Video game technology has always excited many. Those who enjoyed playing video games during their childhood and still do can now achieve their dreams by working in this now rapidly-expanding field. At triOS College, there are currently two programs that cater to those who are interested in entering the video game field. Prospective students can choose from Video Game Art or Video Game Development.

Video Game Art focuses on the design and artistic aspects of video games whiles Video Game Development focuses on providing hands-on experience creating video games from start-to-finish. Both programs include an internship opportunity, where students can develop their skills under the supervision of industry professionals. Current Video Game Development student Matteo C. shares his thoughts and experiences in the program.

What made you decide to enroll in the Video Game Development program?  

I always liked video games. I’ve basically grown up with games all my life. High school didn’t really do it for me in terms of having the best options. They tried to steer me toward a few public post-secondary schools that were more traditional. I did end up trying a video game program at a school that was more ‘traditional’ and it wasn’t a good fit, but since I’ve followed my passion via triOS College, everything has been super awesome.

What was different about the other video game programs?

It didn’t really feel like the things we were doing were for video games. Whereas compared to here at triOS, everything I do actually feels like it matters. Before triOS, it felt like literally everything I worked on in the past just didn’t matter. I know that’s pretty intense-sounding, but that’s how I feel about it.

Would you say triOS is more geared toward the necessities of learning the program?

I would say It’s amazing at that —  teaching exactly what you need to know for the program that you’re in. For example, for Video Game Development students before the video games course I would have said, ”Yeah, they’re going to teach me how to make video games, you know?” But it’s so much more than that. They do more than just teach all the basics, what goes into the creation of video games, and everything you need to know to get programming, they teach even to the point of basic problem solving. 

Our instructor, Jeff, will even take you to the side and show you how he does things quickly and get you into the workflow properly. My ability to get things done feels like lightspeed compared to before.

What’s one of your favourite things about the program?  

There are so many; I don’t really have anything I don’t like at all if I’m being honest. I can’t think of anything I don’t like because everything’s my favourite. I’ve enjoyed every course we’ve had because everyone we’ve done leads to something different and teaches me something new. Because I’m in the programming portion of video game design, everything we’ve done has been focused on programming, logic, and all that fun skill-building stuff.

What could become my favourite part is a course I haven’t done yet, which is the upcoming Asset Creation class. Next month is when this course happens, so we’re going to be learning how to make the assets that we’ve already been taught to create even better.

What has been one of your favourite projects that you’ve worked on?

Two of my favourite projects are on Unreal engine. Cyborn is one of them and another one was Iffish Rogue. Cyborn was my very first project that I designed actually so it’s a little biased. But that game is kind of like a really mini-Metroid Mania, you play as a security robot and it’s all about upgrading the robot that you control as you go through the levels that we were able to make for the game. I’d say it captures that exploration side of Metroid. I would say especially for my first game, it went a lot better than I thought it would. And then with Iffish Rogue, that’s like a first-person shooter, I really wanted to make a shooting game by myself and that’s exactly what that was. That happened 6 months ago so the assets are a bit crude compared to now, but that’s just because triOS has been teaching me more and more. I feel like with the skills I’ve gained since those projects, I can make projects like these even better in the future. 

What sort of job position do you see yourself having in 5 years?

I see myself in a lot of different positions with the projects that I’ve done. But I think I can definitely see myself in some sort of visual design or artificial intelligence which are completely different, but they are what I think I have the most experience in so far. I don’t know what exact position they would be because job titles are different based on the individual company.

What’s your favourite video game?

At the moment, in the new age of games, I’m going to have to say Doom Eternal. A game that I’ve always played, probably Metroid Fusion is my number one. Metroid Fusion or Super Metroid – one of those two are games that I’ve spent so much time with.

If someone was on the fence about signing up for the program what would you tell them?

Just do it. You have to. I was on the fence when I was starting it off. As soon as I went into the Video Game portion of the program, I said “Oh my God!’ This is completely different. With a lot of previous schooling that I attended before, it always felt as if it wasn’t leading to a bigger picture. You would kind of just go onto the next project once you completed something. But with triOS and everything that I’ve worked on now, I feel they can be used for many job positions in my field for the future. I feel I will be qualified for a range of opportunities in the gaming industry in general because of the way they’ve taught me. The program is different with triOS because not only are you learning transferable base skills, but you are also learning from a curriculum that is based on what you currently need to be successful in the field. triOS has done a really good job at teaching me how to learn really fast and apply that learning into actual projects.

What kind of person would you recommend this program to?

Anybody who likes video games and is discontented with a lot of modern-day decision-making that some game companies have made. I would say the more the merrier, the more developers out there, the more indie companies that could potentially start up which leads to newer and refreshing game experiences that everyone can have.

How is remote learning going?

I’ve seen so many bad things about online learning, but I haven’t experienced any of them with triOS . I’ve done multiple courses with multiple teachers, so I guess I could say that the organization of this establishment is awesome comparatively to what I’ve had before.

I love this school. In the future, 5 years from now, I see myself saying the same things and staying connected as an alumnus, that’s for sure.  

triOS College’s Video Game Development program can be completed in 69 weeks. Choose the 89-week option if you want to take advantage of the 16-week internship. You’ll learn how to code in the language used by game developers to create truly unique adventures with your own levels and characters. With the help of industry-expert instructors, you will also learn to build 2D and 3D games using the Unity and Unreal gaming engines and implement artificial intelligence into your games. Before you graduate, you can even publish your completed games to online app stores.

Visit our Video Game Development program to discover more about this exciting field! Check out our Video Game Art program page to learn about our other Gaming programs to start a new career!