Tokyo Geidai Graduate School of Film and New Media University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts
Interactive Media & Games Division

Selected in 2018 by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for the Inter-University Exchange Project that supports the forming of collaborative programs between Japanese and North American universities, Tokyo Geidai Graduate School of Film and New Media and the Interactive Media & Games Division of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, known as the best game design school in the U.S., jointly explore methods to improve games education for both faculty and students by conducting innovative international programs.


The 2022 academic year of Tokyo Geidai welcomed workshops on game development by USC professors Andreas Kratky and Peter Brinson. The schools then launched the fourth round of the Tokyo Geidai × USC Collaboration Project with a kickoff meeting in December 2022 in Los Angeles. A total of three teams were formed to make three different game projects. Setting their sights on the Alpha presentation in GEIDAI GAMES 04 and Beta in the USC GAMES EXPO 2023, students hold frequent online discussions with their teammates while checking in regularly with the faculty on their progress.

Geidai×USC
Collaboration Work

G
Geidai (Tokyo University of the Arts)
U
USC (University of Southern California)

Messages from USC

  • Andreas Kratky/アンドレアス・クラッキー
    Andreas Kratky アンドレアス・クラッキー
    Distinguished Professor, Tokyo University of the Arts
    Associate Professor, Associate Dean of Research
    Media Arts + Practice Division, Interactive Media & Games Division
    University of Southern California

    After three years of collaborating across the Pacific in online meetings, this is the first time that our Tokyo Geidai and USC game design collaboration is happening the way we envisioned it: A group of students from Geidai and USC are exploring together what it means to talk, form ideas, and work together to create a unique game project. The three teams have been visiting each other, spending time together in person, brainstorming and creating. The results, as already in the past, are unique and of a rare quality. The creative challenge of this collaboration, the need to communicate across very different cultural settings, life experiences, and languages, unleashes a unique creative force. And the game projects that have been the fruit of this initiative since several years now, are a beautiful testament of it. We hope you will enjoy the works in this exhibition as much as we have enjoyed the process of their making!

  • Peter Brinson/ピーター・ブリンソン
    Peter Brinson ピーター・ブリンソン
    Distinguished Professor, Tokyo University of the Arts
    Professor of Practice
    Interactive Media & Games Division
    University of Southern California

    For the teams formed from USC and Tokyo Geidai students, what comes first is the excitement for a new experience, the friendships, and the potential for creating captivating play. Next, comes the uncertainty; the situation brings challenges – both with collaborating across seas and sometimes with language. But with this need for understanding, an unavoidable dilemma becomes an inevitable creative priority, through a question embedded in the teamwork itself – do I clearly understand my teammates’ point of view? Seeking such sympathy is each student’s first and last task of the day. And through this struggle, each creator pursues a simple beauty through the experience of creation, as well as with the games they craft.