Media Design School is a private

tertiary institution Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

that provides specialist industry training in 3D animation and visual effects, game art, game programming, graphic and motion design,

digital media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...

artificial intelligence, and creative advertising. It is currently the most awarded private tertiary provider in New Zealand for digital and creative technology qualifications. In 2022, the school was also ranked as New Zealand's #1 and world's #10 Animation School by Animation Career Review, and among the top three creative media and entertainment schools in the Southern Hemisphere by The Rookies. The school is located in central

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand and was established in 1998. Its qualifications are approved by

New Zealand Qualifications Authority The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA; mi, Mana Tohu Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is the New Zealand government Crown entity tasked with administering educational assessment and qualifications. It was established by the Education Act 1989 ...

(NZQA). It offers courses from Level 6 and 7 diplomas through to Level 8 and 9 postgraduate certificates and a Masters programme.

Game development

Media Design School is the only tertiary institute in New Zealand where students can develop for

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

platforms with console development kits, due to an exclusive partnership with

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

. Graduates have gone on to work at a variety of game development studios, such as

PikPok PikPok is a New Zealand video game developer and publisher based in Wellington. It was founded as a subsidiary brand of the game developer Sidhe. Since 2012, PikPok has been the company's primary brand. PikPok is a developer and publisher of i ...

Bohemia Interactive Bohemia Interactive a.s. is a Czech video game developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Prague. The company focuses on creating military simulation games such as ''Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis'' and the ''ARMA (series), A ...

, Rainbite,

Grinding Gear Games Grinding Gear Games (abb. GGG) is a New Zealand video game developer company founded in 2006 and based in Auckland. A former independent developer, the studio was acquired by Chinese tech company Tencent in May 2018, after the Chinese company had ...

Gameloft Gameloft SE is a French video game publisher based in Paris, founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games with a special focus on the mobile games m ...

EA Digital Illusions CE EA Digital Illusions CE AB (trade name: DICE) is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. The company was founded in 1992 and has been a subsidiary of Electronic Arts since 2006. Its releases include the ''Battlefield'', '' Mirror's ...

, RocketWerkz and

CerebralFix Stickmen Studios (also known as Stickmen Limited) was formed in 2006 and creates games for various computer platforms. Its sister company is CerebralFix Limited, a social media network game development studio founded in 2009. Both companies are b ...

. Ninja Kiwi, who developed the popular

Bloons Tower Defense ''Bloons Tower Defense'' (also known as ''Bloons TD'' or ''BTD'') is a series of tower defense games under the '' Bloons'' series created and produced by Ninja Kiwi. The game was initially developed as a browser game, built upon the (now unusab ...

game, was also founded by a graduate of the game development course. The joint game development department also runs an annual national initiative called Girls in Games, focused on providing experience in programming and game art for high-school aged female students based in the North Island. In 2015, Media Design School Studios was established as the first games focused accelerator programme in a New Zealand tertiary institution. This programme has resulted in commercial releases such as Split ( Itsfine Games), Dolly ( MA Studios) and Tons of Guns ( Voidworks) on

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

's Steam platform.

Animation and visual effects

Media Design School was ranked one of the worlds top 10 animation schools by Animation Career Review in 2022. Student short films and productions have received major international accolades, with titles such as Accidents, Blunders and Calamities being awarded Best Animated Film at

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

's independent film festival in 2016. Graduates from the program have been employed by Weta Digital to work on blockbuster projects such as

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

and

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

, and other animation studios such as

Pūkeko Pictures Pūkeko Pictures is a New Zealand based entertainment company. It produces a mix of live-action, animated, games and picture books for the global entertainment market. It was created as a partnership between the co-founders of Weta Workshop, R ...

and Oktober. Notable productions include: * ''Accidents, Blunders and Calamities'' (2015) –

International Independent Film Festival Best Animated Film 2016, Show Me Shorts People's Choice & Best Editor 2015 * ''Escargore'' (2015) –

SIGGRAPH SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference on computer graphics (CG) organized by the ACM SIGGRAPH, starting in 1974. The main conference is held in North America; SIGGRAPH Asia ...

Asia Official Selection 2015, Idaho Horror Film Festival Best Animated Film 2015,

Columbus International Film & Video Festival The Columbus International Film + Animation Festival is a Columbus, Ohio, United States annual film festival which is designed to encourage and promote the use of film and video in all forms of education and communication. It is the first and ol ...

Official Selection 2015, Animago Awards Best Character 2015 * ''Shelved'' (2012) * ''Funeral Home Pinatas'' (2012) * ''Dr Grordbort Presents: The Deadliest Game'' (2011) * ''Rotting Hill'' (2011) starring

Anna Hutchison Anna Hutchison (born 8 February 1986) is a New Zealand actress and producer. Her roles include Delphi Greenlaw on ''Shortland Street'' (2002–04); Lily Chilman, the Yellow Cheetah Ranger on ''Power Rangers Jungle Fury'' (2008); Allison Dine on ...

* ''Das Tub'' (2011) * ''First Contact'' (2010) * ''Time for Change'' (2010)

Other departments

The AdSchool at Media Design School was named fourth best creative school of the decade by

YoungGuns Awards YoungGuns International Award (also referenced as YoungGuns Award and YGAward) is an annual global award show for young and emerging creative talent in the advertising and communication industry. The award recognizes the best young commercial pract ...

, which recognises the world's hottest creative talent under the age of thirty.

Campus

Media Design School's Wynyard Quarter campus was officially opened in 2021. Some key building features include recycled rainwater for the living wall, solar panels, and carparks with electric vehicle charging points. In 2022, the campus was awarded a 6 Green Star NZ - Education Built v3 certified rating. The project was awarded a total of 76 points from NZGBC.

Student games

Graduate Diploma of Game Development

* Discord * Sklum Lord * Dead Steel – IGF China 2010, Excellent Student Award, IGF 2011 Student Competition Entrant, * No More Gentlemen – IGF 2011 Student Competition Entrant * Guardians of Eldvery – IGF 2011 Student Competition Entrant * Nightfall * Roadblock * Affliction – IGF Student Showcase, 2008 * Shear Factor – Crowbar Awards 2007, Bronze Medal Winner * Goliath – Crowbar Awards 2006 Silver Medal Winner, IGF Student Showcase Winner 2006

Diploma of Interactive Gaming

* Cygni * Total Cube Domination * Interstellar Excavation * The Uprising * Harvest * Battleballs * Loop Troops – Bronze Medal Winner, Crowbar Awards, 2009 * Oddballs – Silver Medal Winner, Crowbar Awards, 2008 * Happy Traps – IGF Student Showcase, 2008. * Rash

Bachelor of Software Engineering (Game Programming)

* Sky Noon * Sprint Robot Championship * Frame of Mind * Zeitgeist * Longhaus * Forknights

Alumni games

Reverie
by Rainbite Studios
Trigger Witch
by Rainbite Studios
Valleys Between
by Little Lost Fox
Bug Fables
written and directed by Jose Fernando Gracia

References

External links

Media Design School
{{authority control Vocational education in New Zealand Video game universities Digital media schools Education in Auckland Universities and colleges in New Zealand Auckland CBD