The next potential video games to be developed by students at UCF’s Center for Emerging Media will be up for judging Friday, Dec. 6. The 11 games include gladiators, parasites, nightmares and other on-screen challenges, even one in which the players win not by shooting invading alients, but shooting the best photographs of them.
Pitches for the games will be made by designers from noon to 5 p.m., and the games chosen to advance will be announced at 6 p.m. The student designers are from the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, UCF’s graduate video game development program.
The pitches will be at the Center for Emerging Media, 500 W. Livingston St., Orlando, and are open to the public. The pitches also will be live streamed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXVVHiscJ64 [1] or can be seen at FIEA’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/ucffiea [2].
Friday’s judging will determine which game ideas will be “green lit,” or approved, for development into Capstone Games, seven-month video game projects that serve as a master’s thesis. Friday’s winners will have to survive one additional round of cuts in the spring semester, when all the games will showcase their progress to faculty and staff.
Past winning games have won industry awards and have appeared on the game-industry website Gamasutra.com.
Friday’s presentation order is:
12 p.m. – Welcome, by Will Tuegel, a first-person survival game in which players also design nightmares for other players.
12:30 p.m. – Hit, by Tim Vensel, a multiplayer game that is nearly as dangerous to be the assassin as it is to be the target.
1 p.m. – Spectacle Fighter, by Adam Matheny, a 3-D gladiatorial-style fighting game won by players with flashy style.
1:30 p.m. – Far, by Sam Holley, a game in which the players use their mental powers to resolve a catastrophe aboard a space station.
2 p.m. – Focal Length, by Zach Johnson, a game won by taking the best photos of invading aliens, not blasting them.
2:30 p.m. – Enlightened, by Britt Clifford, a stealth combat and exploration game at a Buddhist monastery, pitting spiritualism and technology.
3 p.m. – Neon Night Riders, by Ahmar Rana, a turf battle that is waged by tagging new territory while opposing gang members are out to eliminate you.
3:30 p.m. – Pressure, by Addison DelCampo, an underwater battle miles below the surface in which you try to keep an alien from taking over your facility.
4 p.m. – Heroes, by Karl Abad, a cooperative medieval fantasy in which teamwork is essential to succeed.
4:30 p.m. – Rotting Fruit, by Ricardo Medina, a single-player adventure that includes parasites, deception and other hazards.
5 p.m. – Tethered, by Kim Nguyen, an adventure in space with zero gravity and a headset.