Hostos Community College hosts program for students to create a video game
Staff at Hostos say that the eventual goal is to be able to make this a year-round program.
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Hostos Community College gave six students the chance to create a video game during a game design summer program.
Staff members at Hostos Community College say they've noticed a reoccurring problem with graduates of their game design major.
According to Marcelo Viana Neto, "There's just not enough opportunities out there, and the ones that do exist require a lot of experience that students don't have."
In the summer of 2022, Viana Neto decided to take matters into his own hands and have the school provide opportunities. "Other Possible Games" is now a summer internship program where students work to design games themselves.
Viana Neto says the faculty steps back as much as possible."Students have a lot of say in the process, they participate in the decision making and get training," said Neto. "To be honest, I think this is probably the most impactful thing that we could do."
Current student Raven Aguilera jumped at the chance to get the experience, telling News 12 students are "physically doing the work, like using our own hands and dive deep into the process."
Each of the two summers they've had the program, students have come away with a game they've developed for Mac and PC, which is important, because Viana Neto says the industry is really based on portfolio.
"Nobody cares if you have a degree, or what your GPA is, or whatever, they just care what you've made," said Neto.
Now that they've made these games, the students say they feel more confident when it comes time to start the job search, since Aguilera says, " I feel more prepared, I know what to expect, and i know what to look forward to," while recent graduate Jassim Thomas says "it's really made me feel more equipped. I feel like I could take on the world with this."
Faculty advisors are still working on getting enough money to bring Other Possible Games back next summer, but they say the eventual goal is to be able to make it a year-round program.
