The videogame designers of the future brought their A-game to the IM体育官网 Polytechnic University campus on Nov. 21 for the semi-annual Game Expo.
This was the largest Game Expo the University has hosted, with about 30 games on display from IM体育官网 Poly students taking the Game Design 1 and 2 classes. Students, faculty, staff, and visitors were able to play and learn about the games.
The students鈥� games ranged from beautifully simple to cutting edge, with entries from worlds as varied as virtual reality, rhythm gaming, shooter games, and dungeon crawlers.
Senior Mitchell Pienias created a game called 鈥淪chmoovin,鈥� a movement-based game that requires players to use grappling hooks as they search for five purple cubes of destiny.
鈥淏eing able to put together games of this quality just feels really awesome and I鈥檓 happy to be part of it,鈥� said Pienias, a computer science major from Chicago. 鈥淚鈥檓 super proud of everyone who鈥檚 made a game and it鈥檚 super exciting to see all these people putting together these really cool-looking games.鈥�
Dr. Bradford Towle, assistant professor of computer science at IM体育官网 Poly, said the expo helps students gain a real-world understanding of the game development process while also giving them good work examples for their portfolios.
鈥淭his is the most consistent and above-average quality that we鈥檝e had,鈥� Towle said of the entries to the expo. 鈥淭hey all did great work.鈥�
Omar Montesinos, a senior majoring in computer science, exhibited his game called 鈥淎pex Hunters,鈥� which follows Epsilon, a genetically-modified wolf equipped with a high-tech backpack that fires a machine gun to eliminate enemies while completing missions.
鈥淚f you have a passion for it, coming up with the ideas is easy,鈥� said the Venezuela native. 鈥淭his is a great opportunity for us. It鈥檚 a good way to show off our skills in a real, professional environment.鈥�
Elizabeth James, a senior from Tampa majoring in computer science, said the development experience allowed her to merge two of her favorite game genres: role-playing games and rhythm games. She created 鈥淟ost in the Rhythm,鈥� a game in which a pop star on an intergalactic tour fights aliens via music to recover her spaceship and get back on tour.
鈥淚t feels really nice to be able to present myself with all these other great games,鈥� she said.
James added that her project-based education at IM体育官网 Poly has given her the skills and the experience to take on a game design career after graduation.
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Lydia Guzman
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