BPM “Making the most out of GDC”: February 11, 2025 – Cambridge, MA
Join MassDigi Senior Advisor and Former Managing Director Monty Sharma at BPM. Free and open to all. RSVP here.
GAME LAUNCH: Ready, set, Hamster Ball Blitz! – 8/1/24
Hamster Ball Blitz a free, fun fighting game, is available for download now on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Dash, roll, and bounce your way to becoming the (c)hampion!
Chester the Hamster needs your help in this year’s (c)Hampionship Games! Silly but strong, he just might have what it’ll take to beat the best fighters in the cage! Come join Chester on his journey through the tournament to become the number one Hampion!
The mobile game was created during the 2024 MassDigi Summer Innovation Program (SIP) by students Liberty Henry from Emerson, Jay Ignatowski from WPI, Austin Hyatt from WPI, Corinne Doucette from Mass. College of Art & Design, Rose Yang from Tufts and Ben Zakharenko from Berklee.
Watch the trailer here and download Hamster Ball Blitz today for iOS and Android!
And, special thanks to WPI IMGD as well as Northeastern, NSF and The Venture Forum.
GAME LAUNCH: Find your fun in No Party in Paradise! – 8/1/24
No Party in Paradise, a free, fun puzzle game, is available for download now on the Apple App Store and Google Play (coming soon).
Join three little cherubs on a heist through heaven as they attempt to sneak into a hell party! Swipe through a maze of hallways and bushes to shatter vases and collect gems that will fund the entrance fee to the party. Avoid getting caught by the creatures that guard the paths, and utilize different mechanics as you make your way to heaven’s golden gates!
The mobile game was created during the 2024 MassDigi Summer Innovation Program (SIP) by students Emilia Krum from WPI, Austin Szema from Northeastern, Sol Heo from RISD, Lan Kung from Smith, Lara Lewis from Northeastern and Ben Zakharenko from Berklee.
Watch the trailer here and download No Party in Paradise today for iOS and Android (coming soon)!
And, special thanks to WPI IMGD as well as Northeastern, NSF and The Venture Forum.
GAME LAUNCH: Meet your match in Uh Oh, AI! – 7/31/24
Uh Oh, AI! a free, fun match-3 game, is available for download now on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Artie the AI robot is on the verge of flunking out of art school! However, he’s got a clever plan: “borrow” a little inspiration from his talented peers to boost his sinking grades. Help Artie ace his classes by matching tiles and breaking obstacles to scan classmate’s pieces and create AI masterpieces!
NOTE: No art was stolen in the making of this game. We’re not bad, we just draw that way!
The mobile game was created during the 2024 MassDigi Summer Innovation Program (SIP) by students Sean Parks from Rhode Island College, Allie DiGesse from Northeastern, Angie “Raeda” Baird from WPI, Byung Hun Lee from Northeastern, Chonlada DiMascolo from WPI and Ben Zakharenko from Berklee.
Watch the trailer here and download Uh Oh, AI! today for iOS and Android!
And, special thanks to WPI IMGD as well as Northeastern, NSF and The Venture Forum.
SIPBLOG: What comes next – 7/29/24
What comes next
By Liberty Henry, Emerson College ’24
On Wednesday of this past week, we had the pleasure of having an showcase at our Boston location. There, we had Northeastern students, professors, and the occasional industry professional, community member or visitor stop by and play our games, alongside the games made from this year’s partner program involving the lovely students from UAE.
Working with such talented and hardworking people for the past few months has been amazing. I don’t think I had anticipated getting as close with everyone in the program as I am, and for that, I will be forever grateful. I’ve loved watching everyone fall into familiar grooves with each other, relationships clicking into place, and even watching our quietest and shyest people open up and blossom. I can’t say for certain how or when we will work together after SIP, but if I ever need an artist who can work under pressure, a programmer who will make me laugh, or a lighthearted musician, I know I have a good cluster of people to choose from.
As we head into the final week of SIP24, we are happy to announce the names of our three games; Leaf’s Hamster Ball Blitz, Oh-Pee-Chee’s Uh Oh, AI!, and Necco’s No Party In Paradise. We are tremendously excited to share our games and wrap up the program.
SIPBLOG: Build, playtest, and revise – 7/13/24
Build, playtest, and revise
By Lan Kung, Smith College
We are now on our final stretch as we enter our last few weeks of SIP! It feels as if just yesterday we were in the beginning phases of development and it has been an incredible experience to see our games come together. With most of the features and mechanics implemented, we are now polishing our games and preparing them for the long-awaited publication. All of our teams have been doing an incredible job implementing the tech and art in a cohesive and fun way.
The artists within my own team, Necco, are currently busy refining in-game assets, adding more complex animations, and creating stunning splash arts. Meanwhile, our programmers are tirelessly testing game features (including character movement and an endless mode), fixing bugs, and ensuring the game is compatible on all devices. Despite the tiring work load, seeing everything come so far within the 2 months we’re provided is nothing but rewarding.
Being the Lead Designer for Necco, I have mostly worked on UI/UX Design while developing both my artistic and programming skills. This program has also given me the opportunity to develop soft skills by giving us the environment to practice communicating, giving constructive feedback, and collaborating with a diverse group. Throughout this process, SIP24 has become a tight-knit community of people that support and help each other overcome hurdles with our collective knowledge and skills.
This week SIP was joined by Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science students to playtest our upcoming games. It was a pleasure to see everyone enjoying our games.
If you’re interested in playtesting our games, don’t forget our Demo Night on July 16th in Worcester! All three teams– Necco, Leaf, and O-Pee-Chee – will be present.
ESIPBLOG: Transforming my game dev future – 7/8/24
Transforming my game dev future
By Hind Younus, New York University Abu Dhabi
When I started as a freshman in university, I was initially unsure about what I wanted to do with my future. All I knew at the time was that I enjoyed designing and creating things, so I felt that the Interactive Media major would be the best choice for me. Typically, Interactive Media encourages students to express their creativity through a medium of their choosing, whether it be art installations, performances, or digital art. In addition to that, they also teach you essential skills that prepare you well for whichever path you choose by teaching art, design, computer science, and engineering concepts. I often found myself drawn to creating games for my university design projects. My passion for creating games only grew when I took introductory game development courses during my study away semester at my university’s New York campus. There I learnt about the basics of game design concepts and using popular 2D game engines like GameMaker Studio.
This is why I was very excited about the opportunity to participate in this program and meet other like-minded people of similar background who were equally interested in game development. Game development is still a relatively small industry in the United Arab Emirates, so I was eager to come to the United States, where the games industry has been established for decades. So far, I can say ESIP has been an amazing program for me to learn about game development. I really enjoy how hands-on the learning is, and Monty has been a great mentor in helping us navigate our game projects. Something I have often struggled with is defining a realistic scope and coming up with intriguing game metaphors, but learning about tools like the Kanban board and Round Robin has been especially helpful for me. I serve as the role of Lead Artist in my team, which has been fun yet challenging. I have been been honing my skills in how to manage the artists on my team efficiently, communicate with programmers about their technical demands for the art, and take constructive criticism from others.
The game our team has been working on is a match-3 resource collection game currently called ‘Mars Bedouins’. It imagines a world where an Emirati Bedouin family accidentally travels to Mars and the player has to help them survive by matching resources. We chose this idea as we believe it’s the perfect amalgamation of the UAE’s past and future as it links to the UAE’s Emirates Mars Mission while highlighting traditional Emirati Bedouin culture.
Additionally, ESIP offers numerous opportunities to learn from industry professionals through various talks during our time here. Hearing about their journeys into the US game industry has been transformational by allowing me to envision the steps I need to take to pursue this field in the future. Many of the guest speakers were founders of their own game companies, and they provided us with numerous tips on how to successfully build a game development company. A few of my peers and I have been collaborating outside of work to (inshAllah) build a game startup in the UAE. I am extremely pleased with how much I have learned, not only about game development but also about the process of creating a game development startup.
Moreover, an unexpected but pleasant surprise was that we would be working alongside the American SIP students who were two weeks ahead of us in the development of their games. They have been an invaluable source of information, and they were very open to answering questions about their processes and the challenges they faced so that we could better prepare. One of the American SIP teams, which is also developing a match-3 game like my team, has been particularly wonderful in giving my team tips and advice.
Overall, ESIP, MassDigi and most of all, Monty Sharma, have been exceptional in advancing my career in game development. The connections I was able to build, the wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience I gained, and the community of Emirati game developers I’ve been exposed to has been incredibly valuable. All in all, I can’t wait to take what I’ve learned from ESIP and contribute to building the game development industry back home in the UAE.
ESIPBLOG: Team dynamics & the art of communication – 7/1/24
Team dynamics & the art of communication
By Yousuf SH Mohammad, Khalifa University
Imagine the following scenario, your team is discussing a hot topic regarding player mechanics/movement for a video game project. After conducting a brainstorm session, the team generates three mechanical concepts; A, B, and C. Let’s say you really like concept (B). What I have witnessed in the past is one of the following ways, someone would word out their “opinion”:
- Concept (B )is absolutely the way to go, as it fits the game’s Vibe the most.
- Concept (B) is great as it’s realistic of what the player could actually do.
- Concept (B) seems to be the most realistic to apply to the player, for reasons X, Y, and Z.
Notice how the first one uses absolutist language, which makes what they say seem to be a fact rather than a discussable opinion. From what I have witnessed in the past, such behavior kills the mood of discussion and either turns the team aggressive against you if they hate the idea, or simply makes them accept it with low motivation to actually apply the concept into the game. Furthermore, notice how there is no clear reasoning behind the first statement, whatever “fits the game’s vibe the most” means.
As for the second one, it adds an extra layer of depth to the reasoning behind choosing such a concept, but it still lacks the details that would make the team actually engage in a fruitful discussion about what would exactly make them agree/disagree with you. What I mean is, the responses you would receive from your team for if you spat out the second statement, would look like something in the lines of: “but what if we applied concept (C) instead, it too looks reasonable”. Notice how their response is equally unfruitful.
As for the third statement on the viability of concept (B); it should be how someone would word out their suggestions. It has all the elements of reasoning that could spin out a fruitful discussion, in case someone disagreed with your reasoning (X, Y, Z). Also, notice how it has a flavor of “elegance” or “etiquette” by using words such as “seems”, or perhaps you can use something similar such as; “appears to me”.
Going back to my experience with ESIP, my team got into an argument trying to decide the art style of our game. One side suggested a specific style, providing reasons such as ease of implementation, compared to the expected level of detail for a background, for a desert themed, endless running game. The other side proposed a different art style on the basis of influence from previous games they played (so it looks “cool”). Won’t get political, but it turns out that the second suggested style, which our team settled on, wasted two weeks of painful, and slow art development, until we realized our mistake, and switched to the more viable, easier to implement art style. If the pushing party had traced back the logic behind their choice, we would have been in a better place art wise. But we are healing, and going strong!
In conclusion, whether concept (B) is actually the best doesn’t matter if the team doesn’t understand the logic behind the acceptance or rejection of such concept. You would find people passionately pushing for an idea just because it sounds/looks cool, without thinking of the consequences of its application. Furthermore, put in mind the added thought of “working for a purpose”, when your team understands why it’s implementing such feature into the project/game.
MassDigi E/SIP Open House: August 1, 2024 – WPI, Worcester, MA
Join us on August 1 from 2-4p! Free, fun and open to all!
Summer Showcase: July 24, 2024 – Raytheon Amphitheater, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Join us on July 24 from noon-2p! Free and open to all!
