In the last 20 years, video games have become a vital cultural art form, reaching more people than ever. Along with this trend comes the rise of game development, a skill the game development club aims to foster.
Before the establishment of the game development club, students held two options on drastic sides for learning the art form; either learn on their own or take classes on the subject.
The game development club offers students a more accessible time adapting and learning with instruction from peers and representatives, sharing projects and questions.
The game development club is relatively new at Austin Peay, having had a presence on discord and other apps but, only genuinely establishing itself as a school-recognized club this year. The club offers a digital platform for students unable to make it to meetings, aiming to be as inclusive as possible.
Recently, the club held its first in-person event in the form of the game development boot camp.
“The boot camp stuff is more Ms. Lins thing; she’s gonna walk students who don’t know anything about coding or are just interested in making games. She’s gonna step by step walk them through making a game in an afternoon,” said John Mitchell, junior, computer science major.
Game development is a bit of an underappreciated art form in today’s culture, often being forgotten among the ranks of other art forms like painting, drawing, and writing. However, it is still an important part of students lives.
“I started programming when I was 12 and I swiftly discovered that it was the most fun thing I could possibly do. Then, going to Austin Peay I wanted to continue that,” said Jacob Lehtola, freshman, computer science major.
While still in its infancy, the game development club and its subsequent events offer to teach a different side of the story that people don’t frequently see, the creative side.
“I love all the possibilities for things that I can create because anything you can imagine, you can make on a computer. If you want to make a game, if you want to make an image or a picture, whatever you can imagine, if you have enough determination you can make it,” said Lehtola.
