Ringling College of Art and Design has announced a partnership with Flight School, the creative studio co-founded by Ringling College of Art and Design Illustration graduate and member of the Ringling College Board of Trustees Brandon Oldenburg. Oldenburg also worked with Ringling College faculty to help develop and promote the VR major, which was announced the same year that Flight School released the interactive VR experience “Manifest 99.” The Ringling College Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program in Virtual Reality Development enrolled its first students in the fall of 2018.

As the College forges its Virtual Reality Development program, a major component will be the student collaboration with Flight School. Each year, a select group of students will work with the studio to create a playable game. In this inaugural year of the partnership, three Game Art students have been working with Flight School to create a VR game that will be introduced at SXSW 2019. In addition, students in the Business of Art and Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, and Motion Design majors will be working with the team to brand and market the game through the Ringling College Design Center and the Ringling College Collaboratory, which connects businesses to Ringling students. In all, more than two dozen students will tackle the project through multiple immersive workshops.

Virtual Reality Development at Ringling College of Art and Design