“The publisher gave us permission to reconstruct this, and so did the author. The editor said, ‘we want this back out on the market but we don’t want you to be using Story Space; we want it on an open web environment so that anyone can play it for free.’” – Dene Grigar
Twenty-eight digital technology and culture seniors are working on reconstructing the narrative mystery game “Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse,” under the guidance of Creative Media and Digital Culture program director Dene Grigar, as their senior capstone. Students from different fields and specialties, such as programmers, videographers, social media managers and designers, all work together on this collaborative project to bring the game to life.
Grigar selects projects based on the skills of that semester’s cohort. This semester’s seminar shows the moving parts needed to bring such an ambitious proj- ect to life. Currently, students in the senior seminar are divided into five teams to work on reconstructing the game in various coding languages.
The original version of “Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse,” by John McDaid, came with two music cassettes that had to be played separately, as well as a letter and short story that were used to solve the mystery, in addition to playing the game. According to Grigar, the game has a cult following.
Grigar said that the game could not be translated from one system’s code to another because it runs on a software called Story Space, owned by a company in Massachusetts.
“The publisher gave us permission to reconstruct this, and so did the author. The editor said, ‘we want this back out on the market but we don’t want you to be using Story Space; we want it on an open web environment so that anyone can play it for free,’” Grigar said.
Madiera Vath, the leader of the 3D and multimedia animation team for the senior seminar, said that all the students within the program refer to their abilities as “superpowers.” Vath’s strength lies in multimedia and 3D animation and her team is currently in the composition stage of the trailer for “Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse.”
“We started like a little creative agency. The design team sits together, the game [development] team sits together, the [user experience and user interface] people sit together, the motion graphics people, the design people. … It is very collaborative,” Grigar said.
Last year, the senior seminar published a project titled “King of Space” based on the original game from 1991. The game was initially released on a 3.5-inch floppy disk and is available on the internet for free with new artwork, minigames, complex gameplay and interactive environments. The DTC major resides under the Creative Media and Digital Culture program, which has a 90% job placement rate for students, according to Grigar.
The CMDC Studios, WSU Vancouver’s on-campus game development studio, works with students and alumni to produce these games. CMDC Studios is helping the senior seminar reconstruct “Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse.” The program has collaborated with Portland Indie Game Squad several times, notably on “Hallowtide,” “Dead Air,” “Huli” and their newest game, “Ramen Rush.” The CMDC Studios team has an abundance of accolades and partners across the region and is helping the senior seminar with the game reconstruction this semester.
Those who participate in CMDC’s programs and CMDC Studios see a bright future ahead as they continue to develop new projects and prepare students for the workforce post-graduation.
Shawyan is a junior studying computer science at WSU Vancouver.