Question about Escape Studios

[Philly13]

Is anyone starting the upcoming Games course in May? I will be starting on that, looking really forward now that everyone's had nothing but praise for it Sevro, if you could tell us more about your experience on the course it would be much appreciated, as it sounds like you really dedicated yourself to the work! Also, Petrol, how did you get the opportunity to do an art test after the course was over, or do they just see that you're really applying yourself and offer the chance to prove if you work well? Thanks in advance!

[tommyvision]

Heh, well glad to see that Ghostscape shares the same high level of cynicism as me. So just to clarify my position;

I am not currently employed or affiliated with escape studios.

Jason Jenner (escape studios training manager) e-mailed me this morning and asked me as someone who has completed the games course if I would post a reply to your query.

I have literally just registered to post my positive opinion,

So, getting that out of the way;

I had hoped to get into the games industry via concept art or another illustrative role, unfortunately (as i'm sure you are aware) it is extremely difficult to find a role in the uk games industry at the moment (and it always has been) so I thought I'd bolster my portfolio with some 3d knowledge and escape's course was what worked best for me.

Prior to attending escape I had extremely limited knowledge of 3d, I knew how to open maya, tumble round a scene and then somehow I'd find a way to make maya crash in a spectacular fashion.

I considered I could continue working in my old job, slowly learn some 3d skills and eventually hope (and pray) to accumulate enough knowledge to achieve an extremely junior or runners position.
Or, I could take time off work, attend the escape studios courses and use that knowledge to get a job significantly higher up the pay/experience scale.
It is of course not a decision to be taken lightly, in total the maya core/games course comes to £8,500. I feel, for me at least it was money well spent.


I believe the courses are still set out in the way that I did, that being:

A 6 week introductory course into maya which they call maya core. At the end of maya core I was capable of modeling, lighting, animating, texturing and rendering.

I followed this up with the maya games course which is an additional 6 weeks.
What i'd like to make clear here is that Simon Fenton (the games tutor) was teaching us the techniques as used in the games industry, correct working practice, versioning... etc
In short everything that would be expected of an artist who had industry experience.
He and the escape studios technical team were also there to troubleshoot the difficulties and problems we encountered when something didn't work or when maya just flat out refused to do what it was told.

A great experience was a week before the end of the course we went on a "class trip" to blitz studios, we showed the directors of the company Andrew and Phillip Oliver and the company's technical director our work.

The DAY the course ended Paul Wilkes escape's recruitment manager approached me regarding working on the cutscenes for Motorstorm2. Escape also got me work on the last Narnia film.

One thing i feel i should point out is that the success stories page is filled with work of ex- escape students, it just happens they now work for those companies.

Regards
Tommy
AKA corporate schill

[Rian]

Hi,

I finished the Maya Core course and went on to do the Games course recently at Escape Studios. I was recommended escape studios via a contact in the industry and i can tell you it doesn't disappoint. I went into the 2 short courses having never even played around with the program and left with an excellent base understanding of the program and the industry considering the time invested. Simon, the current games course teacher, has a clear and precise teaching method with lots of industry experience. The games course is constantly evolving as Simon tweaks it to keep up to date and relative directly to the industry. While there we attended games studios and had speakers come to us which was invaluable for answering the many questions that arise.

As for your interest in environment art/modelling the course offers fantastic training on low budget modelling and next gen. with due attention paid to all facets of the creative process.

In regards to your question on the level required to jump into the games course i do personally recommend you do the core course 1st if you have no experience in maya as there is a level of implied knowledge. From the last time i checked the escape studios website they had specials on advanced bookings and package deals for taking mutiple courses so it's worth considering as the games course flows on nicely from the core course. (the comprehensive games course is 12 weeks from what i know and includes both the Maya Core and Games courses)

I hope this info helps somewhat.

Rian Sturgess

[Ghostscape]

Originally Posted by tommyvision

Heh, well glad to see that Ghostscape shares the same high level of cynicism as me. So just to clarify my position;

I am not currently employed or affiliated with escape studios.

Jason Jenner (escape studios training manager) e-mailed me this morning and asked me as someone who has completed the games course if I would post a reply to your query.

I have literally just registered to post my positive opinion

That explains the number of single post users talking about how wonderful escape is, glad to see someone being honest about that

[sarge mat]

Well thanks to everyone that replied. It’s a while yet before I will have to make a decision about what to do but this is one of the more likely options on the table at the moment.

[benclark]

Ghostscape - I dont know if Escape is very well known in the states, but over here it does have a very good reputation for being the best place to go for industry relevant training

I'm not endorsing them personally and I share your opinion generally about games courses.

I just think its a shame that the one institution in the UK that actually seems to give a shit about its student's futures gets tarred with the same brush as all the half-assed games degrees

[Ibrahim]

I heard about escape studios after I had spent three years at university completing a games course. Although I had a relatively good experience at university, the course itself didn't prove to be that great, and in hindsight I would've given serious thought about a more focused course at something like escape studios or Futurworks in manchester.

I hate hindsight!

[spong]

If Escape took kidneys for payment then I would be there in a heartbeat with a shiney new scar.

[Narooku]

Is there any short term game art course in and around Manchester which is similar to Escape studio course?

Thanks.

[Dabookerman]

Hi there,
I believe this is my first post, and apologies in advance for bumping quite an old thread.

I went to the open day 2 weeks ago after hearing about Escape from a friend of mine whose friend is currently doing the animation course. Reading about it, I decided to go on this open day and was left incredibly impressed. I will definitely be doing the games course this September (as long as I get this loan x_x)

Really impressed with the place.