New Gaming Lab in Humanities

On the second floor of Humanities Hall, in the room formerly occupied by the Writing Center, students can find game design majors busy working in the new digital game design lab. The Writing Center moved, during the fall semester, to room 223, down the hall.

Construction of the new lab began summer 2018, with the lab officially opening at the beginning of the 2018 fall semester. The lab is being called the Game Workshop by professors and students. The workshop isn’t the biggest room on campus, but it has enough space for students to get work done and have fun.

Andrew Wallace, assistant professor of digital game design and development, stated that “the workshop is more of a communal space” for students in his program to hang out and get together after class. “It’s good to have a space to work on projects together,” he said. The lab is mostly used by digital game design majors, but like most places on campus, all students are welcome to come in, learn, and have fun.

“We usually bounce our ideas off each other and help each other out as much as possible,” Brandon Britt, senior digital game design major, said about working in the new lab. “It’s great to have a dedicated room to work in.” Professors Andrew Wallace and Ramiro Corbetto helped design the lab and get everything together.

Two tutors, senior John Mendez and junior Nicholas Buscemi, assist students in the lab. They have been “great assets to have and work with,” Britt said.

Since the lab is relatively new, alongside the computers the students are using a fully- operating virtual reality system. The students use it to create and test newly-made virtual reality games. The lab was buzzing during the fall semester with students working on projects or just having fun playing games. The door is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the week.