Three AACC students developed an escape room video game in less than a week in February to promote their campus club.

The AACC Game Development Club displayed the two-dimensional point-and-click escape room game at the Involvement Fair at the beginning of the semester as a way to encourage students to join the club.

“I just thought, ‘I want something at the table that people would be interested in,’” Dylan Simmons, the club’s president, said.

Simmons, a second-year computer science student, developed the game with the help of second-year web design student Mattie Peri, who worked as a background artist for the game, and second-year astronomy student Stephanie Ellis, who designed some of the objects.

Simmons, the programmer, used the Argentine game engine Godot to develop the game because it’s “user-friendly” and would be the “best one to go to” for 2D games.

“I figured that it was the simplest one,” Simmons said. “I … was actually able to do game development how I wanted to [with the game engine].”

Simmons said the game is a beginner-friendly puzzle game.

“I definitely did not want to make it [a] more difficult game,” Simmons said. “I didn’t want it to be something unplayable [for beginners].”

Peri agreed, adding, “You have to be mindful … [that] the players can read the game and know what they’re supposed to do.”

According to Ellis, seeing the finished product was “rewarding” and makes her “definitely want to continue doing it.”

“I was kind of worried that maybe my drawings wouldn’t fit the art style or that something might be off,” Ellis said. “Seeing the whole thing be cohesive and come together … it was really nice.”

Peri said rushing through game development was a challenge but fun.

“I’ve never really worked on anything with that much time pressure before but honestly, I found it maybe a little more productive,” Peri said. “I learned a ton … about time management skills.”

Peri added: “It was a very small project, and we knew it was going to be. … It’s, like, it wasn’t a super massive commitment, anything super crazy or detailed.”