University News Last updated 27 October 2014
You can now download a free 2D PC game developed in just under thirteen hours by Interactive Entertainment students.
'PlayExpoZ', a zombie survival game set in a games expo, was produced by Interactive Entertainment games development, digital art and digital marketing students over two days as part of a 'games jam' at Manchester's Play Expo.
Game jams generally give developers a challenge to plan, develop and create a game within a very short amount of time. Interactive Entertainment Course Director Zuby Ahmed said:
Interactive Entertainment students will be taking part in another game jam on Saturday 15 November 2014, as part of the Birmingham City University Open Day. To speak to our students there, play games they've made, and find out more about the two-year degree, simply register for our Open Day.
The full game, PlayExpoZ can be downloaded for free now from GitHub or directly using the link at the bottom of this page.
During the game jam, students faced internet outages, tight deadlines, and all the challenges that come with making a game in two days. We asked them to share their thoughts on the finished game.
What is your favourite part of the final game?
Adame Boutrif (Art & Programming): "I love the main menu, we ended up implementing male and female characters and three difficulties."
Mark Sutcliffe (Art): "Of the final game, I think the most pertinent thing is the inspiration behind it. Both in the sense of the team working around a theme, and accomplishing an engaging title in so few hours."
Adam Woodford (Art): "My favourite part of the final game was seeing how all the work that we did (in less than 13 hours) all came together into a working game. For me, personally this was the first time I got to experience and contribute to the whole process from start to finish. I found it fascinating to be a part of a game build, no matter how small."
Scott Woodhams (Programming): "My favourite part of the game was not the game itself but the challenge of creating the game in such a small amount of time to a good standard to show off to other people."
Lee Fitzpatrick (Programming): "Killing Zombies!"
What challenges did you face in producing a game from scratch in two days?
Adame: "The main challenge that I encountered was having to brainstorm, and lock in an idea in the space of ten minutes so we could get started on the building."
Mark: "Animation in such a short period is always a challenge, and as such I had to use singular tricks to achieve a semblance of fidelity. To achieve this fidelity, particularly, I chose an art style that would compliment the rigidity imposed by animations with few frames. Pixel art is immediately affiliated with retro gaming, and this allowed me to justify more jittery movement in game. As a result, animations had fewer frames and were quicker to complete."
David Murawski (PR and Marketing): "Its fun, its quirky, its retro and it only took two days."
Scott: "We couldn't follow the process of design we have been focusing on: Problem, Research, Synthesis & Refinement, and we had no WiFi for us to research the problems we faced. We also had to allocate more time to bug fixing rather than implementing the core concept."
Lee: "No Internet, limited time."
How did you overcome these challenges?
Adame: "In a game jam like this, speed is crucial and indecisiveness is the enemy. We overcame the challenge by discussing and locking in the game idea rapidly."
Adam: "I think the biggest challenge we faced was the time limit. We had to find the right balance of creating something that would be a bit more exciting than an endless runner, but also take into account the short time frame we had to complete this project. We overcome this obstacle by coming up with a very simple concept for the game, but relating it to the event which gave it a bit more personality."
Scott: "It was hard, for the most of it, it was guess work, working blind."
Lee: "By using a very limited API reference."
Why should people download and play this game?
Adame: "Because it is a taster of the awesome work the team can produce in a short space of time.
Mark: "This game is a sterling example of what can be achieved in a small amount of time by the dedicated members of the Interactive Entertainment course. It describes how, when working together, the individuals on the courses unite into a force of creation."
David: "Its a fun pick up and play game where you kill zombies in order to gain more time. The longer your time the higher your score."
Adam: "It is lots of fun! Also it is a great, working example of what can be achieved when a good team has a clear direction and comes together to overcome obstacles such as time constraints and last minute changes."
Scott: "Its free. Has zombies. Worth the price. Value for money."
Lee: "It's free to play and it's zombies at Play-Expo!"