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The DigiPen Institute of Technology opened the doors today on a new 100,000 square foot campus in Redmond, a historic milestone for one of the world's leading educational institutions in video game design, development and animation. The sparkling new facility -- with room to accommodate up to 1,200 students -- features everything from a full-service cafeteria (with pizza oven) to ping-pong tables to the requisite computer labs.

Political leaders -- including King County executive Dow Constantine and Redmond mayor John Marchione -- were on hand to congratulate the innovative educational institution on the facility and to help cut a giant red ribbon in front of the new campus. In fact, Mayor Marchione offered a proclamation declaring it "DigiPen Day."

"DigiPen was a dream. It was simply a dream," said founder Claude Comair in remarks today. "And when you call something a dream it is always dangerous because it could turn into a nightmare.... So, I've been very vigilant, very strict, and sometimes draconian, sometimes tyrannical about every single thing that goes through this building here."

It is that sort of passion which has defined DigiPen over the past two decades and made it one of the leading destinations for those students who desire to learn both the technical and artistic aspects of video game development.

"This building is just a machine to build people," said Comair, adding that many outsiders don't always view the institution as a serious enterprise.

But those in the video game industry -- especially companies like Big Fish, Nintendo and Valve -- have come to rely on the talent produced by DigiPen each year. In fact, Comair is so proud of the students that he joked today that if companies don't like them then they can simply return them.

Valve's Robin Walker -- who noted the importance of DigiPen in remarks today at the grand opening -- isn't about to turn in any of the students he's recruited over the past 10 years. At first, Walker said that the Valve team was "very skeptical" about the idea of an educational institution creating the talent necessary to develop compelling video games.

"At the time, we thought these types of vocational schools would be a bad thing for the industry and that their narrow focus would result in students who might be useful in the short-term but wouldn't have the knowledge or the fundamental principles behind their craft to enable them to survive 20 or 30 years of transitions in the games industry and certainly wouldn't be the kinds of people who would drive those transitions," said Walker.

But Valve -- who hired the valedictorian of DigiPen's initial graduating class ten years ago and has continued to mine the school for top talent -- quickly learned that their initial theory was just dead wrong.

"A good game developer is a tricky person to find. They sit right on the dividing line of engineer and artist," said Walker, adding that DigiPen trains students to

Founded in Vancouver, B.C., DigiPen moved to Redmond in 1997 in part to be closer to Nintendo of America. The school has quickly grown from the basement where Comair came up with the idea to the school's first 900 square foot office.

Now, with more than 100,000 square feet, Comair is ready for the school's next phase. Here are some of Comair's remarks, along with some photos of the new facility.

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