Cogswell College will have two students from its game design and development program present a new mobile VR game during the 2015 SIGGRAPH Conference’s “Appy Hour” showcase in Los Angeles, Aug. 9-13.
Originally prototyped during the 2015 Global Game Jam by Cogswell students Christian Sasso and Steven Ulrich, “We Are Cubed” (WeR3) is a 3D puzzle game. Sasso and Ulrich will demonstrate WeR3 during SIGGRAPH 2015’s “Appy Hour,” a cocktail reception where independent app developers can show their apps to the SIGGRAPH 2015 attendees. During this event, participants get feedback, cultivate new ideas and make contacts to help move their efforts along. “Appy Hour” features new apps that use augmented reality, computational photography, image manipulation, location-based gaming or anything that runs on a mobile device.
In WeR3, each level presents players with a colored canvas they must recreate using their own colored avatar. Players must develop a strategy for moving their six-sided avatar across the landscape, as some faces of the avatar “paint” different colors. Developed in the Unity Game Engine using Google Cardboard technology, the game can be played as a standalone smartphone experience using touch controls, or much more interestingly, as a completely hands-free virtual reality experience that immerses the player in the game world.
“The acceptance by SIGGRAPH of our students’ new game ‘WeR3’ points to a critical note of differentiation about our school’s approach,” said John Duhring, director, strategic alliances and alumni relations with CogswellCollege. “There is no doubt that conventional wisdom embraces the idea that exposure to research provides the best college experience. However, most colleges request that students graduate first before they are allowed to create experiments. Our students have the opportunity to paw through brand new technologies and generate their own experiences while they are still undergrads.”
