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Built at FIEA Today

About FIEA

Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA, pronounced F-eye-uh) is UCF’s globally ranked Master of Science in Interactive Entertainment.

Our 16-month program is offered full time over four semesters. Classes are held at our state-of-the-art facility at UCF Downtown in Creative Village, in the heart of Downtown Orlando.

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Since our creation in 2005, FIEA faculty have been preparing students for careers in the game industry (in expertise areas that include art, tech art, programming, production, design, etc.) and our students have the opportunity to collaborate with classmates to learn the different functions of the game industry.

FIEA is a place where productivity and ingenuity are applauded in equal measure. Being a part of FIEA means you’re motivated to make tomorrow’s great game or tell a story never told before.

Explore the following pages to learn more and see for yourself why our program has been the world’s top-ranked graduate game design programs. Welcome to FIEA!

FIEA Open House

Tour FIEA and our studios, mingle with faculty, and learn more about our program. January 31, 2025 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Register for Open House

#1

Ranked Graduate Game Development Program from 2020-2022 and 2024 by Princeton Review

3300

Sq. ft MOCAP Studio

$ 81,000

Avg. Starting Salary of FIEA Grad Hires

250+

Number of Companies That Have Hired Our Grads

Watch a Virtual Tour of FIEA

Which specialization are you interested in?


Young white male sitting at his desk working on a project

Production/Design

Level Design

Level design is where art, gameplay, and design all come together. As a level designer, students will build levels around mechanics and script their own encounters. In the later phases, students will set dress, polish, and optimize their levels to truly make them come to life. Students create levels ranging from first person shooters to Diablo-inspired maps.


Young white female student playing videogames on a laptop computer with a controller

Production/Design

Tech Design

Technical Designers combine two pivotal skills: programming and game design. In the early Atari days the industry was dominated by solo developers responsible for all of the programming, design, and even artwork within their games. Tech Designers recapture that era of flexible talent by not only devising concepts, but also constructing them.


Young white female student pinning pictures onto a wall

Production/Design

Project Management

Project management is the art of organization and efficiency. Project management students learn the fundamental skills that allow them to use data and process in order to increase the team’s output without requiring them to work more hours. Through understanding leadership techniques, project managers elevate their teammates, making each member of the team better at their own job.


Young male student drawing on a 3D character large wacom display

Art

Modeling

3D Modeling in its simplest terms is digital sculpting in the computer. All of the tools that students will use are derived from the real world and follow principals that have worked for sculpture for thousands of years. Pushing, pulling and smoothing a surface produces three dimensional forms that range from simple to highly complex.


Young white male student with headphones on working at his desk

Art

Tech Art

Artists who create art “technically” and do whatever it takes to deliver the art. By harnessing the powers of the computer, technical artists leverage their skills and the skills of others to produce art beyond what they could have produced otherwise, such as through procedural generation and pipeline efficiency.


Young latin male wearing a motion capture suit in a pose

Art

Animation

Animators in film or games need a thorough understanding of the principles of animation to be successful. The FIEA Animation track offers an intensive study of the 12 Principles of Animation developed by the Walt Disney Studios in the 1930’s, and how they apply to modern film and game animation. Students will learn all the most up-to-date standards/ techniques on animation in games and learn by doing.


Overview view of young indian student typing

Programming

Programming

In FIEA’s video game programming curriculum you learn programming by writing lots of code. Develop strong C++ skills and learn how to debug, code in optimal game design patterns, and create cross-platform code that works on any game system.

Which Specialization are you interested in?

Level Design Production/Design

Level design is where art, gameplay, and design all come together. As a level designer, students will build levels around mechanics and script their own encounters. In the later phases, students will set dress, polish, and optimize their levels to truly make them come to life. Students create levels ranging from first person shooters to Diablo-inspired maps.

Tech Design Production/Design

Technical Designers combine two pivotal skills: programming and game design. In the early Atari days the industry was dominated by solo developers responsible for all of the programming, design, and even artwork within their games. Tech Designers recapture that era of flexible talent by not only devising concepts, but also constructing them.

Project Management Production/Design

Project management is the art of organization and efficiency. Project management students learn the fundamental skills that allow them to use data and process in order to increase the team’s output without requiring them to work more hours. Through understanding leadership techniques, project managers elevate their teammates, making each member of the team better at their own job.

Modeling Art

3D Modeling in its simplest terms is digital sculpting in the computer. All of the tools that students will use are derived from the real world and follow principals that have worked for sculpture for thousands of years. Pushing, pulling and smoothing a surface produces three dimensional forms that range from simple to highly complex.

Tech Art Art

Artists who create art “technically” and do whatever it takes to deliver the art. By harnessing the powers of the computer, technical artists leverage their skills and the skills of others to produce art beyond what they could have produced otherwise, such as through procedural generation and pipeline efficiency.

Animation Art

Animators in film or games need a thorough understanding of the principles of animation to be successful. The FIEA Animation track offers an intensive study of the 12 Principles of Animation developed by the Walt Disney Studios in the 1930’s, and how they apply to modern film and game animation. Students will learn all the most up-to-date standards/ techniques on animation in games and learn by doing.

Programming Programming

In FIEA’s video game programming curriculum you learn programming by writing lots of code. Develop strong C++ skills and learn how to debug, code in optimal game design patterns, and create cross-platform code that works on any game system.

Capstone

Publish your own game with a team of 15-20 other students

Here at FIEA, our capstone is the creation of a full game over multiple semesters, where you will go through the entire development cycle: preproduction, production, alpha, beta. Many students decide to publish their capstone games through various avenues, such as Steam or Xbox, earning their first published title.

Explore Further

Design element featuring different capstone games

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Industry Partnerships
Alumni Jobs
Job Resources

Wall of video game company logos

“FIEA is a major source of talent for our EA SPORTS development studio in Orlando, resulting in 1 out of every 2 new graduates hired over the past 2 years”

Daryl Holt, Electronic Arts (EA) Vice President

Wall of video game company logos

Studio 500

Launched in 2008, Studio 500 is the stage production facility of UCF Downtown. It boasts a 3,300 square foot motion capture stage, one of the largest on the East Coast, and a 3,500 square foot soundstage.

This world-class facility provides motion capture and video data for FIEA capstone games, student films, UCF research projects, and select commercial clients.

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In The News

Check out UCF news

News

Students & Alumni
Game Changer Files: Erin Marek ’17MS, Game Director at Secret Door
Erin Marek ’17MS, FIEA alumna from Cohort 13. We’re asking FIEA alumni five questions about their experiences before, during and after graduating from UCF’s top-ranking…
Awards
Five FIEA Students Win at the Indienomicon MeGa Health Jam
Five FIEA students placed first and third at the Indienomicon MeGa Health Jam for their innovative prototypes for healthcare last weekend in Lake Nona. Cohort…
Events
Five Ways the Development of UCF Downtown Has Enhanced the FIEA Experience
ORLANDO, FL – This week, UCF Downtown celebrates five years of successful growth and development alongside Valencia College in Creative Village. Encompassing FIEA, the impact…
Admissions
FIEA Welcomes 72 Aspiring Game Devs to the Program This Fall
ORLANDO, FL – This Fall semester, the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA) M.S. Interactive Entertainment program enrolled 72 new programmers, artists and producers into the…

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