Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA) is a

graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...

offering a Master of Science in Interactive Entertainment, in the

University of Central Florida College of Sciences The University of Central Florida College of Sciences is the largest academic college of the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, Orlando, Florida, United States. From 2011 until 2020, the dean (education), dean of the colle ...

at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

located in

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, United States. The

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

of the school is Ben Noel, former vice president and chief operating officer of

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

' Orlando-based Tiburon studio. FIEA is a graduate

video game development Video game development (sometimes shortened to gamedev) is the process of creating a video game. It is a multidisciplinary practice, involving programming, design, art, audio, user interface, and writing. Each of those may be made up of more speci ...

school offering an accredited master's degree in interactive entertainment. Areas of study include

game design Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, Wargame (video games), war ga ...

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

, programming and

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

. The Academy is located at UCF Downtown, which also houses other graduate and undergraduate programs in art, business, education, health sciences, digital media, and film. FIEA was established in 2004 by UCF's School of Film and Digital Media and industry partners, 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. The campus is now recognized as UCF Downtown at Creative Village.

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 video game 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. As of June 2023, FIEA has now graduated more than 940 students who have been hired by more than 250 companies worldwide. Recent graduates have accepted jobs at

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington, and a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (programme ...

, Bethesda,

BioWare BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor of Medicine, medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip. Since 2007, the company has been owned by American ...

, Iron Galaxy Studios,

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

and many others.

Notable Achievements

Games developed at FIEA: * Class of December '06 - "Cohort 1" ** The Blob * Class of May '07 - "Cohort 2" *
Opera Slinger
-

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

Student Showcase Winner, 2007. ** Danger Zone * 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" *
Sultans of Scratch
*
Drifters
* Class of December '10 - "Cohort 6" *
Shadows of Abigail
*
9 Lives 'Til Midnight
*
Eclipse
* Class of December '11 - "Cohort 7" *
Nexus
*
Scarfell
*
Dead West
* Class of December '12 - "Cohort 8" *
Plushy Knight
** Penned *
Battle Fortress Tortoise
* Class of December '13 - "Cohort 9" ** Escherreal ** Grapple ** Pitch Jumper ** Warp Derby * Class of December '14 - "Cohort 10" *
HIT
*
Focal Length
*
Neon Night Riders
* Class of December '15 - "Cohort 11" *
Junkers
*
Lanterns
*
Life Unfolds
*
Mall Cop
*
Totem
* Class of December '16 - "Cohort 12" ** Child No More *
Ley Lines
** Sketch Artist ** The Channeler * Class of December '17 - "Cohort 13" ** The Draft *
Hollowed
** The Logician ** MasterKey * Class of December '18 - "Cohort 14" *
Long Arm of the Law
*
Scamp: High Hat Havoc
** Hyper Vital
The Great Emu War
*
Liminal
* Class of December '19 - "Cohort 15" *
Malediction
** In Harmony ** Drift Light ** Snowfall Village * Class of December '20 - "Cohort 16" *
Flicker of Hope (Wick)
*
Keepers of the Trees
*
Izcalli of the Wind
*
Kore
*Class of December '21 - "Cohort 17"
Peblito - Rock and Roll

Rings of Hell

The Last Spark

Zenko - A Fox's Tale
*Class of December '22 - "Cohort 18"
Soul Shard

K3LVN

Drain Runner

Hermea
*Class of December '23 - "Cohort 19"
Cecelia

Deckweaver

Bloodsong
** Heart and Core *Class of December '24 - "Cohort 20" **Caesura
CHROMA

Fantasmagorie
** Starboard

External links

University of Central FloridaUCF Florida Interactive Entertainment AcademyUCF Nicholson School of Communication and MediaInstitute for Simulation and Training

References

"Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy Opens in Orlando"
''The National Center for Simulation'', November 8, 2005. Accessed May 30, 2007

'' Florida High Tech Corridor Council'', November 2004. Accessed May 30, 2007 *Colavecchio-Van Sickler, Shannon
"Gaming for school credit"
''The St. Petersburg Times'', November 19, 2006. Accessed May 30, 2007 *Binette, Chad
"First Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy Class Graduates"
''UCF News and Information'', December 12, 2006. Accessed May 30, 2007 {{authority control Universities and colleges in Orlando, Florida Video game universities University of Central Florida Educational institutions established in 2004 2004 establishments in Florida