The Falcons School for Boys pupils design virtual characters

Pupils visited gaming company Bandai Namco to learn more about the entertainment industry

Posted by Lucinda Reid | May 10, 2017 | Technology

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• #the-falcons-school-for-boys
• #bandai-namco
• #deon-etzinger

Pupils at The Falcons School for Boys were recently tasked with designing new virtual characters for national gaming company Bandai Namco Entertainment UK.

The Richmond-based preparatory school and Bandai Namco teamed up for the Game Development Project to give the pupils a new innovation challenge as part of their English studies.

More than 40 pupils spent time in the entertainment company’s headquarters to learn about the development, publishing, careers and distribution business across games, arcades and toys. Bandai Namco is rich with entertainment history, creating high levels of products and businesses across all forms of entertainment. The boys enjoyed a presentation designed to give them an understanding of the videogames market and history from the 1950s to the current day. This covered the birth of 1980’s sensation PAC-MAN, as well as explaining how global business is run.

At the end of the session, the pupils were told about the careers available in entertainment. They were then set the challenge of developing a brand new character inspired by the huge success of PAC-MAN. The year 7 and 8 boys were split into teams and had to create their characters as well as the title, genre, story, synopsis, controls, commands and overall design.

Working in their spare time, they were given two weeks to prepare for a presentation also giving a brief overview of how they would launch their product and in what format.

The top three teams won certificates, school awards and have had their concepts framed and hung in the schools for future generations to see.

Headmaster at Falcons School for Boys, Deon Etzinger said that he was excited about the collaboration with Bandai Namco. “We believe in creating opportunities for our boys outside of the classroom to further enhance and challenge their learning,” he said.

Young minds are incredibly impressive and new generations are important to the future of entertainment, innovation, understanding technology and being creative - Lee Kirton, PR and Marketing Director at Bandai Namco

Lee Kirton, PR and Marketing Director at Bandai Namco commented: “I was incredibly excited to work on this project with Falcons School for Boys. Young minds are incredibly impressive and new generations are important to the future of entertainment, innovation, understanding technology and being creative. I’m very proud to have assisted in their English studies whilst giving them something fun, challenging and creative to work on.”