Vancouver, B.C. - Vancouver Film School (VFS) and Electronic Arts have announced Sasha Dunfee, 18, as the recipient of the $25,000 EA Game Design Scholarship to attend VFS.
VFS, the largest private post-secondary entertainment arts institution in Canada, and EA, an independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment, asked scholarship applicants to submit videogame concept proposals this past January.
"EA is constantly seeking talented game designers to join our team and help us develop the next generation of exciting and engaging EA games," says Jeff Ryan, senior director of human resources at EA. "By supporting quality education like the VFS Game Design program, EA can help to foster a bright new crop of gaming talent, while supporting the continued success of the video game industry in Vancouver."
After months of reviewing entries, Dunfee's application impressed the scholarship committee with its maturity and creativity. Dunfee's technical talent won over the committee with original and realistic ideas that could be transferred into the development of games.
Dunfee, who was born in Thailand and graduated from Centennial Secondary School in Coquitlam, has had a lifelong interest in design, but is fairly new to working with games.
"I only really got into video game design about three years ago with the release of Half-Life 2," he says. "I find level design to be a fantastic and rewarding way of creative expression. This is a great opportunity for me, and it is an honour to have been selected out of what I am sure was a very talented entry pool."
The Game Design program at VFS began its 2007 session at the end of June.