The 17^th day of August 2019 truly marked a significant date for the Computer Society Officers, as it is the first General Assembly facilitated by COMSOC for the school year 2019-2020. Along with the General Assembly, COMSOC also took the opportunity to expand, to enhance and to grab the interest of its members through conducting a seminar entitled “Getting Started with GameDev”. Both these fruitful events were held at the 4^th Floor AVR, from 12:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.   

The guest spearker, Ms. Gwendelyn Foster, is currently a Programs Director at ASPACE and an independent game developer. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree on Computer Science with specialization in Computer Systems Engineering (2006 - 2010) in De La Salle University.

The speaker introduced the audience to a commonly utilized approach in game development known as the Mechanics Dynamic Aesthetics (MDA) Framework. The process of game development starts at establishing a goal and determining its limitations through rules - Mechanics. Next, developers take into consideration the run-time behavior of the game – Dynamics. And most importantly, developers ensure that the game satisfies players and that the game is fun – Aesthetics. She even provided the audience with some useful game developing tools corresponding to one’s level of expertise. She highly recommended the use of Unity, a free game engine to develop games across a wide range of platforms.

Additionally, Ms. Foster discussed the basic Artificial Intelligence devised in video games which at most of the time gamers interact with. She explained how AI can compete with human players as well.

Article by: Henberly Chua