Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA) is a graduate school offering a Master of Science in Interactive Entertainment, in the University of Central Florida College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, United States. The director of the school is Ben Noel, former vice president and chief operating officer of Electronic Arts' Orlando-based Tiburon studio.
FIEA is a graduate video game development school offering an accredited master's degree in interactive entertainment. Areas of study include game design, art, programming and production. 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, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Google, Bungie, Bethesda, BioWare, Iron Galaxy Studios, Activision 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 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 Class of December '25 - "Cohort 21" Crimson Knight Dillo's Dilemma Husk Planet Punk Rock Exorcist
External links University of Central Florida UCF Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy UCF Nicholson School of Communication and Media Institute for Simulation and Training
References
"Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy Opens in Orlando", The National Center for Simulation, November 8, 2005. Accessed May 30, 2007 "UCF Gets Downtown Digital Media Campus", 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