CULVER CITY, Calif. (KABC) — There’s a unique video game design curriculum at Culver City High School and it’s already getting students jobs in the gaming industry. It’s not all fun and games, though. It’s an intense course in coding, animation, graphic design, production, and above all, teamwork. “I wanted to give them a simulated studio experience,” said Kian Darien, the program’s game design teacher. “They get to see what it’s actually like to make a game. The pitfalls, the teamwork, the communication, the planning, then they actually get to make it and see how it turns out.” Darien has been in the gaming industry for years, starting his career at GameStop then moving to companies like Razer and Red Bull Gaming. “COVID happened and I was like, ‘Ok, I need to figure out another path to support making video games, and here we are,” he said. The program has hands-on training periods where they learn gaming production, design, coding, animation and more. “Once they’ve covered all of the main pillars of gaming, then they get into teams and they actually make games with full marketing trailers, posters,” explained Darien. “I didn’t really think it was real, but then I actually came to this classroom before the school year started, I was like, ‘Whoa, this can actually, like, lead to something,'” said Quin Panagiotis, a junior at Culver City High. One student even said he transferred to Culver City High School just for this program. “A couple of my students have already gotten jobs working in the industry,” said Darien. “I have alumni who are in college and have gone on to game development programs. They’re years into their programs now, and they’re like, ‘We’re still not doing what we did in your high school class. When they animate a world, and they watch the character they designed come to life … that is a wild ride that I can’t really compare to anything else.”
Source of Article: https://abc7.com/post/inside-culver-city-high-schools-game-design-program-already-getting-students-jobs/18342872/