On Thursday, April 6, in Blackburn College’s Olin Lecture Hall, a presentation was given by Seattle, Washington, based game designer Dr. Evie Powell. Powell was invited by computer science professor Dr. Joshua Gross to speak to the campus community for the Werner Lecture series. Powell, the founder and director of The Verge of Brilliance (her own independent video game development company) discussed the direction in which the video game industry is moving as well as how some of the games her team have developed are working to be culturally and socially relevant. Gross and Powell first met while Powell was working on her final year of her Ph.D. program at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Gross frequently had Powell speak to his classes while teaching video game topics
Powell and her team are primarily focused on the development of video games within the virtual reality (VR) genre but have created several works that integrate other forms of what Powell refers to as asymmetric gameplay. These are games that are not necessarily conventional in their control or design. Some of their titles include “Marimba VR,” “Firemans” and “Remain Silent: a cop’s quest.” “Marimba VR” allows players to practice playing the marimba while in a simulated forest environment. “Firemans” is a multiplayer game that supports up to four players. One player (using an Xbox Kinect that captures the motion of physical gestures) takes on the role of a creature that is capable of breathing fire and spreading fire with its hands. The rest of the players are firemen that attempt to keep the city being destroyed safe. “Remain Silent: a cop’s quest” puts the player in the shoes of a fictitious cop going about his job in law enforcement. The purpose of the game was to trigger real discussion about the role that police have in society.
During the talk Powell also touched on how designers should be focused on making games that achieve a level of sociality, immersion/presence and allow for some level of expression. These are particular challenges that Powell and her development team face when developing VR games. According to Powell, VR games tend to put its players into a form of isolation. Her objective is then to create games that have a higher level of sociality without the actual need of having another human being present.
Junior computer science major Dakota Tebbe attended Powell’s talk. “As a computer science major myself it is interesting to have someone actually come and talk about game development,” said Tebbe.