Ignition Game Design Academy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Temecula, CA May 1, 2008 — Applied IDEAS, Inc. is pleased to announce the completion of the new IgnitionTM Game Design Academy Curriculum for both secondary and post secondary schools. This comprehensive curriculum teaches the student both real-world game engine principles and what it takes to create a game level. It demonstrates the processes involved in exporting game art from 3ds Max® or Maya® to a game engine environment in a quick and easy way, but also teaches the concepts and connections between game art and a game engine.

The Ignition game engine uses a straightforward command-line scripting language that makes it easy to learn for both novices and seasoned gaming enthusiasts. The Game Academy Curriculum was built from the ground up to address the challenges facing educators at all levels. One of these challenges includes art students that want to build fun and engaging 3D games in a timely fashion without fussing with complicated game level editors, obscure exporting rules and difficult programming languages.

Applied IDEAS test marketed the curriculum at the Art Institute, Orange County for 2 quarters. Dr. Kenneth C. Maffei, CEO of Applied IDEAS, Inc., and creator of the IgnitionTM Game Engine, observed that the students “were able to quickly adapt to the export process and scripting language to ultimately build their own custom games.”

Pia Maffei, President of Applied IDEAS, Inc., one of the most accomplished and well known 3D trainers in North America recently taught the curriculum to a 14 year old teen who marveled at how easy and fun the scripting was. One of her favorite quotes from him was, “I’m teaching my friends and now I know how features like you see in Everquest® are done".

Dr. Jose A. Rueda, PhD, MBA, from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, has this to say, “The 30 students in our Game Development program are really enjoying the Game Academy Curriculum. After reviewing the materials it became the obvious solution for us. It was not long before the students and faculty were exporting game art assets and writing scripts. It makes life very easy for the instructor. We love it!”

Pat Gombarcik, Autodesk Certified Instructor, Southeast Career Technical Academy says:

“The curriculum material is well written and easy to understand - for both the student and the instructor. One of the first questions I hear from new students is "Can we make a game in this class?”. Now I can tell them that they'll not only make a game, but they'll learn about Game Design and they'll be using 3ds Max which is industry standard software in the game industry.”

Applied IDEAS, Inc. is working with Paul W. Norman, formerly in Education Sales at Autodesk®, and current owner of Evil Genius Consulting, to make this curriculum available to schools around the world. Paul says, “We already have 15 resellers in America, along with resellers in Australia, China, and Europe.” Contact Paul at Paul@evilgeniusconsulting.net to learn more about lab packs and resellers in your area.

Applied IDEAS, Inc. is the creator of Autodesk’s highly praised Animation Academy curriculum and the Instructor Certification Program. Their mission for the past 16 years has been to provide outstanding resources and services in the areas of training, production, and custom software for the 3D community. They take immense pride in the quality of their work, and have become a recognized industry leader of the field of 3D.

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3ds Max® and Maya® are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc.

Everquest® is a registered trademark of Sony Entertainment.

Contact:

Pia Maffei

Applied IDEAS, Inc.

951-587-8245

pia.maffei@applied-ideas.com

http://www.applied-ideas.com

http://applied-ideas.blogspot.com