More certifications, more opportunities

More certifications, more opportunities

With full access to Adobe Creative Cloud, the opportunity did not go to waste this semester. Freshmen and sophomores had the opportunity and requirements to get certified in different Adobe products here at ACU and were able to apply the skills in other projects that went on throughout the semester in classes like ITC 110, DET 210, and many more. Additionally, with all the opportunities present, it added value to our resumes.

Furthermore, Juniors and Seniors were not left behind on this quest to chase skills. They took Unity game developer certification designed to hone and evaluate one’s skills in game development using the Unity platform and be able to showcase their product as desired, and also Unity certification which is composed of multiple certification choices to choose from and one acquires one of those depending on the years of experience with the use of unity and mastery.

With help of the Gmetrix tutorial courses, day-to-day practice, and application of skills in different areas of studies, 99% of the student are now certified as Adobe Associates.

Furthermore, the spirit of competition was not put to rest. Students participated in the game developer contest where one has to complete five tasks to provide and express his or her creativity and take their career to the next level. The contest is still on until December 13, if you miss out, there is still an opportunity to learn, take your chance by referring to this link: https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/enter-the-unreal-online-learning-challenge-and-learn-game-development-this-fall which has all the information needed for one to begin.

DET Awards 2020: Pandemic Edition

DET Awards 2020: Pandemic Edition

The DET Awards is an annual event hosted by the DET club here at ACU. The ceremony consists of recognizing the talented students that are obtaining a degree in Digital Entertainment Technology primarily but the competition is open to all the creative majors that we have on campus. The DET Awards are usually hosted by the end of the semester in the Spring. This year’s ceremony was a little different.

In the midst of the Pandemic, the DET Club officers still wanted to make the DET awards possible, and after going online this became a task of its own. After much preparation, the DET Awards submission went live and the DET club made a call to all artists on our campus to submit their artwork to the different Categories they had set in place.

As you can see The DET Awards we’re not only focused on one area but had various categories for all kinds of artists. The Winners of the categories were decided by a Panel of Judges integrated by Doctor Brian Burton and Professor Rich Tanner.

In the midst of everything, As an organization and program we still wanted to recognize the students that won this categories. This is why we decided to host the event virtually through Discord! All the categories were announced and celebrated by the members of our community!

These are our DET Awards 2020 Winners per category:

As a community we are extremely proud of all the accomplishments and hard work of our students. After a series of challenges and the craziest semester ever we are all still artist and it’s important to recognize and celebrate each others accomplishments.

Each student received a sticker with the category they won:

Listed below check out some of the winner submissions:

Enjoy the amazing art By amazing student artist !

2D Art: Camila Rodrigues

3D Model: Will Stanley

Animation: Jael Morel & Camila Rodrigues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7KPE1A1Eik

Lost_Short Animation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7KPE1A1Eik)

Vignette: Camila Rodrigues

Texture: Jael Morel

Film: Katie Pantoja

https://vimeo.com/409878341

VR Game:

Ethics Court

Jael Morel, Alison Meador, Troy Adams, Andrew Thomas, Cameron Wallace, Will Gibbs, Brady Cox, Diego Sanchez, Lucas Newton, Isaiah Barrera

https://det-acu.com/ethicscourt/index.html

ITC Game Showcase and Student Opportunity

On Tuesday, November 24, Students from the Intro to ITC class showcased their semester project to the class, staff, and other students. The Intro to ITC class includes IS, CS, and DET majors and together formed teams to complete a videogame as a semester project. The point of the class is to let students explore into the different possibilities of each individual tech major and decide if their home is in SITC, and what better way than to get hands-on experience?

We had several students exploring the scene and testing the games out, this was a really fun experience and if you are a student looking to join the SITC family, Intro to ITC is where you want to start.

The Game Showcase event was for students to not only show off their hard work, but also have staff come and review games to see which games are publishable for Steam Gaming Platform. This is such a wonderful opportunity offered to ACU students every year and is a solid accomplishment to bring home a videogame when they get home for Thanksgiving break; most of the student’s who take the class are Freshman in their first semester with zero experience and the Game Showcase is proof that ACU staff invests in their students and push for results.

We have two groups who’s games are officially going to be published on Steam! Check them out below and be on the lookout for more student creations!

Propeller Hat Studios: “Mellow” the little big game.

Firefight Studios: Check on the Students!

Propeller Hat Studios: “Mellow” the little big game.

Propeller Hat Studios is another group of hard working students in ITC 110; they have proven their storytelling skills and by creating a unique videogame and the team has quickly become some of the top role models in class. Their main character of the game is “Mo,” a marshmallow that lives in the forest peacefully in a village of marshmallows. One day the marshmallow village is attacked by the Fire Beast who captures the villagers to use as fuel to keep his embers alive. The objective of the game is to cross the forest to free your friends from the fire beast then make a speedy escape.

One really creative point about Mo’s character design is that as he progressively gets burned by enemy embers he will start to melt and stick to surfaces.

Overall, the concept is one of a kind and the game is a wonderfully orchestrated team effort with Jared Wright as the Creative director and level designer, Colleen Gostomski on Art and as the concept developer, Chris St John is project manager and also sound and music designer, and with Hunter Vaught as main programmer of the project.

There is going to be a double release to Steam with another student group’s game: WavePlayer. The double release date is set for Oct. 25 of 2021. Support student development and visit their Steam pages linked below!

WavePlayer’s Steam Page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1763210/WavePlayer/

Mello’s Steam Page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1619830/Mello/

Be sure to keep posted on all of the Recent DET news, events, and rising talents!

Firefight Studios: Check on the Students!

Starting from the very first semester DET students are expected to pick up the pace and start creating video games with no previous experience and it all starts with ITC 110. ITC 110 has been a great opportunity for students to jump right into their major, test their skills, and learn new things. So be on the lookout for new DET/ITC projects and rising talents!

Firefight studios is a group in ITC 110 with a mission to create a video game for the semester project. The concept is similar to a game called “TowerFall Ascension” by Matt Makes Games; the goal of the game is to defeat all of the enemies that spawn in intervals using a character mage or archer and emerge victorious from the depths of the deep forests and caves.

The game is quite short and simple but is definitely a challenge worth overcoming! The organizer of the project and IS major, Justin Martin, worked on keeping the team on task and was on sound for the game. Ben Briggs, Freshman and DET major, was in charge of coding and keeping the artist on track. The artist and freshman DET major, Kelli Norris, did all of the visuals and animations in the game.

There is going to be a double release to Steam with another student group’s game: Mello. The double release date is set for Oct. 25 of 2021. Support student development and visit their Steam pages linked below!

WavePlayer’s Steam Page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1763210/WavePlayer/

Mello’s Steam Page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1619830/Mello/

DET Stories: Andrew Thomas

Andrew Thomas is a senior DET major who has achieved the milestone of having a game he made being published on Steam. We spoke to Andrew about what was like working with a team, publishing a game, and his overall experience as a DET major at ACU.

https://youtu.be/TUd55OmzkzE

DET majors have the opportunity to work on several projects throughout their time at ACU. Hold Your Ground is a VR game where the player has to defend their treasure chest from an incoming hoard of monsters using only a bow and arrow. Andrew and his team came up with the idea for Hold Your Ground their freshman year and kept working on it until they could get it published. Andrew and his team finished their game their junior year, and they are already planning on updating is as they have gained new knowledge through more advanced DET classes.

Click on the link below to check out Hold Your Ground on Steam.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1121190/Hold_Your_Ground/

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