Feature Games People Play By Melissa Smith The complexity of seemingly mundane tasks comes to life on screen in “Octodad: Dadliest Catch.” The player follows an octopus pretending to be human as he navigates life as a husband and father. The deliberately difficult controls infuse humor into everyday occur-rences like pouring coffee, as flailing tentacles knock over everything in their path. “It’s a game about failure—or at least trying your best and not always resulting in a traditional manner of success,” explains Philip Tibitoski (CDM ’12), CEO of Young Horses Inc., the company that produced the game. The original “Octodad” was created to enter the Independent Games Festival while Tibitoski and 18 of his peers were still students. Improvement in rankings In March 2014, the Princeton Review, in conjunction with PC Gamer magazine, named the top 25 schools to study game design in the United States and Canada. DePaul’s under-graduate program ranked 20th, a considerable leap from last year’s honorable mention. The graduate program came in at 12th, moving up three spots from last year’s 15th place. “When other universities add game devel-opment, they are adding a class or two to the computer science department,” explains Edward Keenan, co-chair of the game devel-opment program committee and instructor of game development, software engineering and programming. “But where’s the art, design and storytelling? Where’s the computer graphics technology, networking, artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction? That’s what’s unique about DePaul. It has deep benches on each of these topics.” Students entering the undergraduate pro-gram can specialize in game design, gameplay programming and systems programming. Within these concentrations, they take a wealth of courses to hone their craft while still mastering core concepts in each area. “We have a strong complement in art, design and programming,” says Brian Schrank, co-chair of the game development program committee and assistant professor of game development, theory and design. Students learn color theory and design from art professionals, game engines Exploring DePaul’s Top-Rated Computer Game Development Program After being named one of eight finalists at the festival’s student showcase in 2011, receiving honorable mention on Indiegames.com’s Best of 2010: Top 10 Indie Games list and winning Funniest Video Game of 2010 from SplitSider, the team decided to ramp up the original game with a sequel. “Octodad: Dadliest Catch” smashed Tibitoski’s expectations, selling more than 90,000 units in its first four months on the market. Now, with the Sony PlayStation 4 release in April 2014, the game stands as a strong testament to DePaul’s computer game development program and what its students can accomplish. 10 D E PAUL MAGAZINE SUMMER 20 14