University of Saskatchewan students show off final project video games

For one group of University of Saskatchewan students, the final class projectswerenot papers or essays but working video gamesmade from scratch.

Students in the 400-levelGame Design Workshop course worked for four months, honing their skills and learning to make the games.

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The class was split up into different teams, each tasked with making a game on a different platformwith different challenges.

Professor Kevin Stanley gave his students a series of unique specifications for each game the students developed. The groups had to develop games forPlaystation, XBox Kinect, tablets and virtual reality.

Fun, but challenging

Forstudents like ColbyLemieux, working on a tablet game offered a new chance to be creative.

"It was nice to just [kind of]be free with how we were making the game," saidLemieux.

But his group had to make the game multiplayerfor four other users, which he saidwas the trickiest part. After learning to to make it work, Lemieuxsaidthe experiencewas worth it.

"After taking so long to build it and seeing all thebugs, when theydon'tactually come up when people are playing and if it's like how it's supposed to be, it's pretty rewarding," said Lemieux.

Virtual reality among project platforms

Another group was tasked with developing a gameon a new platform called Oculus Rift, which is avirtual reality system.

"I get motion sick," said Stanley. "So their challenge was to make a virtual reality game that wouldn't give me naseua."

The Rift was one of two VR platforms the students were assigned to work on. GraduatestudentConnor Lavoysaid building a game for a new technology is fun but challenging.

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"I think people are finding it difficult because ...it's a new platform. Many people aren't used to this sort of interaction. They're used to mouse and keyboard andXboxstyle controls," said Lavoy.

This is the first year the class was offered. For students like Lavoy and Lemieux, it offers a chance to experience what it's like to work on video games professionally.