Blitz unveils in-house Academy

UK independent studio Blitz Games has formed an internal training scheme designed to aid its employees, Develop can reveal.

Called Blitz Academy, the studio formed the programme to boost the talents of its in-house staff and hopefully set a benchmark for other studios to follow.

The teaching consists of lesson-based training and peer-to-peer mentoring, with training modules developed and presented internally by relevant staff. Topics and lessons already put together include artistic anatomy, Maya rigging, Z Brush, audio design and presentations skills.

Blitz recently signed a contract for its biggest next-gen project to date which has created a need to make sure its staff are working at their best.

Human resources manager Geraldine Randle explained: "Establishing the Academy has enabled us to combine the existing external training solutions with an unrivalled internal knowledge base to provide what we believe is some of the most targetted and productive training available."

Blitz CEO Philip Oliver added: "At this stage in a console’s life cycle it is nearly impossible to find external training suppliers who know as much as we do about the technology and tools we are working with, not to mention our specific needs. By developing our most experienced staff by helping them to become trainers we are able to pass this knowledge on quickly and efficiently."

Check out our exclusive Q&A with the people at Blitz behind the scheme, which has been posted here.