Project Term: Winter 2019

Applied Computer Education and the Creative Arts departments at Red River College formed a special collaboration to create a video game that showcases how the artistic and technical skills students are developing can be combined to create a video game. BIT, BTM, and Digital Media Design (DMD) students worked together to create Rusty Steam, a 3D side-scroller game prototype. DMD prepared the creative assets for the game while the BIT/BTM students incorporated the assets to develop the game.

Developing the game

The main objective of the project was to develop a playable video game to be delivered for PC in collaboration with the Digital Media Design program.

The students successfully developed a fully functional prototype of a video game using the Unreal Engine 4 game engine. To build the game under tight constraints, the team followed the Agile methodology using story maps and Kanban to identify and manage the game scope.

The project was divided into one-week iterations or sprints. Since the students had no prior knowledge of how to use Unreal Engine, the first few sprints were dedicated to learning how to use the engine, after which the students transitioned into actual prototype development.

What our students are saying

Lessons learned: “Proper Communication with team members, using Unreal Engine 4 as a game development tool, the workflow of how games are made (from planning the mechanics to building the prototype to show off what it can do), and the Agile Process, such as daily standups and the use of the kanban board.” – Frederick Bayona

Lessons learned: “Agile methodology, team management with different backgrounds and experience, communication between different teams, dynamics of the game development industry, game development tools and processes, such as small iterations, cross-functional teams and deadlines.” – Artur Nakashima

Technologies used

• Unreal Engine 4
• Visual Studio 2017 C++
• Perforce (Source Control)
• Photoshop CC 2018

Jumping over lava pit

Walking through chamber