Four UNC Wilmington students held a discussion on Sept. 8 in the Career Center to discuss their independent video game production company, Freight Train Games, in relation to careers in the their industry. The students—Shawn Gagnon, Jon Armke, Brian Daugherty and Matthew Onley—are producing a video game called “Broken Records.”

 

“Our game deals with pop stars in a less than favorable way,” Gagnon said.

 

Gagnon works as a level and gameplay designer for Freight Train Games. He told students that effort and practice will go a long way.

 

“The video game industry is going to benefit from the people who don’t major in [computer science, film or art],” Gagnon said. “You need to find a way to make your major fit your spot in video games.”

 

Armke is the programmer of “Broken Records,” and he loves making video games for a living and working with his three friends.

 

“Your experiences with other people are always going to drive you to go to work the next day,” Armke said. “Taking a raw idea out of the air and condensing it into solid form—that takes real work.”

 

Daugherty works as the art director for the game, and he recalls the days when developers couldn’t depend on the internet for help with improvement. Online software updates have allowed developers to make a game and continue to tweak the experience or destroy bugs after the release date.

 

“When everything was on a cartridge, you had to have the game right the first time you released it because you did not have the internet,” Daugherty said. “You did not have automatic background updates or the ability to update your software after release.”

 

Onley is the writer and project director behind “Broken Records.” He came up with the idea for the game in December 2013.

 

Freight Train Games’  will release “Broken Records” as its first game, using parody versions of Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber for the boss battles. For example, when the first boss, Tubba the Swift, faces a break up, she eats her boyfriend to gain power. Four people can play at a time and fight for “Freedom, Justice, and Rock n’ Roll” as stated on the Freight Train Games’ website.

 

According to the website, in this “side-scrolling beat-em-up game,” players take control of various characters that use instruments as their weapons. The objective of the game is to “take up arms against modern-day celebri-types and the maleficent music industry” because the four heroes are “enraged by the mass consumption of the banal and uninspired.”

 

The four students explained that the common misconception about video games often suggests the industry just needs computer science majors or art majors. At the talk, the students hoped to break the stereotype surrounding video game jobs.

 

James Dempsey, an English major who attended the talk, felt encouraged about the video game industry after the discussion. Dempsey works as a freelance information consultant, and his interest in video game development revived after Freight Train Games gave advice.

 

“Their best advice was to actually [create and] develop a basic game, generate content, learn by doing, and to get experience and have something to show for it,” Dempsey said. “It’s encouraging to see indie development in Wilmington.”

 

Freight Train Games said “Broken Records” will be ready in two years.