Student Postmortem: Bloomfield College’s Rage of the Elements

Lori Cerchio and four of her peers at Bloomfield College spent one academic year creating Rage of Elements, a 2D side-scrolling action game. Even though the game was scoped modestly for a year-long project, the team still ended up cutting a good deal of planned content. In a postmortem posted on sister site GameCareerGuide, Cerchio explains what went right and what went wrong while developing the game. “In order to finish the game on time, we had to make many production-time changes,” writes Cerchio, “which is the euphemistic ways of saying we had to cut stuff. What went right is that we kept our main objectives clear when making cuts, a primary one being to keep the quality bar high." "For example, we had originally planned three more bosses and two more locations that were cut from the game, but it was more important to us to make three levels that were totally polished than five that would be sub-par. It was more important for us to develop one final boss that we are excited to show off than to have four bosses that we’re embarrassed to show.” The team ended up with a game they could be proud to show -- and did at a year-end student showcase on their New Jersey campus. They also created a making-of video about their process, which they also displayed. In the postmortem, Cerchio explains why they shot the DVD: “Originally, we were going to put a dream cinematic in the beginning of the game to help move the storyline, but it got replaced by the behind-the-scenes video because it was quicker and easier to do. The dream sequence would have required a lot of 3D work and art time taken away from the game, which we weren’t willing to sacrifice.” Although Bloomfield College is not as well-known as some other, well advertised game development schools, it has a decent reputation and maintains a strong relationship with several professional game developers in the tri-state area. In another student postmortem published in September 2008, Jason Chin discussed the relationship between Bloomfield and Kaos Studios/THQ, as well as Creo Ludus Entertainment, a newer start-up that taps into the local student talent. To read the postmortem of Rage of the Elements, visit GameCareerGuide.com, where you can also find detailed information about other universities and colleges that offer game-related programs.