The End of Semester Showcase is usually the time when students in the Game Development: Programming & Practice course show off their impressive final projects by letting everyone try out their games. Despite the semester being transitioned online, we wanted to give you the chance to try a few of the games that the students worked on all spring!
Transitioning the Computer Science Program into remote learning took quite a bit of preparation; 12 hours of video was produced out of almost 700 individual pieces for the six-credit game the Game Development: Programming and Practice course, enabling students to really dive into the material:
“It showed how well students can work when given a looser framework and a self-set final goal. Many did much more than was required,” faculty member Benno Lüders said. Benno’s looking forward to making use of the remote learning experience by applying aspects of the format in the classroom setting. He’s considered that this looser, more individualized, framework works well for some.
“What I got out of it all is that I should try to encourage more individual work for advanced students and try to not stand in their way with a too rigid class structure. But at the same time, I need to offer the right framework and support to students who need a bit more support, less freedom, and a clear direct goal to reach. I’m looking forward to having the time soon to figure out how to use this for future classes.”
Try out these four games created by the Spring 2020 Game Development: Programming and Practice students:
1. Sojourn is a story telling game, the voice-acting was actually done by the student himself and his brother.
2. Maze Race might seem a bit simple at first, but it uses impressive algorithms for the maze generation and path-finding for the AI.
3. Gravitational has a level design structure and engaging puzzles throughout.
4. Find the Afikomen is a cultural game. It is inspired by the Jewish holiday Passover. A tradition during this holiday is that a piece of Matzah, called the Afikomen, is broken off during the Seder and hidden. The goal of the game is to locate the Afikomen.
