Sony Online Entertainment Field Trip

February 5th, 2013 | Natasha Englehardt

This past month the 3D animation students at Platt College San Diego were able to attend an exciting field trip to Sony Online Entertainment here in San Diego. A full 2-hour tour was led by Community Specialist, Aimee Rekoske who gave students a behind the scenes look at many of the different aspects of the Sony campus. It was a great opportunity for Platt students to meet with some of the top animators, compositors and modelers currently working for Sony. Platt College encourages students to participate in trips such as this to gain more knowledge of the industries that they plan to work in upon graduation as well as finding inspiration for their own class projects.

Platt digital designers were introduced to a Platt graduate, Andre Padilla. He graduated from Platt College San Diego’s Multimedia Design program in the mid 1990’s. Andre is now the lead visual effects and compositing artist for all of Sony Online’s commercials and video marketing. Andre was excited to learn that the tour group consisted of Platt students and provided great insights about how he got his foot in the door at Sony. In addition to touring the Sony labs, students were also treated to viewing some of their current in-progress commercials.

Visiting behind the scenes at one of the gaming industry’s largest companies, was an exciting adventure for Platt’s future animators! Students were lead through the QA department, where testing out games before they are released to the public occurs daily. Sony’s epic employee lounge was a place of inspiration as well as recreation. Sony’s employees have access to ping pong tables, comfy chairs and, of course, PS3’s for breaktime entertainment. Like any good secret ingredient to a delicious recipe, there were parts of Sony’s tour that we are not able to discuss or reveal due the the company’s sensitive information. However, it is safe to say that Sony Online Entertainment produces some of the most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing games which are enjoyed by many from the gaming industry.

The finale of the tour was the opportunity for the students to talk with three of the lead animators and modelers for Sony Online’s game Free Realms. They shared step-by-step accounts of their creative process while creating the game. Each phase was clearly explained, from the initial models to the rigging and animation of the characters from the game. For Platt’s future animation students, desiring a career in the animation industry, the information Sony’s animators and modelers presented was very helpful. Platt College students left the trip feeling inspired and ready to tackle their next projects with their new found knowledge thanks to all the talented people at Sony Online Entertainment!

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) is a game development and game publishing division of Sony that is best known for creating massively multiplayer online games, including EverQuest, EverQuest II, The Matrix Online, PlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, DC Universe Online and other smaller games in development.
In 2008 Sony Online Entertainment’s game Everquest was honored (along with Neverwinter Nights and World of Warcraft) at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the art form of MMORPG games.
-Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Online_Entertainment