Video game designers create the code for friendship
Club members meeting in the Communications building game lab. Photo by: highpoint.edu.
By Meg Thomson // Staff Writer
When it comes to High Point University, there is a place for everyone and a way for everyone to get involved. Clubs are the perfect way to find your niche, meeting people that have similar interests and ambitions. For those interested in video games, game design or anything in that realm of study, there is a club for you too. HPU introduced the Video Game Design Club last fall. While the club is relatively new to campus, the club is dedicated to its craft and the interests of the members involved.
The club is not only a place for Video game designers to meet new people, it is also a place for them to improve on their work and have open discussions and receive feedback on the work that they’ve completed. Having a place where they can workshop their projects while making friends, contacts and networking throughout the process is a win-win scenario.
“Game Design Club is a student driven environment where we create and learn about programming and different art styles,” Natalia Hopkins said. “My love for creating games has grown so much being in this club and it has opened many doors for new friendships and opportunities.”
The club; however, is not only oriented toward those with an ambition to design video games. If you are interested in video games in any sense, this club may be for you. It also functions as a place to meet people of similar interests and have intelligent and creative discussions; if you are a fan of playing video games, you could even help those designing games with feedback on their projects. The name of the club seems to advertise solely to those within the game development tract of the communications major; however, those are definitely not the only people welcome in the group. Even if you have never played a video game in your life, but you are interested in learning what it is all about, feel free to stop by and learn.
A few months ago the Video Game Design Club hosted an event Game Jam. Game Jam was an event in which the members of the club took 48 hours to create a game from scratch.
“The theme of these games was traditional literature and poetry,” Rick Stingel said.
Focusing on a theme, the club members used their creativity and experience, as well as relying on each other throughout the event to create something new and fresh for their portfolios.
The Video Game Design Club meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Communications Room 125.