WHAT:
Students and faculty members from Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) Interactive Media & Game Development (IMGD) program will participate in PAX East, an annual tradeshow held in different parts of the world for gamers, showcasing video games designed by WPI students.
While WPI has participated in PAX East for more than five years, this is the first year the university will show student-created games at the conference. The WPI booth will be equipped with cintiques, interactive touch screen technology that will display 3D models of game characters created by students, and completed games that students created during class at WPI. Students are inviting PAX attendees to play the games and give feedback to the creators, helping to improve the final product.
The games being highlighted include “Doldrum,” “Obliti,” and “Unseeable.” “Doldrum” is an entertainment-based game that was created to look and feel like the xylophone version of the popular game “Rock Band.” “Obliti,” a serious game that tackles social issues, is a graduate thesis project that takes players through the emotional ins and outs of depression. “Unseeable,” another serious game, was designed with a color-blindness filter, and walks players through the perspective of someone who is color blind.
WHO:
Dean O’Donnell, assistant teaching professor of computer science; Ralph Sutter, lecturer of computer science; and WPI students Aaron Graham ’19, Alex Hebert ’18, both of whom are IMGD Art majors, and Aidan Buffum ’20, an IMGD Tech major.
WHERE/WHEN:
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, 415 Summer St., Boston
Thursday, April 5 – Sunday, April 8, 2018. WPI students and faculty are available to talk and invite attendees to play the student-made games during the entire length of the show.
