Ethan Einhorn spoke to students of both the Video Game Arts and Design and Interactive Media programs at Holland College’s Charlottetown Centre on Oct. 8.

He praised the students.

“They had a lot of great questions. They are clearly focused on wanting to understand what major publishers are looking for in games.”

The presentation was made possible through Video Game Art and Design instructor Chris Sharpley, once a co-worker of Einhorn’s.

Before becoming an instructor at Holland College, Sharpley was a game artist who worked for several different developers, including Sega.

While working at Other Ocean in Charlottetown, he did some of the design work for the IPhone version of Super Monkey Ball,  a popular Sega property and a game produced by Einhorn.

Of all of the producers he has worked with, Einhorn was one of his favourites, Sharpley said

“He was probably the most easygoing and easy to get along with and I’ve never had any problems with him.”

Sharpley saw the presentation as a possible source of inspiration.

“Hopefully the students aspire to follow their dreams like he did and if you put the hard work in you can work anywhere you like.”

The students enjoyed the opportunity to talk with Einhorn individually after the lecture, Sharpley said.

“Afterwards, he must have spent twice as long casually chatting with students, just as he did during the presentation.”

During the presentation, the students learned about the role of a producer in a game’s devlopment and a little bit of Einhorn’s background before he worked for Sega, said Sharpley.

If the presentation demonstrated one thing, it was even though P.E.I. is a small part of Canada, it is still possible to be employed with a full-time job, Sharpley says

“You could work on top international brands, dealing with people in San Francisco and Tokyo and see your work releashed globally and appreciated by millions of people.

Einhorn said he wished he had the same opportunities growing up that the students of the Holland College Video Game Arts and Design program have.

“I wish there were schools like this available when I was a student myself, but there was really no such thing as video game programs that long ago.”