At UTA, faculty and staff continually seek ways to elevate the student experience. For Benjamin Wagley, distinguished senior lecturer of art and art history, and his colleagues, that means providing hands-on experience in the video game industry.
What has become a collaborative effort among multiple departments and various staff started as an idea Wagley had in a university working group, where it did not receive a lot of support. Wagley decided to work on it outside of the group, joined by like-minded individuals. The idea gained momentum and grew into UTA Games.
“We’ve had a lot of people that are really interested in it,” he said. “The question they ask most of the time is not ‘how does this benefit us?’ It’s been ‘how can we help?’ which is huge.”
UTA Games is a collection of initiatives, Wagley said. It will include several opportunities for students, such as an interdisciplinary course being offered next semester.
The new course will give approximately 25 students experience working in a company-like setting, with students from different majors coming together to create a video game, he said. The course will take place over two semesters, and the intention is to have a game finished in spring 2027.
“We need students that are going to be able to put in the work,” he said. “They want to do this, and they want to be successful, and they want to see a product that represents everything that they can do at the university.”
The course is designed to fit into any degree plan, he said.
Many students want to enter the video game creation industry, which is hard to get into, he said. While huge in revenue, the game-making industry includes a small number of people. A published and distributed game is a big accomplishment to have coming out of college, Wagley said.
“What we’re trying to do there is help students get relevant work experience so that when they graduate, they have [that] on their resume,” Wagley said.
Though the university already has video game creation courses, they’re compartmentalised into subject areas, he said. This cross-disciplinary course will bring those pockets of creativity, from the art to the programming, together to create a unified effort.
“We have such amazing talent, and we want to showcase that in multiple ways,” Wagley said.
Another initiative is a soon-to-be-announced art competition for a splash screen, or title screen, for these games. All students can participate in the competition, Wagley said. The screen will be the first thing people see when playing a UTA game, he said.
“They want to put video games more in the forefront at the university,” he said. “They’re making a lot of strides to enable this, and one of the things that they’re wanting to do is hear the voices of the students at the university.”
Wagley said there will be opportunities for students to present games they’ve made to the university to possibly distribute. The university will establish criteria to ensure the games match its ethos and represent UTA.
“I’m so excited for this because I feel that we have an opportunity to do some wonderful things at the university for students,” he said. “There has been a lot of really hard work put in by a lot of people to bring this to where it is right now.”
@atclements03