Seniors develop Scrappy video game
Jennie Gritton was the first member of her team to present an overview of
a student designed recruiting tool for the computer science department. “How
cool is it to make a video game for your senior project?” Gritton asked.
Team captain Christopher Fugate, Gritton, Craig Robinson, and Paul Trachian were granted permission from the University Relations Office to use the head of UTC mascot Scrappy as the star of their video game. A metal arm allows the user to wrestle Scrappy, who appears in 3-D on the computer screen. The user’s answers to questions about engineering and computer science make the wrestling match easy or more difficult.
Students purposely gave the video game a 1980s feel, with the score flashing
on the screen at the conclusion of each game, a breakdown for male and female
players, and feedback for the user.
Fugate talked about the video’s likeness of the breezeway between the Engineering, Math, and Computer Science Building. “We took a lot of pictures of the breezeway, used modeling software, and tweaked it until it looked recognizable,” Fugate said.
“The interesting part is the combination of 3-D display and manufactured arm. I'm expecting a lot of attention when we take the display and arm to recruiting events,” said Dr. Andy Novobilski, head of the Department of Computer Science.
High school and transfer students are drawn to campus annually for events
like Freshman Friday, Classes Without Quizzes, Fall Visit Day, Spring Visit
Day, and a college fair hosted by UTC at McKenzie Arena. Students with an interest
in engineering and computer science who sign on for a college tour could play
the Scrappy video game when they visit. “When you consider a study done
by the Carnegie Institute shows that 60% of a high school student's decision
on where to attend college is based on a campus visit, this hands-on recruitment
tool created by students could be very helpful,” said Chuck Cantrell, Assistant
Vice Chancellor, Office of University Relations.
December 16, 2005
