Sunday, April 20, 2008

Design Studies in Spain


I have a subscription to the Edge Magazine (english edition). There are multiple adds there of British Universities inviting people to study game design. Also design conferences, meetings for designers, design books in english...

For some reason there are not much studies for videogame designers in Spain. It was recently published in the media that videogames sold last year more than cinema and music TOGETHER in Spain. Considering that, I'm stunned for the fact that there are just a couple of masters to train people for the spanish videogame industry.

Ok, there is one perfectly valid reason: The spanish videogame industry is reduced. Just a bunch of companies trying to survive. No point of investing money training people. Not much people know about it. Today Spain is a consumer for foreign products. I think this is changing, but not fast enough.

As far as I know there are 2 masters trying to provide a basic knowledge to people (one in Madrid, another one in Barcelona), and both focus in programming. Seems like there are some lectures about pure design, but that's it.

I personally think that having professional experience lets you know about the real life of videogame development, but having some studies gives you a basic layer of knowledge that eventually may set the difference. I lack of that. I’ve tried to cover that fault reading books, but it will never be the same.

Right now I’m really interested in sharing the little I know with the future professionals. I am probably not the most experienced or skilled designer in Spain, but somehow I feel the need to contribute to the training of future professionals...