Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy
Encyclopedia
The Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA) is a graduate school
of the College of Arts and Humanities
at the University of Central Florida
located in Orlando
, Florida
, USA. The director of the school is Ben Noel, former vice president and chief operating officer of EA
's Orlando-based Tiburon studio.
FIEA is a graduate video game development school offering an accredited master's degree in interactive entertainment. Areas of study include game design, art
, programming
and production
. The Academy is located at the Orlando Centroplex, which houses the Amway Arena and the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre
. FIEA was established in 2004 by UCF's School of Film and Digital Media and Electronic Arts
, and accepted its first class of students in Fall of 2005. The site of FIEA was formerly the downtown Expo Centre until late 2004 when the city of Orlando leased the building to the University.
FIEA's first class of twelve students graduated in December 2006.
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
of the College of Arts and Humanities
University of Central Florida College of Arts and Humanities
The UCF College of Arts and Humanities is an academic college of the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, USA. The dean of the college is José Fernández, Ph.D....
at the University of Central Florida
University of Central Florida
The University of Central Florida, commonly referred to as UCF, is a metropolitan public research university located in Orlando, Florida, United States...
located in Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, USA. The director of the school is Ben Noel, former vice president and chief operating officer of EA
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
's Orlando-based Tiburon studio.
FIEA is a graduate video game development school offering an accredited master's degree in interactive entertainment. Areas of study include game design, art
Game artist
A game artist is an artist who creates art for one or more types of games. Game artists are responsible for all of the aspects of game development that call for visual art...
, programming
Game programmer
A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebase for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines all of which fall under the umbrella term of "game programmer"...
and production
Game producer
A video game producer is the person in charge of overseeing development of a video game.The earliest documented use of the term producer in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he founded Electronic Arts in 1982...
. The Academy is located at the Orlando Centroplex, which houses the Amway Arena and the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre
Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre
The Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre is a major performing arts auditorium in Orlando, Florida and seats 2,518. It is part of the larger Orlando Centroplex organization which manages several facilities....
. FIEA was established in 2004 by UCF's School of Film and Digital Media and Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
, and accepted its first class of students in Fall of 2005. The site of FIEA was formerly the downtown Expo Centre until late 2004 when the city of Orlando leased the building to the University.
Programs
FIEA follows a nonstandard educational philosophy which centers on the simulation of a professional video game development environment. The configuration of the building and course work is designed to reinforce this approach. Team-based work combining the efforts of students from the school's three primary disciplines of art, programming, and production is encouraged at all times. A capstone videogame creation project for each class of students forms the focus of the second and third semesters of work, comprising pre-production and production phases, respectively.FIEA's first class of twelve students graduated in December 2006.
Notable Achievements
Games developed at FIEA:- Class of December '06 - "Cohort 1"
- The Blob
- Class of May '07 - "Cohort 2"
- Opera Slinger - Independent Games FestivalIndependent Games FestivalThe Independent Games Festival is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference, the largest annual gathering of the indie video game industry. It was founded in 1998 to assist and inspire innovation in video game development and to recognize the best independent video game developers...
Student Showcase Winner, 2007. - Danger Zone
- Opera Slinger - Independent Games Festival
- Class of December '07 - "Cohort 3"
- Master Plan
- Class of December '08 - "Cohort 4"
- BizarreCraft
- Zephyr: Tides of War
- Class of December '09 - "Cohort 5"
- Class of December '10 - "Cohort 6"
- Class of December '11 - "Cohort 7" (Currently in Progress)