Philadelphia, PA – Moore College of Art & Design has launched a new mobile game, designed by women students, that will promote the College to prospective students and their parents.
“Moore Scouts” was created by sophomore and junior Animation & Game Arts students over two semesters and features a chihuahua named Peter, a nod to Moore’s founder Sarah Worthington Peter. The game plays like a video game, with players tilting and tapping their phones to make Peter jump over the big bad Fox, the Pigeon and Mice. Players help Peter solve puzzles, grab cookies for points and find library cards through six stages while exploring Philadelphia and scouting the campus of Moore College of Art & Design.
“Animation & Game Arts has quickly become one of Moore’s most popular majors, and we are proud to be an active force in bolstering the role of women in the fields of animation and game design,” said Cecelia Fitzgibbon, president of Moore College of Art & Design. “The students who participated in this project received the real-world experience of working with a client and promoting an institution—in this case, their own college—and their work will be an inspiration to future Moore students who have shared aspirations of making their marks in this industry.”
The sophomores dug in first in the fall 2018 semester, forming nine teams that worked over several weeks to create prototypes.
“It’s the first time either of us have made a game,” said Laura Howard, who, along with Noelle Baniowski, created “Moore Scouts.” “It was great to have a game that’s made completely by women.”
The teams presented their concepts to Moore’s Marketing & Communications Department in a businesslike setting. The potential mobile games were judged on originality, visual appeal, ease of use or play, and representation of Moore. Elements from a second prototype designed by Erica Adamek, Autumn Alexander, Abbegale Brickner and Cassandra Silverman were included in the final design. Junior AGA students then brought the game to life with animation.
Students found the process to be challenging, but rewarding.
“I definitely learned how to work in a team,” said Sarah Barden, who graduated from Moore in May. “This class was the very first one where we all worked as a class together and built a game, which is what we will actually do in our field.”
“We got to learn a lot about how to finish a game and how to polish it,” said another graduating senior, Ariana Williams. “We got to really optimize the assets and make sure it ran properly. We also learned a little bit about level design.”
“The students got experience with presenting ideas, pitching game documents, receiving feedback from clients and just getting a really good experience of what it might be to work as an independent developer or with a studio,” said Steve Wood, assistant professor of Animation & Game Arts.
“Moore Scouts” is available in the Google Play store, or find it at https://moore.edu/moorescouts.
