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University Students Develop a Video Game
A unique interdisciplinary project gave Trinity Western University students an opportunity to apply their skills and develop a marketable entertainment product.
by Erin Mussolum

The computer lab at Trinity Western University is buzzing with excitement. Colourful images display on monitors. A couple of students listen to headphones while others are involved in intense discussion. Everyone in the class has a job to do.

Just over a year ago Alma Barranco-Mendoza and Kevin Schut, professors at Trinity Western University, embarked on a project that engulfed their lives and the lives of 24 students from a variety of disciplines across the university for more than a year. They had undertaken the development of a computer-based video game.

Trinity Western University students were excited to release Label: Rise of Band computer game to the public on June 26, 2008.

On June 26, 2008, Barranco-Mendoza, Schut and the student group, under the corporate name of Bonus Marks Entertainment, launched the turn-based strategy game Label: Rise of Band to the public.

Like a board game, the down-loadable digital game allows players to assume the persona of an independent music label that battles it out working to gain popularity with bands as they book musical acts into venues across the city. A successful strategy positions the label to ultimately rise in power and take over the evil corporation that is ruling the city's status quo music scene.

The game allows players to give singing lessons to their bands, put on publicity stunts, arrange for a name change, find and book new bands, send out talent scouts and even arrange for photo shoots, all to make the label more popular and thus more powerful.

The professors assigned students limitations in the scope of what the game could include because of the limited one-year time-frame available for designing it. The students developed the creative concept for the game. Then the software engineering and game design commenced. Art and music students produced original artwork and composed and recorded the music. Meanwhile communications students wrote the game's narrative, and business students developed the business plan for releasing and distributing the product. More than 50 individuals including staff, faculty and students engaged in beta-testing the game.

Schut described the process of working with students across a multitude of disciplines on a project of this size. "First, we always thought of the students as experts in their fields. That was one of the main purposes for this project: to let students exercise the expertise they had developed over the course of their studies at TWU. [Second], we really saw the course as a co-exploration: …rather than telling students exactly what to do, we set general responsibilities and team relationships and then let the students work out how things will go."

Twenty-one-year-old business major Amanda Pereira, one of the project managers, sums up her experience. "I haven't been huge into video games but the hands-on experience for me was really appealing. Being able to manage the different disciplines of people, working together with them, going through the ins and outs of how to sell a product and what that involves, and what processes you need, really helped me put my marketing and business academic background into practice instead of just learning the theory of it. I was able to apply it to the real world."

Barranco-Mendoza and Schut created a web-based environment where students could log in and work on the game from various points on campus.

"Both Kevin and I did quite a lot of research and we found that no other university or college has anything close to this type of multidisciplinary project," says Barranco-Mendoza. "The students also will receive a certificate in game development foundations and will use the credit hours earned in the program toward their degree in either computing science, communications or information systems. We think of it as a capstone course where students from multiple disciplines come together. The project gives them real life experiences and an extra boost when looking for jobs in different fields."

Amanda Pereira

The game is targeted at high school and university students, young adults and those interested in music and business. Bonus Marks Entertainment will have rights to some of the revenue if the game is picked up by a larger gaming company – something the group hopes will happen.

Label: Rise of Band can be purchased online at the game’s website and will be available at the university book store in the fall of 2008. The group will be conceptualizing a new game during the summer of 2009 with a potential release date in summer 2010.

Schut is delighted with the effort. "I am thankful for every minute I have spent on the project. I have loved getting to know the students in a way we typically can't do. On top of that I have loved getting my hands on the nuts and bolts of production, where we see theory inform practice, and practice inform theory. And the icing on the cake is that we've produced a pretty cool game."

Trinity Western University, in Langley, British Columbia, is an independent Christian liberal arts and sciences university enrolling approximately 4000 students. TWU offers undergraduate degrees in 40 major areas of study ranging from biotechnology, education, nursing, theatre and music, to psychology, communications and biblical studies. TWU's 16 graduate degree programs include counseling psychology, business, theology and leadership, and offers interdisciplinary studies in English, philosophy and history. TWU holds Canada Research Chairs in Biblical Studies, Biology and Interpretation, Religion & Culture.

Originally posted on the Trinity Western University website, June 2008.

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