The DigiPen Europe-Bilbao community came together last month to celebrate another fantastic year of interdisciplinary game projects during the 2024 online Student Game Showcase. If you couldn’t catch the live stream, don’t worry—you can now watch the entire event at your convenience below!
Throughout the academic year, students from various disciplines collaborated to create a wide range of captivating gaming experiences. For the first time, the first-year of the BS in Computer Science in Real-Time Interactive Simulation (RTIS) program worked with a custom game engine.
This was a significant shift from their initial semester, where they relied on Unity as their foundation. Using a minimalistic C/C++ game engine and under the guidance of their professor, they expanded its capabilities by adding new tools, features and functionalities. Not only did they take on the technical aspects, but they also independently developed all of the game’s art assets!
In their second year, RTIS students collaborated for the first time with artists from the BFA in Digital Art and Animation program (BFA). Together, these projects showcase a mix of specialties through two distinctly different game genres: a real-time survival strategy game and a side-scrolling, physics-based puzzle platformer. Both projects were developed in C++ using a custom engine, featuring original 2D art, animation, and design.
The third year programming class took on the challenge of building tools from scratch and delved into complex challenges as they ventured into 3D game development using C++. Each team and individual student explored new specializations across disciplines, creating their own 3D art assets using industry-standard tools and pipelines.
Finally, we reach the fourth year games. These capstone projects, developed in Unreal Engine 5, embody the culmination of students’ skills and experience in game development throughout their academic journey. One notable fourth-year project team saw artists and programmers collaborating to create a compelling 3D adventure, while other teams composed solely of programmers brought their distinct visions to life in genres like 3D adventure, puzzle-solving, and exploration.
Many of these games will be available soon through Steam, so make sure to add them to your Wishlist on the DigiPen publisher Steam page!