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High-Tech Corridor
Orlando
Full Sail University
The private, for-profit university is known for its programs focusing on audio, film and media production; video game design; animation; and studies related to the media and entertainment industries. In 2018, 28 of its graduates were credited on Oscar-winning films in 14 categories. The Princeton Review ranks it as one of the best schools for studying game design.
GAMESIM
Real Fun
If you have played or seen the video game Assassin's Creed or Madden NFL, you’ve been in contact with the work of Orlando-based company GameSim.
GameSim’s 3D technology helps make games and simulated environments look more realistic. It develops simulated environments for some of the world’s largest game companies, as well as both private industry and the military. Its client list includes the Department of Defense, Electronic Arts, Zynga and the Florida Department of Transportation.
GameSim’s cutting edge is its geospatial terrain tool, Conform. It’s the fastest product on the market for importing geospatial data to generate high-fidelity visualizations of artificial environments.
On the entertainment side, the firm does all aspects of game development, from frontend features and effects to backend optimization. For the military, GameSim creates everything from virtual structures to nationscale geospatial terrain maps.
GameSim was founded in 2008 by University of Central Florida graduate Andrew Tosh, who had been a developer for Electronic Arts and the military. In 2017, GameSim was acquired by Keywords Studios, a company based in Ireland that has more than 5,000 employees worldwide.
“We had gotten about as big as we could get, and we wanted to see what it was like to have more access to the world,” says studio manager Max Acree, another UCF alumnus.
GameSim, which will remain in Central Florida, has just under 40 employees, and UCF and Full Sail University provide a study stream of talent.
Digital Media and Entertainment Art
- 2 — Top20 graduate programs for video game design (Princeton Review/ PC Gamer 2018)
- 6th — Rank among Fortune’s 10 Most Successful States for Video Game Development
- 4 — Major theme park destination partners offering opportunities in entertainment innovation
- 750 — Number of employees who work in Maitland for Electronic Arts Tiburon, one of the world's largest video game companies
