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Supinfocom: Graphics & Multimedia design - Supinfogame: Game Design & Production Management
- Console / PC games: Hydravision Entertainment
- MMORPG: Ankama Studio
- Mobile Games: IP4U
- Digital effects: Synthétique
- Distributor: Big Ben Interactive
- Contact
Talent
- Supinfogame, the first French school of video games focusing on game design and production management
- Supinfocom, the world-renowned animation school. Both schools turn out dozens of top-level graduates a year-talent that is actively recruited by top international digital effects and video game companies.
Successful businesses
- Video game developers, such as Hydravision (which developed pc and console hit “Obscure”)
- MMORPG developers, such as Dofus
- leading console peripherals and gaming software distributors
- solution providers (3D animation, motion capture, music libraries, etc.)
Talent
The success of the video game and multimedia sector in Northern France is due in large part to a pool of skilled workers, which in turn reflects the presence of top ranking universities and other training institutions. These turn out several hundred highly qualified graduates each year.
Supinfocom: Graphics & Multimedia design www.supinfocom.fr
Supinfocom, a school set up by the Valenciennes Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1988, offers full-time and continuing education courses in both graphics and multimedia design & technology.
The school has been open for just over ten years, and is already a standard setter for the industry. It has also won recognition with a steady stream of awards at festivals in London and the US, as well as Annecy in France.
Supinfocom regularly ranks among the top performers at international computer animation festivals :
- 2005: MIFA, 8 films selected for Siggraph
- 2004: MIFA, Taipei Golden Horse
- 2003: Siggraph, Imagina, Ars Electronica, Sundance Film Festival, Copenhagen 3D Award
- 2002: Siggraph, Seoul International Animation Festival
Supinfocom graduates from France and other countries are actively recruited by top firms, French and foreign, in special effects, video games and CD/DVD-ROM production.
Positions filled include:
- computer graphics and animation designers, project managers, and directors. Employers are in all areas of animation production for TV, cinema, special effects, industry, simulations and video games.
- multimedia documentation and design specialists working for corporate communications and IT departments, as well as multimedia production companies and web agencies.
Supinfogame: Game Design & Production Management www.supinfogame.fr
The Valenciennes Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also opened Supinfogame, the first French school of video games specializing in game design and production management.
The preparatory course (2 years) is designed to provide secondary-school graduates with the knowledge they need to consider video games as an industry (culture and history of video games, business issues, analysis of video games, project management, etc.).
The advanced course (2 years after preparatory course) enables students to understand the mechanisms of game design and production management skills. Students spend most of their time working in teams, producing, e.g., a game concept and a game design document. They also consolidate their knowledge by meeting professionals and taking part in dedicated events.
The idea behind the first school of its kind in France is to give future professionals a global vision of the production sequence and instill new work habits, while at the same time strengthening knowledge of each profession.
Subjects include :
- video game concepts
- relation between sound and image
- scenario scripting, game-play
- man/machine interface
- programming and image processing skills
- production management.
Both schools :
- combine theoretical learning and hands-on experience with the production of still and moving synthetic images as well as multimedia products for presentation to a jury of professionals and at international festivals
- build technical and artistic know-how through a process combining the acquisition of professional skills and continuing research
- keep pace with technological change, exploring new possibilities and applying innovative teaching methods
- ensure that graduates have the highest possible level of skills in imaging and multimedia, enabling them to meet professional requirements to the full and contributing to the development of the many applications which together represent a fast-expanding market.
Successful businesses
Console / PC games: Hydravision Entertainment www.hydravision.com
Hydravision Entertainment is a game development studio. As an authorized developer for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, it works on games for the Playstation™ 2, Microsoft Xbox™ and Nintendo’s Game Cube™ consoles.
Hydravision deals with every step in the creation of a video game, from first scripting of the scenario to final testing.
Hydravision Entertainment has developed their own game for PCs, PS2 and Xbox, called Obscure and released in 2004.
Obscure is a survival-horror game in which gamers can play five different students trapped in their high school, seeking the truth about strange and disturbing disappearances that have been happening at night in the school:
- A new generation survival-horror product, set in an American High School in the oppressive scenario of a teen movie.
- Innovative cooperative play mode with a team member managed by IA. At any time, a player can substitute IA for a second player.
- 3D highly detailed graphics, dynamic lighting systems, and the black aura effect (aHydravision exclusive) which visually modifies the decors around the creatures in real time to increase player stress and warn of imminent danger. Music in Dolby Surround.
Obscure has been enormously successful in Europe and the United States.
Hydravision is currently developing a new pc/console video game.
MMORPG: Ankama Studio www.dofus.com
DOFUS is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Play Game (MMORPG) developed by Ankama Studio.
A great blend of tactical fights, role-play game, mad humour and colourful graphics
- Based on colorful 2D graphics and funny legends, DOFUS invites players to embody characters with remarkable particularities, midway between role play and cartoon. Monsters and Non Player Characters who populate the universe are humorous free references to Heroic Fantasy themes.
- This humor is combined with very efficient gameplay. With a hundred or so possible combinations and random variables, Dofus makes the MMORPG genre all the more interesting.
- More than a persistent universe, DOFUS is in constant evolution. For players’ greater pleasure, all improvements are added automatically and at no additional cost to subscribers.
A game for everyone
- Whereas most of the games available require the purchase of one or several CD-ROMs or tedious downloading of several megabytes of data, DOFUS uses less than 50MB. It runs on most operating systems and requires no advanced configuration.
- Gamers can pay by credit card, check or transfer, or by using services like Premium SMS, Audiotel or PayByCash, that make casual gaming easier. Available at an initial price of USD 7 per month, DOFUS offers a test week to every new registered player.
- Few MMORPG have been so accessible-gamers can play at home, in school, in the office or in a cyber café. Opportunities for playing and establishing contact with other players are unlimited!
Already a huge success
- The French version of DOFUS, launched in September 2004, already has over 100,000 registered users and 15,000 subscribers, and is gaining 6,000 new registered users and 1,500 new subscribers every month.
- DOFUS is fast becoming a reference in France, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland. The community is very active on dedicated forums and 50% of gamers play at least 20 hours per week.
- The international version was released in September 2005.
Mobile Games: IP4U www.ip4u.fr
IP4U advises, creates, edits, produces, adapts and distributes interactive audio-visual digital content (video games, customizable content, news programs, animated images, fiction, educational games and documentaries) for terminals and digital media (mobile phones, Smart phones, PC, Pocket PC, interactive TV and DVD)
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Strengths :
- A well stocked catalogue plus strong development skills in Java
- The ability to adapt existing games and create totally new ones.
- Control over the development and distribution phases of these games.
- Partnerships with editors to market the games on mobiles.
Know-how :
- Graphical art design expertise for mobile video games 2D/3D: pixel creation, 2D/3D for mobile phone, character design, splash screen, in-game graphical design
- Concept development and production of original java mobile games
- Experts are able to develop content and applications in all languages (Java, PSP, ASP, PHP, XML, etc.) and for all terminals on the market
- Ergonomic graphic interfaces in 2D and 3D (real and pre-calculated time)
Services :
IP4U can offer numerous services for the production of interactive, digital content aimed at the mobile phone, television and the multimedia market.
- Advice and executive production. IP4U can operate on behalf of a producer or director wishing to use our skills and technical capacities to produce audio-visual, Internet or multimedia content.
- An interactive TV production department and a program improvement service for existing multimedia programs:
- A support service for the production of animated programs, documentaries and fiction.
Clients include In-Fusio, Nokia, M6, Canal+ and Ubisoft.
IP4U’s team members are also famous worldwide for having produced and distributed the well-known online community game Banja (www.banja.com)
Banja is the first real-time adventure cartoon game in 3D flash on the web and was a pioneer in a universally connected global game (real-time adventure for a great story in monthly episodes, game arcade centre with on-line ranking, chat rooms, instant messaging, forum and more)
Banja has conquered the web, attracting several hundred thousand regular players since its launch in 1999. This success both with professionals and the general public was recognized in 2002 by the Visual Art Award at the Independent Games Festival, and has led to Banja into television
The members of IP4U, producers and co-writers of this adventure right from the start, are developing and producing the Banja TV series (26 episodes of 26 minutes) for Canal+ and Foxkids.
Digital effects: Synthétique www.synthetique.com
Synthétique specializes in 3D animation, digital special effects and virtual characters.
Its creative teams combine artistic talent with technical expertise as digital effects suppliers for animated films, advertising, music video clips, cartoons and video games.
Synthétique uses one of the best motion capture system in Europe, particularly well suited to projects requiring high levels of quality and productivity, including fluid and precise facial animation and perfect synchronisation of voice and animation...
Synthétique also has several years of experience in 3D body, face and object scanning.
Distributor: Big Ben Interactive www.www.bigben.fr
Big Ben Interactive is the largest pan-European distributor of gaming software, peripherals and DVD.
A 40% market share in France for console peripherals gives it clear leadership in its home market, while a strong presence across Europe results from its expansion abroad.
Big Ben Interactive develops and supplies products for all leading game systems including the Sony PlayStation™ 2 and PlayStation™ game consoles, the Microsoft Xbox™ video game system, Nintendo’s GameCube™ and Game Boy™ Advance as well as the personal computer.
Bigben Interactive has just signed a licensing agreement to develop a complete line of accessories for the Xbox™ 360, Microsoft’s new game console. First products to move into development in the weeks ahead include joysticks and steering controls. The new agreement tightens existing links with Microsoft that date back to the launch of the first-generation Xbox console in 2002.
