Last month, DePaul University hosted its annual game development showcase at the Richard M. and Maggie C. Daley Building on its downtown campus. For the 55 students set to graduate from the university’s game development program this year, the showcase was the culmination of their schooling, a chance to share their work with their friends, family, and even potential employers.
One of the first games I played was Captain’s Hold, a space-swinging adventure with an 80s neon flair. I played a space pirate who must grapple-hook his way into an enemy ship (think Spider-Man in zero gravity) and use his cannon leg to kill enemies and destroy the ship from the inside. “The objective is to always make the player feel like they’re moving,” said AI and navigation developer Joseph Walker (who doubled as the event photographer). Most of the students had two quarters, roughly 40 weeks, to develop the game. But Walker and his teammates already knew what they wanted to do with Captain’s Hold last summer.
“Designing for VR in general is difficult,” said The Sanctuaryartist and designer Chris Castro. “We wanted the player to feel immersed, but with as little ambiguity as possible. We had to scale items larger and create shaders [a sort of game-engine special effect] to make it less heavy on the system.”
