Niagara College is hosting its sixth annual Game Development Launch on April 11.
The event – geared to students, their guests and invited representatives from the industry – will showcase 13 original games created by students in the College’s three-year Game Development diploma program, as well as Niagara College and Brock University’s joint Bachelor of Science (Honours) Game Programming and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Game Design programs.
The students, in teams, have spent the past eight months creating their games, which their guests will have an opportunity to see and play for the first time at the event.
“The Game Development Launch event is a great opportunity for graduating students to showcase their projects,” says Rick Goertz, program coordinator of the Game Development program. “The event is also a good opportunity for them to network with industry guests.”
Third-year Game Development student Tyler Hines has been creating games since he was 12 years old, and enrolled at NC to turn his long-time passion into a career. At the event, he will unveil his arcade, virtual reality game for the Oculus Rift, Firebreaker, where players embark into the ‘Bitscape,’ a retro futuristic virtual world inspired by early computer generated imagery of the 1980s, stand atop their hacking station and attempt to infiltrate the systems of a fictional company, NanoTech Corp.
“I truly feel that the Game Development showcase is a wonderful way for young game developers to come together and show off their amazing talent,” he said. “I gain multiple experiences from the showcase like meeting industry leaders and getting insight as to how the industry works, letting gamers play the game for the first time after months of work and learning how a showcase works.”
In addition to featuring student games, the event will celebrate student success with an award ceremony for Game Development students.
More than 325 guests have registered to attend the Game Development Launch will take place on April 11, from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., at the Welland Campus.
