Students chosen for inaugural NSI playWRITE program

May, 14, 2008 · Industry News

Winnipeg – After receiving applications and online pitches from across the country, the National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) is pleased to announce that ten (10) applicants have been chosen to participate in the inaugural NSI playWRITE training program. NSI playWRITE is presented by NSI and Telefilm Canada in association with Zeros 2 Heroes. This new program trains developing writers to become narrative designers in the video game industry and provides them with the chance to earn an internship with a Canadian game design studio.

The selected participants are:

- Jeffrey Campbell (Vancouver, BC)
- Amanda Doiron (Ottawa, ON)
- Ryan FitzGerald (Winnipeg, MB)
- Caley Gibson (Winnipeg, MB)
- Calvin Leung (Toronto, ON)
- Susan Patrick (Montreal, QC)
- Rebecca Schneidereit (Halifax, NS)
- Kate Tremills (Vancouver, BC)
- James Wigmore (Whitehorse, YT)
- Jennifer Lynne Young (Halifax, NS)

The initial “boot camp” training will take place May 20 – 24 at Vidfest - the Vancouver International Digital Festival. Participants will receive training from industry experts and take part in the learning sessions available at this conference. Following “boot camp,” participants will return home to design their own game concepts over a two-month period, under the mentorship of video game industry experts. Participants that qualify at the end of this period will then receive an internship at a prestigious Canadian game design studio.

“The enthusiasm with which this new program was greeted is fantastic,” says Brendon Sawatzky, NSI PlayWRITE Program Co-ordinator. “The Zeros 2 Heroes online community embraced the new program and we received very positive feedback about this new training opportunity. We’re excited to see what happens during boot camp and how the initial game ideas change and grow.”

A number of high profile industry sponsors have thrown their support behind the new initiative. The most recent companies to confirm their involvement are Radical Entertainment, Next Level Games, Big Sandwich Studios and Fit Brains.

Radical Entertainment is a video game developer based in Vancouver, BC. Founded in 1991, Radical previously developed games for game publishers such as THO, Microsoft, and Fox Interactive and has developed such titles as Scarface: The World is Yours and Crash of the Titans. Radical is currently working on the recently announced game Prototype. In 2007, Radical was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers, as published in Maclean's magazine.

Next Level Games is a third-party video game developer based in Vancouver, BC. Founded in October 2002, Next Level Games specializes in creating console video games. Getting their start with NHL Hitz Pro, Next Level now works with Nintendo on the Mario Strikers series and is currently working on the upcoming cross-platform title, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe.

Big Sandwich Games ("BSG") is a game development and 3D outsourcing studio based in Vancouver, BC. They are authorized developers of the Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and PS3. As an art outsourcing studio, Big Sandwich Games is dedicated to providing the highest quality in-game art assets to the video game industry. BSG is currently working on upcoming next-gen titles with both BioWare Corp. and Slant Six Games.

Fit Brains is a developer of games that exercise the five key cognitive areas of the brain. Focused on delivering unique and entertaining brain fitness products, their games offer a variety of activities that help users of all ages maximize and round-out brain skills in an entertaining fashion. The games are tightly integrated with an extensive suite of easy-to-use personalization tools that provide individualized sessions for each user as well as comprehensive brain fitness metrics that measures individual performance and progress.

For more information about NSI playWRITE go here.

The Program Manager for NSI playWRITE is Matt Toner, President of Zeros 2 Heroes Media. Brendon Sawatzky, Program Manager for NSI Features First and the executive producer of NSI’s online initiatives, is the NSI playWRITE Program Co-ordinator.

Source: NSI Press Release