Game Development: Foundations - Winter 2011:

Det 'N Nate

Click to play Det 'N Nate

Gameplay prototype created in 4 weeks by team of 5 Digital Media and CS students:

Det 'N Nate attempts to form a competitive, social, fast-paced experience for the two players. The game pits two spies, named Det and Nate, against one another on a common track. During their run along the track, they can get points by disrupting their opponent's path by simply elbowing them off cliffs or using more creative means to foil their foe. This game was created to give the player the thrill of a racing game, while focusing on making a worthwhile experience that both the winning and losing player want to continue playing. Players must be aware of their own surroundings to not risk losing points, but they must at the same time note their opponent's position so they can attack.

• Team Members: Tucker Abbott, Zach Thacker, Zach Wilcox, Louis Peng, and Colin Wagner.
• Advisor: Dr. Paul Diefenbach

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• Click to play Det 'N Nate

Trip Trip Trip

Click to play Trip Trip Trip

Gameplay prototype created in 4 weeks by team of 4 Digital Media and CS students:

Navigate your ball, avoid obstacles, and switch elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Air) to match environment, or go back to beginning.

• Team Members: Lou Manco, Ryan Reed, Bryan Kincaid, Micah Bair .
• Advisor: Dr. Paul Diefenbach

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• Click to play Trip Trip Trip

Game Development Workshop (GDW) I - Fall 2010

Pre-production game prototypes created in 10-week term. Full production version will be developed with larger teams in Winter term GDW II.

ZapJak is an exciting new Battle Royale racing game in the style of Twisted Metal, set in a technological world. Players take the role of viruses racing to infect and destroy computers traversing the Internet, and compete to see who can hijack them all. Players experience numerous references to pop culture and internet memes as they traverse the simulated world of the Internet.

Epic Defense is a tower defense game with a twist. Players take full control of a hero character utilizing melee combat while towers you strategically placed do their work. Do your best to defend the castle from waves of enemies!

Fourmation

Fourmation was created as a senior project by Digital Media students at Drexel University. The intent was to merge Flash technologies such as Papervision3D, WiiFlash, and SmartFox with virtual reality. What eventually developed was an original, innovative desktop application game that utilizes Wiimotes and head tracking. Fourmation is not only a game, it is an experience. This game won 1st place in the 2009 Adobe Achievement Awards, Non-Browser-Based Design category.

• Team Members: Jared Weinstock, Nick Deimler, Chau Nguyen, Tom Bergamini, Todd Carpenter and Kyle McArdle
• Advisors: Prof. Jervis Thompson, Dr. Glen Muschio

Proteus (Fall 2008 - Winter 2009)

With our first use of motion captured (mocap) character animation, Proteus is an action adventure game where Proteus can transform into the creatures he defeats from the three realms of the world, Rock, Fire, and Ice. This game was developed in the Game Development Workshop sequence and was featured on the CBS Evening News.

Engine Divine (Fall 2007 - Winter 2008)

engine:DIVINE is made up encounters in lieu of actual levels. Each encounter is an epic-sized boss fight, empowering the player with a similar feeling that "Final-Boss Fights" give from other games. All encounters have puzzles and patterns which must be deciphered before a boss can be defeated. Each has several phases and modes to increase the challenge, ensuring that figuring out just one "trick" will not be an instant-win. Each boss is equipped with a unique challenge, ranging from utilizing the environment to overcome the goliath, using the bosses' weapons against themselves, and even detecting patterns and manipulating objects such as mirror angles and musical intervals. In addition to these puzzle elements; the game is infused with fast-paced, FPS style chaos. While figuring out how to defeat the enemy, the player will have to face the full wrath of the machine, dodging mechanical punches, projectiles and anything else the GOD Machine can dish out, all while the player is unleashing their own barrage of firepower. Giving a nod to the retro-chaotic qualities of some old-school games such as Contra and Mega Man, this projectile-mayhem will be intertwined with the epic "boss only" style of Shadows of the Colossus, while having to solve Legend of Zelda-like environment puzzles. Upon the defeat of each machine, the player is given new abilities and weapons to further add complexity to the subsequent encounters. The trailer shows clips fromboth the Gaming Workshop I prototype and the final Gaming Workshop II full game.

• Team Members: Alex Serret, Josh Sankey, Jordan Santell, James Borden, Zachary Brooks, Brittany Tress, Scott Ackerman, Kevin Appel, Hardik Bhatt
• Advisor: Dr. Paul Diefenbach

Project Generations (Fall 2006 - Winter 2007)

Project: Generations is a one of a kind joint effort between students spanning multiple majors at Drexel University. It combines many of the traditional MMORPG elements fans of the genre expect with a unique genetics system that ensures that no two characters are the same. Unlike other games on the market, characters in Project: Generations age and eventually die. Before then, players must reproduce to continue their family name. Not only will their child's abilities depend on his or her parents, but their looks are derived from classic Mendelian genetics just like in nature. Where other MMORPGs on the market simply allow players to work together, Project: Generations actually rewards players for teaming up and forming strong social bonds. Although still in early development, this is one game riding the cutting edge of gaming trends that's certainly worth keeping tabs on.

• Team Members: Mike Kozak, Thomas McLean, Quang Nguyen, Thien Nguyen, Brian Mueller, David Lally, Nicholas Deimler, Kevin Hoffman, Nicholas Avallone, Dan Letarte, Evan Boucher, Jordan Santell, Aaron Grando, Michael Ambrozaitis, Andrew Aversa, Alec Henninger, Kathleen Gaunt, William Mcnulty
• Advisor: Dr. Paul Diefenbach

Moach Rotel (Fall 2005 - Winter 2006)

"Moach Rotel" is a fast-paced, story driven, first-person adventure game that puts you into the body of Corky, your everyday, common, household cockroach, trying to exact revenge on Chip Gritcastle, an old and dirty homeowner who murdered Corky's parents. With the help of your friends, Flapsvergen and Percy, players will adventure through multiple levels filled with gritty, expansive environments, hilarious dialog and challenging puzzles to overcome through teamwork and ingenuity.

• Team Members: Joe Palasek, Will Muto, Aaron Krasnov, Joel Catalan, John Spofford, Tyler Moore, Nate Barnett
• Advisor: Dr. Paul Diefenbach

Project Bolt Fall 2004-Winter 2005

Project Bolt is a fast-paced 3D game featuring "Blip," a robot who fights his way through other robots. Project Bolt was developed in the two-course undergraduate Gaming Workshop sequence available to Digital Media, Computer Science, and students from other disciplines including Music, Screenwriting, etc. Project Bolt takes place in the future where cities are built upon layer and layer of subterranean substructures where all the manual labor is performed by robots. Our hero, Blip, is just another of many worker-bots until fate drops a set of headphones down the garbage chute. When he decides to place the headphones onto his head, Blip enters into the insane world of this thing called "music" and becomes an outlaw amongst his own kind. From his boring workplace Blip must fight against those that would take his headphones away and make it to some place safe.

• Advisor: Dr. Paul Diefenbach

Older Games & Projects

Please feel free to check out some trailers and demos of past games and projects that were worked on at Drexel University under the Research and Play department.