The partnership has been recognised by The Victorian State Government’s Digital Innovation Futures Victoria initiative.
The collaboration follows recent announcements of investments in the video games industry from the Federal and Victorian State Governments. From day one, SAE students from around Australia will get the chance to learn from a multi-skilled community of over 150 talented resident developers in the industry.
SAE General Manager, Dr Luke McMillan, who has a PhD in Game Design, said that this partnership will be invaluable in the development of the next generation of game developers.
“Our students will get first hand experience to engage with game development professionals that are working in the industry,” Dr McMillan said.
“The Arcade is the largest game creation space in Australia. Through this partnership, SAE students will be able to network, whilst bringing added value and talent to developers that they otherwise wouldn’t have had – it’s part of our vision to make sure our graduates are ‘real-world ready’.”
The Arcade is Australia’s first not-for-profit, collaborative workspace created specifically for game developers and creative companies. The organisation is a key component of the industry’s peak body, Interactive Games & Entertainment Association.
Every year The Arcade runs a student engagement program to allow early-stage developers to hit the ground running with their career. The Arcade’s Director of Operations and Projects, Ceri Hutton was delighted to invite SAE’s talented students to the creative space.
“We understand that game development is an increasingly competitive field and the best way to have an edge on the competition is to engage directly with experienced developers while in the early stages of your career,” Ceri said.
Ceri Hutton, The Arcade’s Director of Operations and Projects
“We’re excited to work closely with SAE to unlock the true potential of this year’s immensely talented cohort and provide them with every opportunity needed to succeed in their game development career.”
SAE has had a wealth of successful graduates in recent years who have gone on to have games published by heavy-weights like Nintendo; develop their craft at major studios including Electronic Arts, and Bandai Namco; and start-up their own niche studios.
One SAE student, Rohith Maddali, has already been taking advantage of the partnership by working on his major project, Spectrum, at The Arcade with 15 other students.
“Being exposed to so many different students in other disciplines at SAE like animation, audio and design, gave me the platform to have constructive conversations with experienced developers at The Arcade,” Rohith said.
“From what we’d learnt at SAE, we were able to understand the suggestions on how to improve the game, and then put that feedback into practice.”
