Game Development Club inspires video game creativity

Game development is one of the newest areas of interest when it comes to career opportunities. The field has come a long way since “Pong” and other video game forebears. For this reason, Illinois State University has its own game development club.

The club released its first game in spring 2020. Across the Main and Challenge project teams, 14 games have been released since then. Although the members are a unified group, there are several teams within the club.

President Gian Garnica spoke about what the club does on a daily basis and how it operates.

“ISU Game Dev Club is a club focused on creating video games together, from scratch, as a team over a single semester. No experience required,” Garnica said. “An average meeting usually takes place directly in a business setting, with members joining the teams they want to join and participate in, separated by table. »

There is a music team, an art team, a level design team, a programming team, and a challenge team. The challenge team focuses on more experienced members and projects.

Challenge team leader Joseph Wittrock spoke about what the members are doing.

“Challenge projects are a section of the club – an alternative to the main project where experienced members can pursue more specific projects to round out their portfolio,” Wittrock said. “Unlike the main project, members work individually or in small teams on a project of their choice. This gives students space to work on more technical projects that would not fit well within the framework of a larger major project.

According to Wittrock, one of the challenge team’s current projects is a game with “Mario Galaxy-inspired planetary physics.”

Although game development can seem complex, Garnica emphasizes that anyone can participate.

“We always invite all members at any time to come and contribute to the project. We will set you up, get an overview of our project and current progress, and assign you different tasks depending on the team you want to work with,” Garnica said. “Absolutely no experience is required, we are always willing to help teach others our tools of the trade.”

Anyone interested in joining the Game Development Club can register online.

RYAN NOLASCO is a news and features reporter for The Vidette. Nolasco can be contacted at [email protected].

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