Borderless Game Academy - Visualmagic.se
Borderless Game Academy2024-04-17T11:36:33+02:00

Borderless Game Academy

A project financed by Interreg Aurora

Visual Magic Education AB is now, together with Novia University of Applied Science, a proud part of the two-year Interreg Aurora project Borderless Game Academy. This cross-border cooperation project will help us form a tighter bound between the Finnish and Swedish education systems and provide better courses and an extended work network for our students.

The game development industry is blossoming at an exhilarating pace, particularly in the Interreg Aurora programme area, offering opportunities for job-seekers. Recognizing the rising demand for top-notch game related education to sustain this progress, Novia UAS and Visual Magic Education are pioneering a transformative venture. This collaboration aims to bridge the educational gap by introducing an innovative cross-border higher education curriculum, synergizing Swedish and Finnish expertise in both game development and creative industry entrepreneurship.

Our vision is to champion an inspiring educational environment within the programme area, eliminating the need for students to seek higher education elsewhere. This initiative is geared not only towards refining the skills of the students but also towards enriching the local community by retaining talent and avoiding brain drain in the northern parts of Finland and Sweden.

The project unfolds through four pivotal phases:

  1. Designing a cohesive transnational curriculum.
  2. Fostering robust cross-border alliances among educational entities.
  3. Encouraging collaborative efforts between game dev students across borders.
  4. Instilling a sustainable mindset within both game dev education organisations and the student body.

The outcomes are envisioned to be a harmonised cross-border games education template, a thriving network for students and educators across borders, and a blueprint for subsequent cross-border educational endeavours.
By facilitating these connections and sharing knowledge, our ultimate ambition is to amplify the number of individuals with higher education within the area and be a catalyst for the sustainable ascendancy of the game development sector.

Project event: GLOBAL GAME JAM
Date: 26 January 2024 (17:00) to 28 January.
Sites: Jörn (Sweden), Jakobstad and Vasa (Finland)
Three days of building games with old and new friends from the games industry.

In preparation for the game jam, we arranged online crash courses for three popular game engines. These courses are now now open to everybody, so feel free to watch any or all of these using the links below. The courses are around 2 hours each.

Godot Game Engine Introduction (recorded) with Benjamin Vehling / United Soft Media
Unavailable at present, stay tuned – new link to the video will be posted soon

Unity Crash Course (recorded) with Petteri Koivumäki / Blacklighthouse
Click HERE to access the video.

Unreal Crash Course (recorded) with Erik Okfors / Visual Magic
Click HERE to watch the course.

Project event: CROSSBORDER FX
Date: 24 April 2024 (9:00-15.30).
Site: Schaumansalen, Campus Allegro, Jakobstad

Borderless Game Academy presents a crossborder showcase in the Schaumansalen.

Background: As part of the Borderless Game Academy project, performing arts and music students from Novia have collaborated with students from the Swedish VFX school Visual Magic and the game company Ballistic Pork in the production of a game trailer. The trailer has been soundtracked (two versions) by the music student and performing arts students have, with the help of motion-capture, acted as actors. The trailer, its cast and working methods are presented.

In connection with this premiere, we are also giving space to other actors in Campus Allegro. Ida-Britta Petrelius from Novia FUI (research, development and innovation) holds a workshop on speculative futures. Music students from the Vocational Academy perform with self-written songs and music students and DJ Styrox contribute with a retro game-focused VJ/DJ set.

Apply via https://forms.office.com/e/QZmAGBv4yF

Project Timeline:

Kick-off: 2023-09-01
Completion: 2025-08-31

Key Focus Areas:

  • Education, Culture, and Sustainable Tourism
  • Promoting a more cohesive and inclusive Europe in alignment with the European Pillar of Social Rights
  • Prioritising Education and Lifelong Learning
  • Enhancing labour market compatibility and fluidity.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Contact info:

Tobias Björkskog, tobias.bjorkskog@novia.fi
Johan Linder, johan.linder@creativecrowd.se