UW-Whitewater: Game development program receives WiSys Technology Foundation grant

Contact: Elena Bertozzi

(262) 472-1725
bertozze@uww.edu

WHITEWATER ­ A frog dating game, an interactive softball tutorial and an emergency birth simulation are all games being created on the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus funded by a $23,465 grant received by Professor Elena Bertozzi.

The WiSys Technology Foundation gives grants to UW System programs that are working on creating new products through its prototype development fund.

³This grant means that we are going to be able to continue working on the three games we started on last spring when we received our initial grant,² Bertozzi said.

UW-Whitewater students and faculty members are working on the three games in UW-Whitewater¹s Engender Games Group lab, a place where students, faculty members and the community can come together to create interactive media. Using the lab, UW-Whitewater faculty members and students can produce interactive media products, such as games, that solve problems and teach users. Bertozzi hopes to finish the current games and market them to continue funding the lab.

³We want students to be able to start projects, develop them and be able to turn them into stand-alone businesses when they graduate,² Bertozzi said.

Plans for a new game development program beginning in fall 2010 are pending approval, with concentrations in communication and gaming, technology and visual media design. The new Media Arts and Game Development program includes a course that has students interning for http://www.gamezombie.tv , a student-run game media Web site.

In the spring, UW-Whitewater will host the annual PlayExpo, a competition for interactive entertainment, 3D, 2D, aural, virtual and animated creative work. The 2010 PlayExpo will take place on Saturday, April 3, 2010, at the James R. Connor University Center.

For more information on the Engender Games Group lab go to http://facstaff.uww.edu/bertozze/gamesuww/egglab.html.

For more information on the gaming concentration or to pitch an idea for an Engender Games Group lab project, contact Bertozzi at bertozze@uww.edu or 262-472-1725.