Prior to graduation, each Drexel University the student must complete a six-month internship, or what the university calls a co-op internship. It is intended to give students real-world work experience.
Corn Greg Lobanova prominent digital media specialist, has already had a taste of the world of indie game development with his company Stupid and fat games, and he wasn’t thrilled about doing intern work. So he got hired.
Despite the rise of student entrepreneurship, Lobanov is the first student in his major to do so, said Drexel Co-op Coordinator Michelle Mignot. Students majoring in business administration and entrepreneurship did, however, she said.
Since the start of his cooperative last month, he has already launched Perfectiona puzzle game that IndieGames.com called “Fruit Ninja for smart people”.
Get perfection for $0.99 here.
Lobanov first had to convince Drexel to allow him to commit to his cooperative. He had to write a “strong and passionate pitch”, prove his track record by highlighting the games he had already developed and show why this course would be a better experience than a traditional internship.
“It seems to me that anything I would do as an intern anywhere couldn’t be as interesting, challenging, educational, or as relevant to my interests as creating entire games by my own rules,” Lobanov wrote in an email to Technically Philly.
He also hooked Garth DeAngelissenior producer in Baltimore Firaxis Gamesto be his mentor for the program.
Lobanov used the time to work on things like marketing his games and juggling multiple projects – things he said he didn’t have much time to focus on as a full-time student. .
He also uses the co-op for other purposes: it’s a way for him to test the waters and see if he should pursue his own gaming business after graduating. If he can prove to himself that he can be self-sufficient, he will continue, he says.
For Lobanov, making games is the easy part. Now, he says, he must learn how to make them successful.
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