Video games are complex technology projects. Among the millions more than a million video games in the world, college students have an admirable share. The games were created as part of a class project or they spared time to develop industry-changing games. You can hire a professional class taker and dedicate time to your pet project.
It takes time and skill to develop a video game. Luckily, the college has a lot of time for students who want to pursue such personal projects. You can hire a helper or use technology tools to make essay writing easier. Here are some of the best video games that came out of college.
Spacewar
Martin Graetz, Wayne Wiitaneon, and Stephen Russel worked as research assistants in 1961. In the same year, Digital Equipment Corporation donated a computer to the university. It was a PDP-1 minicomputer. The three decided to prepare more interesting displays for the computer.
The idea was not to build a game. As they worked on more engaging displays for the donated computer, they ended up with Spacewar. The game took the entire 1961 and part of 1962 to develop.
The game is exactly as the name suggests. It takes the player to space, each with a ship. You need players to compete. You have to navigate the ship in space and use the torpedoes to fight off attacks. The torpedoes can go in any direction at a 360 degrees turn.
Players use thrusters to evade attacks from enemies in space. The ship also comes with gravitational force to help with navigation. The gravity mechanic was not there in the original game. It is these three students who decided to add the feature when advancing the features.
Spacewar comes with interesting coincidences. It was a pioneer in the video gaming industry. At the same time, the PDP-1 minicomputer was also among the front-runners in computing. It was an interesting pioneering convergence. The game was later advanced and is still available, albeit in more advanced versions.
Ultima 1
Ultima has a twin by the name of Wizardry. Mentioning one requires you to mention the other inadvertently. The two games were developed on digitized platforms, being trailblazers in their own right. They broke ground for role-playing in video games, opening a new chapter in game design. Each of these two games was designed by college students.
Ultima 1 was developed by Richard Garriot in the early 1980s at the University of Texas. The Official Book of Ultima indicates that the design project took these two students a year. Richard had teamed up with Ken Arnold.
Ultima is designed with a player controlling the hero in a quest to eliminate a wizard. This was the standard for all games developed at that time. The concept is anchored on a blend of science fiction and fantasy.
The player has to find dungeons to crawl out of. As you win battles and walk through dangerous traps, you collect gold. The gold will eventually be used to purchase a spaceship that takes your game to the next level.
Many prototypes preceded Ultima 1. However, it became the pioneer among western CRPGs. Some of the games that draw a parallel with Ultima 1 include Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. The idea behind all these games is to give a hero a challenging quest. Based on the decisions you make along the way, you will uniquely finish the game.
Portal
The game was released in 2007 but the process of development was on for a year. In 2006, students at DigiPen University developed the Navicular Drop which was uploaded on their website. It was also based on a fantasy where a princess is sent on a quest. The princess had the power to project two related portals along with the game. You need to solve a puzzle to activate these portals. It is the only way to make progress in the game.
The two games appear similar but this is not a coincidence. Two of the players who created Drop were already working on Portal before they started on Navicular. The camera in this case is projecting the first-person image.
Portal is unique compared to other games that involve aimless shooters out to eliminate all obstacles on their way. It was a pacesetter that went on to redefine a genre. The student ended up with an unparalleled game showing the conquest in 1st person. It opened the door for many other games that would take a similar approach. From this brave act by DigiPen University students, video gaming changed forever.
Every college student has an idea beyond classes. It is these ideas that result in world-acclaimed brands like the games discussed above. All you need is to create time to polish the ideas even as you work on assignments. Use assignments to help balance between classwork and other activities you would like to engage in.
