NEWS

Community invited to play student-created video games

Nov 8, 2013 | Engineering and Science, General News, Liberal Arts

Gamers, unite.
Communication design and computer science students at Louisiana Tech have collaborated this quarter in an advanced web class to create various video games, which will be displayed Wednesday, Nov. 13 with a Game Launch.
The Game Launch is the culmination of 10 weeks of game design and development by five student teams. This collaborative effort has allowed each team of students to create their own mobile game.
“This class is kind of an experiment,” said Jerry Berg, associate professor of art, who teaches the class. “We’re trying to figure out where we are at with our program. My focus is interactive web design. I knew there needed to be more focus in advanced web design.”
Berg and faculty members from computer science decided to team up so students had an opportunity for interdisciplinary learning.
Game Launch“This starts to differentiate us from other programs in the region,” Berg said. “Every other university is trying to jump on the animation bandwagon. This allows us to do something different and relevant in the industry.”
Jonathan Donehoo, director of the School of Art, said Berg has done a great job with this class.
“This is something a lot of people are interested in, and we’re trying to rise to the occasion and provide students with the knowledge to join this field,” Donehoo said. “This is an excellent opportunity for students across campus to participate.”
Throughout the quarter, the students have learned about game design and development, game mechanics, game design documents, level design, character animation, scene design and illustration, and sound. The students then pulled all of these items together into small working mobile games all within a 10-week period.
The Game Launch will allow the teams to present their games, and everyone will be invited to play the games.  There will be online voting so that everyone attending can vote for his or her favorite game.  At the end of the event, an award will be given out to the “Best Game” of the class.
The Game Launch event will be from 6-8 p.m. in University Hall on Louisiana Tech’s campus. The event is free and open to the public.