Posted: 11/02/15
Students leap at design challenge
A Nottingham-based gaming company has set students at West Nottinghamshire College a creative challenge.
Ayla Morgan shows her ident design to Richard Flower of Fuzzy Frog
Fuzzy Frog, which was established six years ago by chief executive Richard Flower, develops games for mobile phones and arcades, for people to purchase.
Last week, Richard and his art director Simon Smalley, visited students to see the results of their work after being set a challenge to create an ident for a new Fuzzy Frog game.
Students were challenged over the summer period to create an ident for using with the launch of a new game. An ident – which is short for identification – is a short sequence shown at the beginning of a game to identify the product.
Using LightWave 3D and After Effects, which they are learning about on their BTEC Extended Diploma in Interactive Media, students had 14 lessons of two hours to produce a frog-themed ident. LightWave 3D is a computer graphics software package which is used in film, television, motion graphics and video games development.
Richard and Simon met students to learn more about how they created the ident from concept to production and each class member presented their finished work.
Richard said: “We were really impressed by everyone’s work. We were keen to work with Tony the tutor and his class to provide a real-life project to prepare them for the world of work.
“Giving students working briefs helps give an edge for when they’re applying for jobs in the future. The frog idents were really colourful and creative and perfectly captured Fuzzy Frog’s character.”
Ayla Morgan, 18, (pictured) said: “It was a bit daunting at first beginning to create the frog because although I’ve used LightWave for modelling before, I’ve never used it for animation.
“Once I got started though, I found it fun and got to expand my skills. It took a while to perfect but I’m pleased with my results and the feedback from Richard and Simon.”
To see the students’ designs visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaMtkzVCyvA
