A student-team worked with IBM Fellow, John Cohn to create an interactive multimedia companion piece for an electronic game that IBM developed for Engineering Week 2008. The educational product is delivered in a multimedia way that kids relate to, and it illuminates what makes up an electronic game and what courses of study and careers are available in game-related fields.

Students:

• Iain Bissett - Writer
• Mike Fowler - Artist
• Bryan Hare - Programmer
• Lauren Nishikawa - Designer
• Keith Tatarczuk - Artist
• Tony Libera - Graphic Designer
• Alison Seffels - Writer
• O. Rafael Diaz - Interviewee
• Chris Rolfs - Programmer
• Kate Baxter - Interviewee
• Nick Malutama - Interviewee
• Wesley Knee - Artist

Partners:

• IBM—John Cohn, PHD, chief scientist of design automation and IBM Fellow

Launch the IBM Game Tomorrow in Flash

In partnership with the UVM College of Medicine and Dr. Peter Bingham, the Emergent Media Center took an innovative approach to reaching children with Cystic Fibrosis by creating an electronic game prototype encouraging the improved adoption of breathing exercises and furthering the research into the effectiveness of such a game. This project has completed the production stage and is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  Champlain College Faculty Advisor is Joe Manley.

Ludicross (Above)

Ludicross is a Flash-based racing game that utilizes a breath biofeeback device to incorporate breathing exercises, commonly used by individuals with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), as a secondary racing mechanic. The overall style suggests a playful tone, making the idea of breath drills easy and lighthearted.

Students:

• Michael Lahens - Lead Designer
• Alex Gustafson - Designer
• Husam Al-Ziab - Artist
• Jeremy Burau - Programmer
• Andrew Start - Programmer

Creep Frontier

In Creep Frontier, players receive missions to neutralize the threat of an infesting "sludge" that is infiltrating their usually harmonious world of untouched wilderness.  The fauna are becoming more aggressive and the flora is wilting.  The players, called Creep Riders, operate out of a mobile base that travels around the world looking for locations heavily populated by the sludge.

Students:

• Tim Miner - Lead Designer
• Alison Seffels - Designer
• Andrew Lee - Artist
• Joshua Audibert - Programmer
• Corey Cunha - Programmer

In partnership with the Population Media Center and at the request of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Emergent Media Center has designed and created a game to address the issue of violence against women (VAW). The goal of this undertaking is to bring the changing world of electronic media to bear on the public health and human rights crises impacting women. Students, faculty and staff have conducted research and testing in South Africa and St. Lucia, as well as within New England. For more information please visit here.

BREAKAWAY launched its first chapter during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and has been played in over 128 countries (as of June 2011). Five full chapters of the game have now been released. Current work now focuses on creating a facilitator's guide and launching an international marketing campaign.

Click to Meet the Student Team

Over 60 students have worked more than 23,000 hours to make BREAKAWAY a reality.

Champlain College Faculty & Staff (current & former):

• Ann DeMarle - Director
• Julie Bond - Assistant Director
• Greg Morgan - Development
• Lauren Nishikawa - Project Manager/Creative Director
• Sarah Jerger - Marketing & Operations Manager
• Raymond McCarthy Bergeron - Project Manager
• Heather Kelley - Creative Director
• Ken Howell - Artistic Technical Director
• Brendon Holt - Technical Advisor
• Dr. Megan Frenzen - Faculty Advisor, Research
• Dr. Elaine Young - Faculty Advisor, Marketing
• Amanda Crispel - Faculty Advisor, Game Design
• Michael Lange - Faculty Consultant, Anthropology & Folklore
• Erik Esckilsen - Faculty Advisor, Narrative
• Josh Buck - Faculty Advisor, Art & Animation
• Hilary Hess - MFA Student Project Manager
• Christina Sbarro - MFA Student Project Manager
  
  
  
  

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Collaborators:

• Dr. Steffen P. Walz - game design & technology consultancy and workshop
• David Bird- Founder & President of Sawol, a soccer brand & company
• Scott Mapes - Vermont delegate to US Soccer Federation
• Raymond de Villiers - CEO of Wisdom Games
• Tino Kreutzer - UCT Centre for Film & Media Studies, mobile phone usage research
• Luyanda Kota & Joy Olivier of IkamvaYouth - empowering youth through education
• Sinethemba Secondary School - Philippi Township, Cape Town, South Africa, primary research/interviews
• Sizwe Matoti & Youth Empowerment Project (YEP Clan) - Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa, encouraging leadership, opportunity and growth for youth
• Matthew Kalil & Thabo Ashley Mvumvu -  Scriptwriter and Filmmaker from UCT
• Leighton Forbes & Bishop's Preparatory School - Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa, primary research/focus groups
• Steve Vosloo -  Shuttleworth Foundation, social policy and innovation through education and technology
• Marion Walton - UCT Centre for Film & Media Studies, literacy, technology accessibility, and game/web user experience research
• Gary Marsden - UCT Department of Computer Science, mobile technology interaction design
• Canda Kincses - Nice-nice Productions, Animation SA, producer for Breakdesign, a company that specializes in cell phone gaming
• Emma Harvey - Counselor at Rape Crisis Cape Town
  
  
  

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Partners

Background:

In the summer of 2011 the Emergent Media Center began working on a project with The Ford Foundation and Yellow Wood Associates to create a game that explains the basis for their ongoing initiative for "Wealth Creation in Rural Communities," and illustrate the effectiveness of "Wealth Creation Value Chain" concept. Since then, the team has worked to build a enjoyable, entertaining, and educational game founded in the concepts of this initiative. The game launched in March 2014.

Game Overview:

The WealthBuilders is a game about negotiations. You are an intermediary, and your rural community needs your help to develop their wealth creation value chain. By resolving the issues of the companies in your value chain, you can improve the seven (7) forms of wealth in your virtual community.

• Built wealth is the stock of fully functioning infrastructure.
• Financial wealth is the stock of freely flowing monetary assets at the individual and community level.
• Individual wealth is the stock of skills and physical and mental health of people.
• Intellectual wealth is the stock of knowledge, innovation, and creativity.
• Natural wealth is the stock of unimpaired environmental assets.
• Political wealth is the stock of power and goodwill held by individuals, groups, and/or organizations that can be wielded to achieve desired ends.
• Social wealth is the stock of trust, relationships, and networks that support civil society.

Faculty:

• Dean Lawson - Faculty Advisor

Students:

• Matt Adamec - Lead Artist
• Taylor Hadden - Designer
• Kyle Marchev - Lead Programmer
• Kevin Murakami - MFA Student
• Connor Norman - Lead Designer
• Nicole Thayer - Narrative Designer
• Dave Mahoney - Designer
• Ryan Leslie - Artist
• Gunther Fox - Programmer
• Hilary Hess - MFA Fellow
• Coby Brownell - MFA Student
• Jacob Neville - MFA Student
• Jovan Ellis - Narrative Designer
• Kyle Lopes - Artist
• Jason Rauck - QA Manager