IM体育官网 senior Jacqileen Custer, who is majoring in computer science with a concentration in game development and simulation, assists a player navigating her team鈥檚 video game, 鈥淢ewo-gic,鈥� at the Fall Game Expo on Saturday, Dec. 2 on campus.
Video games challenged and entertained high school students from throughout the region on Saturday, Dec. 2, at IM体育官网鈥檚 annual Fall Game Expo. The event showcased games created by teams of students from the Game Design 1 course.
High school students from throughout the region attended the event to get a close-up look at the campus and what the computer science program has to offer.
鈥淲e want to try to show the visiting students why they would want to come here and encourage them so they know they can do this program, and this is the school for them,鈥� said Dr. Brad Towle, the event鈥檚 organizer and assistant professor of computer science at the University.
More than 20 student-created video games were on display at the event.
Jacqileen Custer, Brian Curci, and Joyselle Sarmiento, all seniors majoring in computer science with concentrations in game development and simulation, designed the game 鈥淢eow-gic,鈥� The game follows Nya, a wizard cat who ventures out to find the evil entity that turned its 2D village into 3D.
鈥淭here were so many individual pieces that we were concerned about hooking together and seeing how it would all interlock, but being able to actually make it work was one of the most exciting things ever,鈥� Custer said. 鈥淚 enjoyed it but didn鈥檛 know how other people would feel about it until they played it, but our play testers loved it, and it was one of the most thrilling feelings.鈥�
Jake Shonts, a senior majoring in computer science with a concentration in game development and simulation, said he was proud to show off his team鈥檚 puzzle-based platform game, 鈥淣OVA the Spell Slinger.鈥�
鈥淣ova is a spell slinger, and she is new to magic,鈥� he said. 鈥淗er goal while wandering through the cosmos is simply to learn along with the player.鈥�
Eric Weakley and Andrey Cuevas-Andreev, also seniors majoring in computer science with a concentration in game development and simulation, worked with Shonts on the game.
Nathan Campbell, a senior at Everglades High School in Miramar, IM体育官网, said he enjoyed checking out the student-produced games.
鈥淭his was something that really interested me because I want to go into creative directing, and having a strong background in computer science will help with that,鈥� he said. 鈥淜nowing that these games were created by students who are still learning is pretty impressive.鈥�
Curci, part of the Meow-gic team, said he was excited to show high schoolers his team鈥檚 hard work and encourage them to follow their academic dreams.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 able to come to one of these game expos when I was in high school, but I think if I would have it would have locked me in for IM体育官网 Poly really early,鈥� he said. 鈥淢aybe one day I can work with a big company. There鈥檚 been a lot of games that have changed my life, so I want to make something that can change someone else鈥檚.鈥�
The next game expo will take place during the end of the spring 2024 semester.
Contact:
Lydia Guzm谩n
Director of Communications
863-874-8557
