Digital gaming studio takes root in Lowell, MI

Seed. Grow. Harvest. It is a business model straight from a farm. The big difference for Protege Game Studio, however, is that they aren't growing crops, but instead are training students for high-tech jobs in the digital media and gaming industries.

Sandon Newton, founder of Protege Game Studios, says that March 2015 will mark two years at his studio in Lowell. A second studio in Zeeland, MI was just opened in September 2014.

Protege offers classes in video game design to students, roughly from 5th grade to college. He says some students are only interested in having fun and making cool games, while others are looking for career and portfolio development.

Keeping with their mission, "Seed, Grow. Harvest," Newton, who has a computer science degree from GVSU and an MBA from Cornerstone, says he currently has two employees, both of whom started as part of Protege classes, and he intends to keep that that practice in place: "We plan to hire only from within."

Besides offering classes, the firm has a commercial side of its business and creates digital gaming courses and training materials for other companies. Newton says their team has developed a simulation game called "The Lean Ice Cream Shop" for a local lean manufacturing training company that uses game mechanics to teach and apply lean principles. He is also is working on augmented reality apps and game development curriculum through the Zeeland-Holland studio to support iCademy and Innocademy charter schools as a premium elective.

Newton says he is reviewing several opportunities for growth and says that the education and training marketplace is ripe for innovation and perfect for using game mechanics as a platform. He says he is anticipating more hires in the very near future, all from students from within the studio.  

To learn more about Protege Game Studios you can review their sites here and here.

Writer:  John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor