Maneater and the Golden Teacher may not be the most graphically intense or even highest-rated post-apocalyptic game that released on Steam this month, but its origins are inspirational.
The story-heavy point-and-click adventure is one of three first games developed by students at North Carolina’s Elon University through a fairly new Game Design track created in 2019.
While the college’s name might instantly make you question whether or not they’re already naming universities after Elon Musk, the fact is that the small college is named after the town of Elon, North Carolina.
The game’s plot is based on an original story by one of the development team members who had written it for his English class.
“Once we had our initial story, we looked to other popular and successful games as inspiration for ideas and mechanics to incorporate into our game,” project member Logan LaMont said. “That’s the start of the game process, then you add simple things to the design at first before you build it up in an iterative process and keep improving it every few weeks.”
Lamont also stated that he enjoyed using his computer science skills, for which he is currently seeking a major, for “less technical and mathematical ways.”
“These students are pioneers,” Assistant Professor of Computer Science Pratheep Paranthaman said. “Game design is basically problem solving. Each team had unique design problems they solved to achieve their goals. Seeing your students achieve is the best experience you can have as a teacher.”
Maneater and the Golden Teacher is currently available for free on Steam.
[Via Elon University]
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