Testers seek fun, flaws in UCF students’ video games
The Debutante, a Jessica Rabbit look-alike in a tight pink dress, bounds through a mansion trying to stop a missile launch, all while dodging bullets and knife blades.
“This guy keeps trying to kill me, and I don’t have a weapon,” said Britt Clifford, 23, whose avatar, the Debutante, was shot Tuesday by a big-game hunter.
Clifford was one of several dozen people, mostly University of Central Florida students, who spent several hours playing video games at a classroom on campus. They were testing three games designed by graduate students in the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy at UCF.
Their goal: to help the crea--
tors learn what was working and what could be improved.
The games are the cyber equivalent of a thesis, said Todd Deery, academy communication and admission director.
During the next few weeks, teams of more than a dozen students will tweak each based on comments and surveys by the testers.
The students also will analyze players’ facial expressions, which were recorded to see when they became frustrated, delighted or puzzled.
“We look for points of confusion,” said Will Tuegel, 29, lead designer of the game “Hit,” whose characters include the Debutante; a male spy with an eye patch; and a female doctor with a bouncing puff of hair, a short skirt and a stethoscope around her neck. As a bonus, she can revive the dead.
Six or eight testers sat at each of three tables — one for each game. The room was filled with whoops and laughter as the players of “Hit” and “Neon Night Riders” called out to one another and almost everyone talked about the games and analyzed the play.
“Neon Night Riders” features brightly colored characters who race to control the neon-lit streets of cyberpunk Tokyo. In the other game, “Focal Length,” each player assumes the role of camera operator and captures various shots for live television during an alien invasion.
The tests are an important part of the curriculum of the academy. Established in August 2005, it trains aspiring video-game designers to professional game-development standards.
“We’re trying to replicate what’s going on in the industry as much as possible,” Deery said.
Identical twins Jennifer and Jessica McNeal, 22, are among about 20 percent of students who are women. The Bradenton sisters graduated from UCF last year with bachelor’s degrees in digital media with a game-design specialty.
“I want to make everyone happy when they play my games,” Jennifer McNeal said.
Students can pursue careers in the video-game industry or start their own companies, but skills learned in the program also can be used to create interactive displays at a museum or for military- or medical-training simulation, Deery said.
Students choose one of three tracks: art, programming or production, which typically involves managing, marketing and distribution.
Like many students, Addison Del Campo, 25, has played video games from a young age and dreamed of developing them. He said the UCF groups have worked long hours for about seven months, taking their games from concept to reality.
“They’re an obsession,” said Del Campo of Tampa, the project lead for “Hit.”
“After a hard day of making video games, we look forward to playing them at night,” he said.