The mission: to create an antidote to cure the ocean of toxic waste while avoiding mutated sea creatures. That’s the storyline of a new 3D game developed by Digital Media and Information Technology students at CQUniversity as part of two interdisciplinary courses – Game Design and Game Development.
And the team behind the game, Outer Ridge, has continued their relationship beyond their course, establishing a game development group, Abyssal Shrimp Studios – a name they derived (with the help of artificial intelligence) from the given names of the group’s inaugural members.
With new members recruited since, the group entered a global game development competition, Crazy Web Game Jam 2024.
Outer Ridge was just one of four games produced as part of the CQUniversity courses, with all the efforts winning high praise from CQUniversity lecturer Jim Picton.
“Considering these games have been put together in 12 weeks … it’s pretty mind-blowing,” Picton says.
“The games speak volumes about the quality of student engagement in the courses and the abilities of students in both our Bachelor of Digital Media and Bachelor of Information Technology degrees.”
Outer Ridge began as the brainchild of Digital Media student Domonique Schmid and was developed further with team members Brendan Wilson (Digital Media) and Joshua White (Information Technology).
“The prototype of our game development project began as a 2D-pixel game but later we tried out Voxel art, a type of art form where 3D models are constructed entirely out of 3D pixels called voxels,” Schmid says.
“With the help of three new team members, Ashton Cartner (Digital Media), Anmol Saru Magar (Information Technology) and Jared Williams (Information Technology), Outer Ridge grew into a full-blown 3D game, which, in the end, had to be posted as a downloadable.”
Abyssal Shrimp Studios now consists of Bachelor of Digital Media students: Domonique Schmid (manager, concept artist), Brendan Wilson and Samantha Hayhoe (marketing), Mason Carden, Jacob Attiwell and Amanda Windsor (visual artists), Kayla Johnson (animator) and Luke Pelaez (programmer); as well as Bachelor of Information Technology students: Joshua White (producer and lead programmer), Matthew Irwin and Hughen Flint (programmers) and Jared Williams (lead artist).
Where creativity meets technology
Picton says this year’s Game Development course focused on ‘Games for Social Change’, tapping into the United Nations Sustainability Goals and mirroring one of CQUniversity’s core pillars.
“These units have gone from strength to strength each year. Besides the ‘cool’ factor of making games, these courses are unique, as they are one of the only opportunities for students from different disciplines to work together collaboratively on assessable and enjoyable projects.
“Game design and development dances the line between creativity and technology, so there is something to interest all of my students.”
