McLuhan International Festival of the Future

The McLuhan International Festival of the Future is a federally incorporated charity dedicated to educating, edifying, and entertaining people about media, cultural, technology, and society, while using the precepts of Marshall McLuhan as guideline. The organisation focuses on three major themes: media, design, and technology and seeks to provide business development opportunities for entrepreneurs in the cultural media industry.

The Festival has successfully led the past two Vortex events.

International Academy of Design & Technology - Video Game Design and Development Program

Video game development is a complex and challenging process that requires a wide range of specialized skills. That's why opportunities for aspiring game developers are so diverse. You may be surprised to learn that only one in fifteen people involved in game development are computer programmers. The field also includes digital artists, game designers, producers, musicians and many others who all collaborate in designing and developing games.

That's why IADT's Video Game Design and Development program explores game design and development from just about every angle. From the very first term, course offerings involve students in the art, science and theory of games. Students can learn about everything from game research and planning, as well as character development and storytelling, all the way through level design, modeling, programming, and project management.

Like the backgrounds of game developers themselves, the products game developers make are incredibly diverse. Interactive simulations (like the much-lauded SimCity), graphic adventures (like Myst), and puzzle games (like Tetris) are some of the most popular genres of games. So-called "first-person shooters," like Quake, actually represent less than 10% of the market of video games.

Video games are a growing segment of the entertainment market, making video game design and development an excellent field for career advancement.

International Academy of Design & Technology - Video Game Design and Development

We are proud to have the Ontario Media Development Corporation, Telefilm Canada and Microsoft Canada as principle sponsors of the event, and we thank them for their commitment to this event and the arts.

Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360 and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

We would like to take the time to thank the following without whom we could not have achieved our goals:

Bob Richardson, Devon Group
Christina Herancourt, National Communications
Craig Tullett, Microsoft Canada
Dave Girolami, Flash in the Can (FITC: Toronto Design and Technology Festival)
Dave Waisglass, Digital Sugar
Dean Loweth and the team at George Brown College for their numerous contributions
Eli Green, Comic Book Bin
George Chastain Jr, DreamCatcher Games
Heather Steele, High Road Communications
IGDA
Ian Kelso, Interactive Ontario (NMBA)
Jason Herrick
Jason MacIsaac, Cerebral Vortex Games and Electric Playground
Jessica Jennings
John Chabot
John Foote and Rick Bennett of the Toronto Film School
Jules Keren Ross
Justin Kwok
Luigi Ferrara
Nicky Banks, Microsoft Canada
Paul Forrest
Paul French, Television Program, IAOD
Rob DeFreitas and Devon Burns, Last Word Film
Sarah Hayward
Shalini Sankar, Microsoft Canada
Sue Sheridan, Women in Film & Television (WIFT)
Sylvee Bernard
Tom Quigley, Createch Group, a Bell Canada Company
Tony Walsh, Secret Lair
Trevor Fencott, Groove Games and Groove Media Inc.
Valerie Brewis
Vikas Gupta, Transgaming Technologies Inc.