Compared to Europe and North America, the culture of gaming is just emerging in India, where it was considered a hobby. However, looking at the growth of the gaming industry, parents are slowly starting to take this passion seriously, and are supportive when their child chooses to make a career out of it.
There are many tell-tale signs to prove them right. India is now one of the world’s top five countries for mobile gaming, with giants such as Alibaba, Youzu or Tencent investing in it. It is a $900 million industry, with a potential to go over $1 billion by 2020, according to experts. Since 2010, the number of gaming studios in India has grown from 25 to more than 250, and has been steadily increasing. These numbers are directly related to the explosion of the smartphone market, estimated to 600 million users in India.
There is a fantastic opportunity for India to be a leader in this sector, by adopting a non-conformist attitude — this means, redefining the video game industry for new platforms and interfaces, like connected TV, for example. Game designers and artists are the main players.
Getting rigorous academic and hands-on training in game art and design is definitely a must to start a career in this field, whether the student is interested in AAA console, mobile or new media games.
At école intuit lab, any training starts with a robust foundation where students learn the basics of creativity — line, composition, colour, light, volume and so on. This is crucial, though unfortunately ignored by most gaming schools. As one can’t become a lawyer without mastering the language structure, it doesn’t make sense to work in the creative industry if you don’t know your ABC of visual arts. With the same idea in mind, we have added a non-digital gaming subject in the first year, where the mechanics of a games such as cards, board games, chess, and so on, are taught.
The second year is dedicated to the timeless principles of game art and game design — concepts, gameplay, universe and so on. There is also an important technical training, in 2D and 3D. This course aims at developing game art skills such as modelling, environment design, props, characters, storyboarding, and so on. This year ends with a compulsory internship in a professional studio.
The final year is the professional training, where students learn everything they need to sit in a game production company, from pre-production to live operation. They have to go for another internship to polish their skills and specialise in their preferred domain.
Job opportunities
As soon as students complete training, they will be hired as junior in various specialisations of the industry: Concept artist, 2D artist, 3D artist, animator, rigger, UI/UX designer, VFX artist, technical artist, and so on. Depending on their skills, talent, passion and hard work, they can move to intermediate and senior levels in their specialisation. From there they can carry on and become expert, or move to management position as lead artist, and then art manager or art director and then creative director.
The writer is Associate Vice President Operations and Game Art and Design, Programme Director at Ecole Intuit Lab.
