DAN ORZECHOWSKI
News Editor
Just in its second semester, Fredonia’s Video Game Development Club has gathered a following that some clubs spend years building.
Last Wednesday, the club and Kermit Mitchell III (the club’s founder and president) presented an alpha video game testing, open to the public. Two games, “Gamma Striker 5” and “The Vengeance of Nekolai,” were both tested by local gamers at the Fredonia Technology Incubator.
Mitchell, a sophomore computer science and applied math double major, has been with the incubator for just over a year now. Last Spring semester, he won runner-up in the Incubator’s Student Business Competition.
Mitchell began his tenure at the Incubator by running a business that worked with resumes. “It was a different business,” he said. “It wasn’t something that I wasn’t really passionate about, but I knew it was going to get me in the door.”
Mitchell literally put his foot in the door when he received office space in April of last year. “Now I’m pursuing what I’ve been trying to do for the last three years, which is make this video game. So I changed my business to KM3 studios.”
Mitchell’s new business is a software development firm that specializes in interactive media. Specifically, KM3 Studios works closely with virtual and augmented reality.
You may have seen virtual reality headsets before. These allow users to play games as if they’re really in them. Similarly, augmented realities rely on devices (like phones or gaming consoles). Snapchat and Pokémon Go are popular augmented reality applications.
Although it doesn’t work around virtual reality, “Gamma Striker 5” was a hit at the testing event. A space shooter, the game pairs local players in one-on-one battles to destruction. Players control spacecraft as they use stray asteroids to their advantage and avoid incoming fire from opponents.
Game testers anxiously waited in line to download the game on to their phones. Mitchell plans to have the game accessible at no cost through IOS and Android app stores soon.
In case you were going to ask, the “5” in Gamma Striker 5 doesn’t refer to any games leading up to it. The number is actually an inside joke and pays tribute to the number of different classes of ships in the game. “We love it when people ask that question,” chuckled Mitchell.
While most of us were shoveling snow and staying warm, Mitchell spent all of his winter break working on “Gamma Striker 5.”
“I had most of [the game] finished, or ready for combat, but when I came back to school, game development slowed down,” said Mitchell.
Although it took about a month to get the game’s alpha up and running, schoolwork has buffered Gamma Striker 5’s progress. “When I came back to school, development slowed down,” said Mitchell. “I’ve been lucky to even get a day in [of development] sometimes because I’m in school again.”
The other game featured at the testing event, “The Vengeance of Nekolai” platformer, also took about a month to make.
Similar to Mario games, this game utilizes arrow keys to get to the end of stages. Players control Nekolai, the eyepatch-wearing cat, in efforts to get to the end of the map while fighting off enemy dogs. In upcoming versions of the game, more backstory will be implemented. Bio snippets and cut scenes are in the works.
“Kermit is a talented entrepreneur who, as a client of the Incubator, has been making steady progress in realizing his vision,” said Chuck Cornell, Incubator director. “As this event illustrates, Fredonia students and graduates have a unique opportunity to start their own business here at the Fredonia Incubator.”
Michell doesn’t have set timeframes for the beta (or second draft) versions of these games quite yet, but he plans on having more testing events at the Incubator.