Bluepoint employees served as mentors, making weekly visits to teach students about their roles. They were also available remotely through a Discord server to help students beyond the in-class sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted to take a more vested interest in making sure that students can see there are industry professionals that do care about them, and care about their success and are invested in them,\u201d said Myriah Higgins, Bluepoint senior lighting artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Undergraduate and graduate students submitted portfolios and demo reels to be considered. Smith said undergraduate participants \u2014 who outnumbered the graduate students in the course \u2014 earned a rare chance to make early connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur students have a huge opportunity here to get a level of mentorship and face time with industry professionals that not every game program has,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the course began, students were sorted into four teams of five, arranged by experience, artistic and technical skill. The teams met to prepare two game ideas \u2014 using the course\u2019s overall theme of \u201cMonsters?\u201d \u2014 to pitch on the first day of class. Smith and Thomas provided feedback on the pitches and how to improve the concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the key things is learning how to work with people on projects that may not have been their idea,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cWe’re all really excited working on our own idea, but if it’s somebody else’s idea, can I buy into it, be part of a team and be productive? Because that’s how industry works. They\u2019re really learning the process of game development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the students got to work, they assumed roles of game developers including character modeler, rigging artist, lighting artist, sound engineer and level designer. Most had to take on more than one specialty due to the limitations of team size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abigail Blevins, senior visualization major, served as project manager and 3D lead, but also had to act as the lighting artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI wanted to be a 3D lead and project manager because I\u2019ve done those before and I\u2019m more well-versed in them,\u201d Blevins said. \u201cI\u2019ve done lighting before, but it turned out terribly. Funnily enough, lighting is probably my favorite thing I\u2019ve worked on this time around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Students worked closely with Bluepoint mentors that share those specializations. On Wednesdays, the visiting mentor and the students went on lunch outings to discuss careers and experiences in a less formal setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emilie Sangerhausen, senior visualization major, said the mentors helped her realize she didn\u2019t have to choose one of her interests over another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBefore I got to talk to character artists from BluePoint, I was iffy about if I wanted to do character sculpting or concept art,\u201d Sangerhausen said. \u201cCharacter art kind of does all of it. I was really glad to learn that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The class met weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon, but students typically stayed beyond class hours, treating the course as a full-time job and contributing roughly 40 hours per week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of each week, students presented their progress to the professors and visiting mentor. These discussions served to keep the students on track, progressing at an even pace throughout the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team members asked peers to play the games throughout the process to provide feedback including likes and dislikes, ease of gameplay and overall enjoyment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The theme inspired a range of game concepts from dark to whimsical. A small demon and an elderly female sheep character star in a game created by Cesar \u201cCJ\u201d Loya Jr, Izzy Rollo, Hayden Harsh, Kaylyn Luna and Emmalie Hall. The sheep wishes to be reunited with her family and must conduct a ritual to return the demon to its full form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Levels take place in daytime, dusk and night. Players must collect ingredients from around the farm for the ritual by staying within the shadows to avoid contact with light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn other games, and in general, the human eye is attracted to light and wants to go to light,\u201d Loya said. \u201cSo it\u2019s putting the twist into \u2026 \u2018OK, now you\u2019ve got to go into shadow instead.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The game features an antagonist \u2014 an exorcist \u2014 who sets light traps during the final level. The game is won when the exorcist is defeated, and the final ingredient is returned to the sheep character. She conducts the ritual, returning the demon to its full form. It then steals her soul, reuniting her with her family in an unexpected way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnimal Crossing\u201d inspired a game by Sangerhausen, Bria Peters, Dylan Florence, Hans Sapo and Nick Martinez. Players attempt to provide a positive experience for the attendees of a medieval town festival, taking care of a blacksmith, baker and a child who keeps losing his balloons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each character has a patience meter. When a task takes too long for players to complete, the patience meter runs down. As the tasks are completed, the meter fills back up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the blacksmith, the player must man the forge. The baker sends the player to collect ingredients to make pastries. For the child, the player must travel around the map to retrieve balloons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a game created by Spencer Bryant, Leah George, Ethan Laird, Favour Ojuade and Xingling Xu, players must outsmart a demon from the perspective of a small child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur concept essentially is \u2018Home Alone\u2019 if you accidentally summoned a demon,\u201d Bryant said. \u201cThe main game play will be collecting items, building traps and tricking the demon so that eventually you can banish it again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea of human monsters is explored in a game by Blevins, Jay Schaeffer, Nandini Janapati, Jocelyn Rodriguez and Rhiannon Duba. Players take on the role of a father moving to an old house with his family and renovating it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The character experiences strange phenomenon, and the tasks become more sinister. He eventually turns on his own family. He must also clean up evidence and avoid getting caught by visitors and house inspectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the things that the mentors really liked about our game is that it was unavoidable that you were the monster in this situation,\u201d Blevins said. \u201cThere was no redemption arc or anything like that. It was just you’re a monster and you’re doing horrible things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/app\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230607_Summer_Industry_Course_LM_0463-1024x683.jpg\")
Getting Started<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Four](\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/app\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SIC-Gaming-Thumbnails60-1024x576.png\")
Making ‘Monsters’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n