A deep-sea diver investigating a mystery. A 4-inch-tall girl trying to bring joy back to a widower. An ex-Yakuza cat on the prowl in a Japanese city. These and more could become the next hit independent video game.
They are just a few of the student-produced video games that were on display during the University of Utah’s “EAE Launch 2021,” the annual event hosted by the university’s nationally ranked Entertainment Arts & Engineering video game development program.
The virtual-only day was held Wednesday, April 28, and was open to the public.
More than 20 video games from the program were demonstrated during the video stream including graduate-student project games, undergraduate capstone projects, and first-semester graduate-student prototypes. Students from The Therapeutic Games and Apps Lab (The GApp Lab), a collaboration between EAE, the Center for Medical Innovation, and the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, will also be demonstrating their medical-based games.
All of the entertainment-based games will eventually be available for digital download through online gaming markets such as Steam.
The day’s live stream also included student-produced machinima shorts (short films produced with video game engines) and visits with EAE alumni who are now working in the video game industry.