Written by Stanly Jeong, 2020 Cohort
I am sure a lot of you are familiar with Starcraft!
It’s a real-time strategy video game released in 1998 and sold over 11 million copies worldwide. It finally registered as the ‘best-selling strategy video game for PC’ in Guinness World Records. In South Korea, you can find many game designers who had a memorable moment with this masterpiece. I’m no exception.
I bought Starcraft on the release date, and I played it for weeks. I only played single-mode to enjoy the storyline and learn the basic strategies of three different species; Terran, Zerg, and Protoss. Since I cleared all levels, I thought I knew how to play the game, and one day, my younger brother suggested matching one-to-one. He told me that he would win since he had been playing multiplayer mode. In contrast, I was confident since I also honed my skills in single-player mode for a long time. It all ended in a bloodbath. His Zerg armies flooded into my Terran base, and all my soldiers met a heroic end.
My preMDM experience is similar to the one in Starcraft. It showed me I need to learn multiplayer gaming skills.
I had been working as a game designer in South Korea for nearly ten years. However, when I decided to widen my horizon to other countries, I realized that I needed a whole different kind of training. I know how to create video games, but I don’t know how to make them in Canada. That’s why I chose preMDM.
The preMDM courses mainly consist of teamwork, hands-on project simulation experiences and technical language practical preparation.
As an example, in teams, we pitched a co-op simulation game idea for the historical Cannery museum to attract younger audiences during the first semester. Simultaneously, we also built the prototype of an AR-based game to make our street cleaner. This semester, we are working hard on various projects. We learn soft, practical skills in the classroom and apply those in the process of projects. In this immersive environment, we will be prepared for the MDM program and afterwards. For me, it feels like a multiplayer mode that is full of a variety of surprising strategies, whereas I was only used to the single-player mode before.
Have you ever learned how to play the game from pro-gamers?
In addition to it, there is one more reason to take a preMDM course. These are the excellent two instructors. They are devoted mentors and let us learn adaptively since each student has a different level of English and digital media knowledge.
Whenever we feel we are losing our battles, Aida Osian and Jason Elliott thoughtfully encourage us.
Moreover, they do not just give answers; instead, they give us questions to improve our knowledge. With these fantastic professors’ guidance, we could expand our territories step-by-step and win our battles, ultimately.
Let me tell you about Starcraft once again. After that incident, I jumped into Battle.net, and two months later, I beat my brother fair and square. In pre-MDM, you will learn and then strategically win at any professional game you choose in life.