Games

These game projects were created in the intermediate game design and development course, which introduces students to concepts in game design and development such as ideation, digital prototyping, interface design, usability testing, level design, quality assurance, team work, project planning and management. The main emphasis of the class is the conceptualization of innovative design goals and the execution of those goals in the form of a complete, polished intermediate game project.

The intermediate class is a studio environment and a large part of the class focuses on critique and problem-solving for individual team projects. Students are encouraged to treat the development of their projects professionally and to participate actively in all critique sessions, giving and receiving feedback of the highest quality. Students are encouraged to take risks in this course and to look beyond the examples of existing game genres to try new and different design ideas. At the same time, they are expected to complete an innovative small game, and so must take into account the time and resources available.

The intermediate games created by the Spring of 2009 class are:

Breath
(Michael Silverman and Anna Huerta)

Breath is a rehabilitation game designed to motivate breathing exercises in post op-surgery patients. The game is controlled by digital spirometer that can detect breathing velocity. We would like to thank Belinda Lange and Mark Bolas at ICT who made this project possible.

Dreamcatcher
Windows Download
(Anuj Aggarwal and Jonathan Rosenfeld)

Catch dreams and use their powers to fight nightmares to stay asleep as long as possible. Combat the rising sun by catching the dreams, putting you further to sleep, but beware, nightmares frighten you and wake you up. Dream as long as possible…

Empire of the Patriots
Windows Download
(Young Kim and Lisa Takehana)

Empire of the Patriots is a game about the war in Iraq that does not emphasize mechanics but rather utilizes visuals, sound and music to create a message about the war. It can be described as the opposite of a tower defence game with a cinematic feel to it.

God Game
Windows Download
(Ben Reese and Bryant Cannon)

As God, will you love them or smite your people? And which will make them have faith in you?

Ninjabi
Windows Download | Mac Download
(Sean Bouchard and Nahil Sharkasi)

Ninjabi is an empowerment fantasy game set in the Muslim world, where a young woman dares to defy the rules and fight for her rights. The main character, Layla, undertakes small acts of rebellion, in order to gather her strength and the strength of her community to fight back against her oppressors. Ninjabi is a platforming and fighting game, where the player must collect support from the community by tagging the environment in order to make enemies vulnerable.

Pillow Fight
Windows Download
(Sean Plott and Bill Graner)

Pillow Fight is a two player competitive puzzle game that takes place in Fluffland, the land of pillows. Currently, it's pillow mating season and pillows are roaming free by the hundreds. Each player controls a seedy bedding manufacturer trying to collect as many pillows as possible for raw materials. In the game, simple AI pillows spawn and hop. Each player flies a spaceship that shoots behaviors and modifiers at the pillows to guide them to his goal. Using magnet guns, jump guns, bomb guns, and freeze guns, players form strategy out of the chaos of pillow mayhem! The player with the most pillows collected at the end of the round wins!

Pong-versation
Windows Download | Mac Download
(David Turpin and Nick Alexander)

You are a lonely PONG paddle who is hopelessly in love with the 'girl' paddle on the other side. No one has played the Pong machine all day: now's your chance to woo her! Experience realistic, physics-based romance as you toss words back and forth, building an effective conversation to win her heart!

Pressure
Windows Download | Mac Download
(Chris Chowdhury and Akshai Raj)

You are an experienced police negotiator tasked with responding to the worst terrorist attack in recent memory – dozens have been killed and twenty people held hostage in an urban shopping center. Command a SWAT team while negotiating with the terrorist leader over the phone, balancing force with diplomacy to get the job done in any manner you see fit. The sacrifices you decide to make – whether acquiescing to the terrorist’s demands, allowing hostages to be killed or even forfeiting the lives of your own team members – are entirely up to you.

Twist
Windows Download | Mac Download
(Jeff Magers and Patrick Monroe)

Ever wanted to play a platform game that tests your spacial geometry skills? Well then I have great news for you! Twist takes the concept of a simple platformer one step further by presenting players with challenging puzzles that require the player to twist objects around the scene, maipulating the environment to forge a path to the goal.

TypeFighter
Windows Download | Mac Download
(Kevin Lee and Kyle Fujita)

TypeFighter draws upon the style and flashiness of fighting games and classic beat-em-ups but ascribes these aspects to a simple typing mechanic. The game is designed to teach and improve typing skills while evoking the over-the-top entertainment and insanity of a brawler or fighting game.
Players take control of Seishiro, a simple office worker, who must repurpose his typing skills to awaken his ancestral martial art when an ancient enemy clan suddenly resurfaces.