able to sell a game to a potential investor”, something that she herself works on a lot, because “the most complex obstacles encountered are not at the level of game design or programming, but in the teamwork itself and how to manage egos and frustrations” .
Throughout this decade, the expert has seen how “the training with which” students arrive at postgraduate studies has changed: “In the past, students came from the most varied careers, from Law to Biology. Nowadays, we receive more and more students who have already completed a degree in Video Games. They know how to model in 3D, program in C and also have creativity in designing game mechanics. It's spectacular, they know everything! Since they were children, they are clear about what they want to do and they begin to prepare even from adolescence,” she says.
“More and more students come from other countries and continents and bring very interesting points of view and experiences. All of this means that teachers must raise the level of our classes, since we do not start from scratch in the subjects, but rather the entry point is higher and higher each time. It is very interesting to see how every year the students demand more from you as a teacher,” the teacher remarks.
The state of the industry in Spain has always been a matter of debate, but Gómez believes that “it is very viable and increasingly” to be able to dedicate yourself to video games in our country: “In recent years, many have emerged or established themselves in Spain. video game companies that work with excellent quality and that develop games for big names. Some international companies also open offices in Spain, so you can work on big titles without leaving the country,” he points out.
Gómez gives examples of Tequila Works, MercurySteam, Mediatonic, EA, Gameloft or Social Point, which is why he believes that “the most complex thing is finding your first job in the industry. That barrier of not having experience and getting the door opened is hard and can take months. But once inside, it is much simpler,” he considers.
He also adds an interesting perspective on what working abroad means for this sector: “Taking into account that the video game industry is increasingly pivoting towards remote work, having teams in different time zones and forming teams with people from all backgrounds and origin, it is very enriching. And above all, English is vital to be able to dedicate yourself to this industry. In general, students increasingly arrive with a higher level of English, but it is something that anyone who wants to work in video games must keep in mind: you have to speak English no matter what,” he highlights.
Perhaps one of the pending issues in video game training continues to be the low presence of women in this discipline: “The ratios remain more or less unchanged and it is a shame because the more diverse the people who dedicate themselves to creating video games, the more There are possibilities to create something unique. In my classes of 20 to 30 students in the 'Video Game Design' master's degree, the number of women fluctuates between 1 and 4, at most. In 'Programming', the number is even lower and with luck you find a woman in the class. The only area where the presence of women is greater is in the master's degree in 'Art for video games'. There the ratio can be close to 50/50,” highlights Gómez.
The reasons are complex and the teacher analyzes it like this: “I think this is a whiting eating its own tail. STEM careers continue to attract mainly men and eyebrows are still raised when a woman says she is going to study engineering or when a girl asks for a video game console, just as when a man says he wants to study Nursing or a boy asks for a video game console. give her a doll. Here we are missing a strong cultural change that in Spain is advancing very little by little. As there are no female role models in the industry, women may feel less attracted to both playing video games and making them,” she believes.
However, Gómez sees an interesting light in this aspect: “The indie industry is opening the door to different games that are not perceived as so masculine. Companies like Annapurna Interactive create different games, narrative, exploration, with surprising mechanics... There is life beyond shooters, fighting games and soccer games. The variety in the offer can attract the interest of more varied profiles towards the video game industry and make us even see more innovation in the industry.”
Training in video games is one of the disciplines with the greatest projection today, and professionals with this knowledge are needed to work on projects in one of the most important industries in the world of entertainment and the arts.
The Master in Video Game Design and Development offers you a global perspective on the creation of digital products for entertainment, from project management tools and processes to financing avenues and knowledge of the different opportunities in the current market.
With the Higher Course in Video Game Design and Development with Unity 3D (endorsed by FGUSAL) you will learn in depth such important concepts as ludology, the main genres and the internal architecture of games.
Thanks to the Master in Video Game Programming and Virtual Reality you will make complete video games (from their initial design to their export to real devices for testing or distribution), you will acquire the necessary skills of a graphic programmer, and you will manage the development of software. technologies, such as virtual or augmented reality.
