It was game on for a group of Niagara College students who found themselves at the centre of the action at Niagara Falls Comic Con 2019.
Featuring a roster of celebrities from film, comics and wrestling, the celebration of pop culture drew thousands of guests to the Scotiabank Convention Centre from June 7-9.
Three teams of students from NC’s game programs volunteered to be a part of the action to promote their games, which they created for their third-year capstone project. Participants included two teams of Game Development students: The Fallen, including students currently working on advancing their game to the publishing stage in an incubator setting; and Firebreaker, which recently won third place at the Level Up showcase in Toronto. It also featured Bad Manors, a team from the joint NC-Brock game program, which won first place in social gaming and second in game art at Level Up.
Rick Goertz noted that the students benefitted from the experience. “This is a trade type show for them, not unlike game conventions across North America. They learn how to showcase their games and discuss the development with the general public,” he said. “The more experience that students gain showcasing their games, and receiving input, the better.”
Kris McArthur, who was born and raised in Niagara Falls and will be graduating from Game Development this spring, embraced the opportunity to promote his team’s game, The Fallen. In this third-person action game, players take on the role of a knight who has died dishonorably in battle and consequently, awaken in a purgatory realm, ‘Land of the Fallen.’ They encounter a mysterious statue that guides them towards three fallen guardians that must be defeated to regain their honour and gain access to eternal rest.
“It is definitely a great opportunity to show our skills as artists and programmers, and get our names out to potential employers, as well as just being able to show off what we accomplished to game fans in general,” said McArthur, who recently landed a job as a junior 3D artist for TV and film. ” It’s also nice to be able to talk to younger people who show interest in getting into developing games and being able to share with them what we have learned with this project, and what to expect if they show interest in enrolling in the game dev program.”
Fourth year game programming student Agusia Krywinska joined her team of students showcasing Bad Manors, a two-on-two, ghosts versus teenagers game.
“It was an amazing opportunity to showcase our game to the public where we get to show off all the hard work my team has done from the past year. This gave us a chance to experience talking about our product we made to many different people,” said Krywinska, who is from Mississauga. “This experience allowed me to work on my interpersonal skills that are much needed for the game development field to be able to produce games.”
Krywinska, who hopes to start an indie company working as a game programmer and designer after graduating in 2020, noted that it was her first time attending Comic Con. She values the experience she gained at the event and as a student in the joint NC-Brock program.
“The biggest thing that drew me to the program was the aspect of the joint program, the ability to be able to learn the actual tools and skills, where the university offers the theoretical skills and improvement of thought process to be able to apply it to the games I make,” she said.
Game students weren’t the only NC presence at Comic Con. A team of recruitment staff, including students and recent from marketing and HR programs, were present to answer questions from prospective students and parents.
Visit nfcomiccon.com/
Phil Ellis (left) and Andrew Chiarelli (right), student programmers, showcase their game The Fallen at Comic Con.
– Supplied photo
