Following a challenge-based learning paradigm in TOM (2.0), several courses come together in their application in the Interactive Media Project (3.5EC), as part of the 2nd year CreaTe studies. The directly related courses are sound engineering (1.5 EC), Game Design (2EC), Game Engine Technology (including a VR workshop) (1.5EC) , and 3D Modelling and Animation (1.5EC).

Link to Game Design Course
Personally I teach Game Design which is separately graded based on an Pen & Paper prototype, and exam building on the awesome, entertaining and very informative book by Jesse Schell. Besides getting familiarized with multiple concepts which are tested in the exam. In Game Design two important factors are learned: 1) applying lenses as a generative tool critically considering and then exploring alternatives to the current implementations, and 2) playtesting including varying parameters between playtest rounds based on anecdotal evidence in these tests as well as planned investigation. This former, I purposely make even more informal, building on but an informal rather than scientific variation of the RIDE method. For the latter this playtesting includes prepared versions alterations (e.g. 1st or 3rd person, or what music works) for known design choices, and sometimes parameter sweeps (e.g. size of the map, number of power ups, health points etc) more closely related to balancing purposes. This nicely contrasts it to the more summative experimental approaches, as well as the related but different quality assurance or usability testing. Both of these are visible in most of the reports of the IMP.

Interesting Interactive Media Projects

IMP 2020 Playlist

Below you kind find a few examples of the 70-110 students per year that in duos make these games. My personal favorites besides those that can be played below, but that are definitely worth a look: #19 Invert and #17 Dreaming Bear.

Playable Games

A few of these games can also be played on Windows system, I do not have other builds available yet but leave a comment and who knows the students my respond. To play: download the zip, right mouse button to extract somewhere, click on the .exe with name of the game, and to exit you might need to use Alt+F4. Some games still have small glitches or bugs that might require a restart in edge cases.

An educational (addition and subtraction) music-oriented game: tunettack (2018) by Amy Visscher and Julia Hogestijn.

An interactive story about a mysterious patient: Patient 308 by Mark Tool and Jelko Luiten.

A humorous exploration rich game: Starcrossed by Finn Slutter and Nadieh Kaldenbach.

A 3D-globe-based Tower Defense game: Global Glory (2020) by Roland Wit and Timo Brems.

A graveyard inspired game, keep your skeleton bones where they belong: A man’s best friend (2020) by Laurens van Helvoort and Jochem Sallander.

`A dias de los muertos’ inspired platformer level, Vida Futura (2020), tip maximize and double jump, by Sarah Jansen and Louis van Maurik.