Illustration and animation students showcased their skills and creativity at GameCon 2018 in Calcia Hall.
There were five video games that were playable by the visitors of the convention on Wednesday, April 25. Each game was made by students from the interactive media and gaming class. The games were all different genres and supervised by assistant professor of animation/illustration Dr. Markus Santoso.
The first out of the games was “Capt. Caroll,” a mobile virtual reality game where the player must avoid obstacles and collect five gems to beat the game. The game is unique because it was on a smartphone and the player had to move his or her body with the phone to navigate the character.
The second game was named “Pajama Island,” which was a 2.5-D platformer game in which a player must jump over platforms while holding a canon that shoots multiple squares at enemies. The enemies ranged from trees to rectangles and the villains all had their own life bars. Some would die quickly from a few hits while others took longer with more damage.
A guest tests out the video game “Capt. Caroll.” The computer screen shows the title while the phone he is holding shows the game-play.
Carlos Gonzalez | The Montclarion
The third game named “Alight” is a 3-D first person escape/scavenger game where the player is abducted by aliens, trapped in a dark maze and searching for a key card to escape each room. In the first level, the gamer has to collect one key card to escape while in the second room, there are three keys but only one works. Once the correct key is found and used, the character in the game escapes the alien spaceship.
A student wears the virtual reality helmet and headphones to experience the environment of the video game “Spooky Maze.”
Carlos Gonzalez | The Montclarion
The next game was “Spooky Maze,” which used a virtual reality (VR) headset to explore a creepy circus. Sadly, the controls had glitches so guests could not play the game, but they could put the VR headset on and look around to visualize the gloomy setting of the circus maze. Having the helmet on really made players feel as if they were in the game, which entertained quite a few of the visitors there.
The first level from the game “Frosty Fiasco” shows off the snow and a tree.
Carlos Gonzalez | The Montclarion
The final game shown was called “Frosty Fiasco,” a 3-D adventure game where the main character is a snowman who has to rescue other winter creatures. In the first level, the player walks around visualizing the area. The second level has the player jumping on flying platforms.
The character in the game shoots several mini squares at the rectangle monster with horns to lower the life bar.
Carlos Gonzalez | The Montclarion
Courtney Crann, who worked on “Alight,” said it was a fun and entertaining day.
“Definitely a successful event, every group really did well,” Crann said. “There was a lot of positive feedback all around. My favorite part of the event was everyone having a good time laughing and enjoying the games made.”
One of the kids at GameCon tries the motion controls in the game “Capt. Caroll.” Carlos Gonzalez | The Montclarion
Santoso discussed the possibility of holding more gaming conventions in the future.
“I want to bring more people to these open house events and hopefully make them three days long in the future along with people dressing up in cosplay,” Santoso said.
