Backstage Pass’s Effective Solutions to Common Student Problems in Today’s Educational Environment.

Backstage Pass’s Effective Solutions to Common Student Problems in Today’s Educational Environment.

 

To pursue a degree in India, wherein it’s a race to rise to the top, is not only tricky but stressful for many students and the families that support them. So we can imagine what a rollercoaster ride it is for passionate gamers to make the unconventional choice of pursuing a career in Game Development along with the general pressures of student life. 

Such issues are identified and solved in Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming and Technology as our main motto is to provide quality education to all classes of game enthusiasts. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for us to actively take part in our students’ problems and figure out a solution.

We have researched some of the top issues that students not only from Backstage Pass but in many other colleges have faced and have taken measures such that our students will never meet the same, take a look!

1.Many students from lower to upper-middle-class have faced a problem of paying their tuition fee on time.

Backstage Pass has teamed up with individual banks to offer interest-free loans to the students, which has made an enormous impact and brought a great sense of relief to many of our students.

2. Backstage Pass in all its three branches (Hyderabad | Pune | Bangalore) which are located in prime areas to strengthen our associations with the surrounding game companies in the neighbourhood. Still, in prime areas, students have had a problem finding appropriate accommodation in their budgets which are near to the college.

We provide hostel accommodation for our students that are equipped with food facilities and RO water for reasonable prices which are located close to the college for convenience.

3. Students in most colleges do not get one on one personalized attention from their teachers which leads to a lack in understanding in-depth concepts.

To tackle such problems, Backstage Pass follows a mentorship program wherein we take a limited number of students and provide them with a mentor who closely observes their progress and guides them in all their concepts.

4.Some dedicated students enjoy working on improving their skills even after college timings. Therefore, our computer labs are open for longer hours for students to practice on their assignments/projects, which ultimately will help in developing their skillset.

5.Students may have doubts after college times which they may not be able to resolve immediately. Therefore, our mentors are available remotely even after college hours to help students whenever they need help.

Our weekend course of Advanced Diploma in Game Development is here for you!

No Time for a full-time course? No worries, our weekend course of Advanced Diploma in Game Development is here for you!

 

In India, most of us are made to choose our careers for the rest of our lives at the tender age of 16. It’s an education system that isn’t bound to change anytime soon.  When it comes to individuals who are passionate about building games through programming or art, it isn’t a career choice that is encouraged or supported by the parents or the society and at that age, we do not have the courage to say ‘No’.

But, Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming College provides game enthusiasts a chance at a do over with our one-year Weekend Advanced Diploma in Game Development, Art and Design courses. Our weekend courses help individuals, who have prior commitments during their weeks, to uphold their weekly chores and learn game development over the weekend.  

Backstage Pass believes in mentorship approach to teaching wherein experienced game developers from the industry supervise and guide our students during their course of study. This approach helps the students understand what the industry wants out of them and in building a network with in the industry.

The weekend Advanced Diploma has been introduced with working professionals kept in our mind though all individuals are eligible for this course.  This course is the direct solution for working professionals, who do not enjoy their current job and looking to shift to a new industry while earning their bread.

Within a year, you become a certified game developer with numerous job opportunities awaiting you. The companies that Backstage Pass is associated with are the top game companies in India therefore, your entry into this industry will start off with a bang!

To know more about their courses click here : https://www.backstagepass.co.in/programs-hyderabad/

The advanced diploma course is offered at all our three branches [ Hyderabad|Bangalore|Pune ] so checkout the one closest to you!

 So hurry now and register here – https://www.backstagepass.co.in/contact-us/

To grab your opportunity into the games industry!

Achievements of Backstage Pass Talents in IGDC,2019

Achievements of Backstage Pass Talents in IGDC,2019

 

The India Game Developer Conference (IGDC), formerly known as the NASSCOM Game Developers Conference (NGDC), is India’s premier game developers conference. It is organised by volunteers from the industry with the support of its sponsors and the Telangana Government. IGDC is the most distinguished developer conference in South Asia. The conference enables game developers to gain knowledge by interacting with industry experts as well as provide opportunities for their growth by giving them access to publishers and investors.

Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming has been a part of this conference since years past and has continuously been an active entity of it. Our students have won many awards and nominations during all its years of participation.

 Backstage Pass has been the education sponsor of IGDC in many of its iterations including IGDC,2019 and has strived to develop and improve its associations with various game companies to provide further more employment opportunities for our students. We also encourage our students to participate actively by providing separate discounted passes to them; this helps them interact with industry veterans and bring in recognition to their work and talents carefully honed at the college.

In IGDC 2019, Asar Dhandala  (Backstage Pass Alumni) and P.B Srivatsan (Backstage Pass Alumni) have won the Upcoming Game of the Year award, Satish Chandra (Backstage Pass alumni) is the founder of Teapot Games which won the Runner Up for Indie Game of the Year award and current Backstage Pass students Priyank Degami and Firoj Aktar were Runners Up for Student Game of the Year award. It gives us great pleasure to see our alumni and students alike performing feats of talent and skill.

Our focus, as a Gaming college, is to guide and supervise our students to motivate them to attend many such conferences with interest and showcase their skillset by exhibiting extraordinary work that will cast them in front of the top game companies in attendance. 

Future of the Gaming Industry

Backstage Pass welcomes students from all over India to become the future of the Gaming Industry

 

Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming has always had a welcoming atmosphere for foreign students and Indian students alike,  since it started in 2010

Our student base is diverse, including students from all North-Eastern states. We have always encouraged students from North-Eastern states with little provision for gaming education in their own hometowns to come to our college and see for themselves our education system. These students speak openly to our mentors so that they may get a full picture of our curriculum and the various opportunities waiting for them through our associations.

We have found that most students who hail from these regions have a natural talent for Art, and they bring about innovative new ideas with their innate creativity. Such bright individuals should utilized their talents properly and learn the usage of these skills to make a meaningful career out of it.

The millenials of today’s generation play many games as a pastime, but they aren’t aware that they can pursue gaming as a successful career by learning the required skills under close supervision.

 In our Game Art course, we begin with traditional drawing and  slowly transition to 2D and 3D Game Art Techniques. We believe in building a firm knowledge base hence, teach traditional and digital sculpting, wherein students will learn to sculpt their favourite game characters or creatures etc.

Many of our students graduate to enter reputed AAA game companies, such as Ubisoft, Sumo Digital, EA sports and many more, at the beginning of their career itself.

Michael Chawang( Game Art Bachelor’s, 2nd Year) , our student from Nagaland, shared a few words of his experience at Backstage Pass :

“ I have always been very interested in Gaming but there was no proper institute that taught courses in Gaming exclusively, this is where Backstage Pass came in as it catered to my exact needs. I would also like to mention that, everyone including the students and faculty are friendly and maintain a relaxed atmosphere.”

We strive to have an open minded and nurturing environment which stimulates positive interaction between students irrespective of  where they are from so that students from any region can find a second home with us.

Benny Francis

An Insight Into the Mind of an Esteemed Game Art Mentor – Benny Francis

 

Benny, one of our game art mentors, has nine years of experience in the games industry. He has worked previously in Technicolor, Lakshya Digital where he learnt the international standard of quality in artwork and went onto win the Lakshya Art Competition which gave him international recognition. He has worked as a part of many games such as the popular game, Shadow’s War and games made by big labels such as Dreamworks[NDA], Square Enix games[NDA], Platinum games [NDA].

Later, He worked for Glu Mobile which he describes to be a luxury job for any game artist, but a passion for teaching and bettering the current game development education sector aligned his goals with that of Backstage Pass, and he was welcomed here as a game art mentor.

An interview with him brought to light more of his thoughts and aspirations. So, let’s get started to know more!

“When you started as a young game artist, did you ever imagine you would end up in teaching?”

“I have always been interested in teaching as I used to teach many of the weak students in my class during my student days. As I ventured through the industry, I started seeing the holes in my colleagues’ knowledge base and realized that other than tools and softwares, these colleges aren’t teaching them anything. So, when Mr.Surya, founder of Backstage Pass, approached me and told me how they want their students to have all the basics of game art integrated into their minds before leading up to advanced tools, it resonated with my thought process, so here I am!”

 “What sort of students do you come across?”

“Ah, well I think all students are unique in their needs, but yes they can roughly be divided into two types:

1)    They are self-motivated and know the path they want to pursue. These kinds of students require guidance and supervision such that they excel in whichever way they choose and take all the right steps to further themselves in it.

2)    The second type, they are good at what they do but are a bit lost about what to pursue, so I try to help them find their path through exposure and experimentation.

Either type of student can go to great heights or fail miserably depending on the guidance they receive as they need to be taught first before they can experiment and I hope to be of help in every step of their journey.”

“What are your goals as a mentor?”

 “To make sure that my students become renowned artists because that automatically means their art is of top quality. I want to make sure that all my students, no matter their level of talent and skill, are humble and accepting as overconfidence causes anyone to fail at some point. Mainly, I have seen many game artists with great skill but who do not get what they deserve, and they do not protest as their managerial skills are poor, but I will make sure my students know their worth and what to request for and what not to settle for when they successfully graduate from Backstage Pass as Game Developers!”

” What are the common misconceptions that people have about game art?”

 “The most common ones are :

1)    To take up game art, students require to be good at drawing.

Completely false. Some of my peers, who are top game artists in the country, can’t draw to save their lives!

2)    A 3D artist is better than a 2D artist (OR) 3D art is better than 2D art.

Absolutely inaccurate. 3D art and 2D art are two separate mediums — each unique to their section of work.

These two are the ones I have come across quite a few times, surprisingly. “

” What is your attitude in the classroom? As in.. how are you as a teacher?”

 “I’m strict about certain things, and I think discipline is a quality to be built in students so that they do not need anyone to teach them such in their future employment. I believe in work hard and play hard, so, I make my students work hard but also relax to de-stress their minds.

I don’t believe in giving them deadlines, but I do believe in making them understand the concept well enough that a passion is stirred within them to create art and present it to me. I try to channelize their raw, youthful energy into their craft rather than waste it.”

 “How has the industry evolved?”

 “There are many new opportunities and new mediums that have sprung up in recent times. Freelancing has become a great opportunity for artists. They get paid well, but there is no job security. As an employee, an artist has to consider his boss’s personality because many artists are put under tremendous pressure by management but now, some good companies are valuing their artists and treating them better. Recruitment in a good company is hard to get, but when you are a Backstage Pass student, it gets easy because they are associated with all the prominent game companies in India such Sony India, EA sports and many more.”

 “So, coming to our last question…do you think international standards of quality are hard to reach for your students?”

 “International artists have more resources than us, which helps them shine, but when it comes to talent, we are equally good if not more. Colleges such as Backstage Pass are providing these resources. So combining passionate mentors and resources from Backstage Pass with students’ passion and talent, we can count on presenting first-grade quality.”

Here’s an Insight into the Thoughts of a Fellow Game Developer

Here’s an Insight into the Thoughts of a Fellow Game Developer

 

With the growing game industry, it is a world full of opportunities to grab, which is precisely the reason,  many colleges have begun offering additional game development courses along with their regular set of classes.

It is a step in the right direction from the academies of our country, but a new field of study needs much detail to be worked on to develop the curriculum of the course by top experts in the area which isn’t occurring currently.

Colleges provide game design and game art as one single course though they are very different skillsets to be learnt, and game programming doesn’t even come into the picture, which is essential to develop any game.

I have also noticed that they advertise education in game development, but they only teach the softwares related to it and do not begin from scratch, which is a hindrance to students’ knowledge.

However, one college that I have come across which advocates teaching everything from the ground up and provides only game development courses in game design, art and development with experienced and passionate mentors that have years of expertise and knowledge, is Backstage Pass. It has been around for a decade in Hyderabad and is now, in Pune and Bangalore as well.

It is a refreshing change to come across such a college in India that provides quality and standardized education.

It shows an improvement not only in the mindset of the general population but also, in academicians providing such courses because only if they take this industry seriously then so will the parents of potential students.

Backstage Pass Hostel Facilities

Looking for a clean and well facilitated Hostel? Look no further because our college makes sure all our students’ needs are fulfilled including their stay at the best hostels.

 

Any parent’s or even a student’s concern upon joining a college would be first and foremost, their living conditions. We understand the value of that worry and cater to both the parents’ and students’ concerns. Students’ health is an important affair and contributes significantly to their efficiency in college. A primary culprit of ill health is the drinking water; therefore, we provide RO water in our hostels. “Healthy food leads to a healthy mind” is one of our mottos for our students. Consequently, we serve nutritious food (both veg and non-veg) for all the meals along with tea.

 Our facilities are wholesome and provide a nurturing environment. There is a Wifi connection for students to work on their assignments anytime. CC cameras are present to have a check on any dubious situations. We believe that each should have their own space so, we provide storage facilities. Healthy habits such as taking the stairs are always encouraged, but a lift is available for convenience after a particularly exhausting day.

Our rooms are two-sharing as everyone knows two’s company, but three’s a crowd! And hot water is provided at all times for their well-being and comfort.

The hostels have security 24/7 to keep our students safe and sound throughout their journey with us!

Come and grab the chance at Backstage Pass with their student loans!

Dreams of pursuing a higher education but need a lift up? Come and grab the chance at Backstage Pass with their student loans!

 

Did you know that only 25% of school students go on to pursue higher education in India?

First of all, the literacy rate in our country has continuously been low, and even the young adults educated till school level fail to pursue a college degree primarily due to the financial burden. Some are merely disinterested, but it is unfortunate to see students with a passion for academics discontinuing because they are unable to afford their tuition.

Being a part of Backstage Pass has allowed me to see that many talented game enthusiasts, who would be extraordinary game developers, do not have the monetary means to be a part of our college.

It would be disheartening to see a child’s face fall when he was told he wouldn’t be able to join here due to constraints he couldn’t control, especially the gifted ones who have tried to learn some gaming tools on their own in their school years itself. Under the right guidance, they would become merely extraordinary game developers.

Backstage Pass has always tried to encourage underprivileged students by offering scholarships to merit students as well as female students to introduce more and more gender diversity in the Games Industry.

But it still did not feel enough as we continued to see many students turn their backs on higher education because they were either unable to pay the fee even after such scholarships or did not qualify for our scholarships.

For years, watching this happen over and over again, Backstage Pass has come to the decision to offer student loans to any existing or potential students so that, they may pursue their education without any struggles or financial crisis.

In all our locations (i.e., Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore), we offer such loans to all our passionate students. It helps them amass indispensable knowledge and also motivates them to be the best at what they do to repay their monetary debt as soon as possible with a lucrative job and comfortable lifestyle to show for it in the end.

We hope this initiative helps many potential students to take the reins of their education in their hands and graduate with a college degree but more importantly, a wealth of knowledge.

Study interesting courses and be rewarded for it! Sounds too good to be true? Well, be prepared to be surprised!

Study interesting courses and be rewarded for it! Sounds too good to be true? Well, be prepared to be surprised!

 

We all know that even when we love our subject, and it’s where our passion lies, studying per se can get outright dull at times.

Most colleges think it’s the students’ job to retain an interest in the ongoing classes or lectures, but they do not realize that they are equally responsible for making that happen.

Backstage Pass understands and takes up this responsibility on their shoulders; hence, they always try to implement practical learning but also, have an award system in their academic apparatus.

In an award system, mentors review their students’ assignments and projects thoroughly and pick the best work put forward to reward the corresponding student. Rewards can be anything related to their courses, such as art books and ecorche models. Some gifts can even be digital such as tutorials, art materials and videos. These presents are necessary for their courses as they help in creatively stimulating the students, but they are too expensive for students on a budget. Instead of giving these away free of charge, Backstage Pass decided to make their students earn them by rewarding the students with the best work.

 

They try to instil a feeling of accomplishment, and a will to do better in their students with such activities. It also helps in self-motivating the weaker students in the class.

It is a gratifying experience to be rewarded for your efforts, and which one of us doesn’t love a gift from time to time? So, to all the students of Backstage Pass out there, gather your tools and open up your minds to ace your college work and win some rad gifts!

 

Game development is the door to new opportunities

Game development is the door to new opportunities

 

Game development is the door to new opportunities

Here’s why:

A parent or potential student would have a few questions before joining any college. To put it simply, the two main ones, would be ‘WHY Backstage Pass?’ and ‘WHAT are the opportunities it provides that others don’t?’

 
Instead of providing one sentence answers, I would like to elaborate on your questions to ease your minds about choosing the best choice out of all the others.

 
Backstage Pass is all about educating their students specifically about game art, game design and game programming, each field is divided into an individual course. These kinds of students are sought after by top game companies as they do not need to invest time and manpower to provide training for trainees with inadequate knowledge, which is the norm as most colleges that offer game development courses combine all the fields into one three-year course or even worse, some trainees are taken aboard after going through entirely insufficient crash courses.

 
Not only do they prepare their students thoroughly for the outside world, but are also exceptionally well connected to the top game companies in India. The game companies provide their requirements directly to Backstage Pass, and they process their student profiles accordingly. Students start interning in their third year, 95% of these internships are converted into full-time jobs upon their graduation. Some of their alumni include game developers in Ubisoft, Dhruva Interactive, Sumo Digital, Sony India etc., and they earn on an average about 4.5 Lakhs per annum, it can go up to even 9 Lakhs per annum for a fresher based on their skill set and portfolio.

 
They provide a quality education that helps their students stand out in a crowd, thereby, securing dream jobs from the best firms in the industry!