by Xochitl Campos
Daily Lobo
Playing video games in class can get you in trouble.
But in one class, video games are the final project.
There is an open house today for people to play and vote on video games created by teams of students in an introduction to computer graphics class.
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It is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building.
The games include spaceship battles with aliens, first-person shooting and volleyball, instructor Pradeep Sen said.
Sen said the students studied computer technology before making video games in the last four weeks of the course.
"In the real world, you would have three years to do it," he said. "Obviously, we're not expecting to see anything like 'Halo 3,' but they can actually show this to future employers when they are applying for jobs."
The students also had to create storylines for the games, Sen said.
Student Will McMain said if he had more time, he could have put more polish on his game, "Star Killer."
"It's a space-fighter game, but considering the time, it's more like 3-D 'Asteroids,'" he said.
Sen said his students could put the project in a portfolio if they wanted a job in film or video games.
Student Henry Swantner said it has been several years since he has played video games, but the class was interesting.
"I just got more programming experience in general," he said.
Sen said students learned traditional computer graphics, but they were also exposed to the latest technology in the field.
"Let's say you go for computer science or engineering, and they take the traditional major without the digital medium," he said. "They wouldn't learn the graphics concepts that someone like Pixar would be interested in them knowing."
Sen said this is the first year the students created video games.
He said the games will be graded based on the audience's input.
"I look at the quality of the games, the way the game is implemented - does it look like something I'd like to play?" he said.
McMain said he learned a lot from making a game.
"I'm really interested in graphics and stuff like that, and it has been a really easy yet challenging experience," he said. "It's a lot of work."
