ASU’s Video Game Development Club brings virtual worlds to life one project at a time

Every fall, a new video game begins to take shape inside the University’s Video Game Development Club.

For the club’s members, building a game from scratch over two semesters is more than a creative outlet — it’s a hands-on simulation of what working in a real studio might feel like.

“Our main goal is to produce one big video game as a team through one academic year,” said Ian Fletcher Pinilla, a senior studying computer science and the club’s president. 

The club welcomes new members, teaches them the fundamentals of game creation and organizes them into teams that collaborate to develop a complete game from scratch. The club also operates under the name Heatwave Studio to publish its games on platforms like Steam.

The project this academic year is a “physics-based puzzle platformer” inspired by Super Meat Boy, Half-Life and Celeste. In the game, players can use tools to pick up and manipulate objects, such as stacking crates, triggering pressure plates and navigating obstacle courses.

To maintain the difficult capacity of working on these types of projects, the club breaks down its members into specific teams: systems (programming), design, art, narrative, sound and marketing. In order to support the project, officers meet regularly to exchange updates, discuss progress and coordinate across teams. 

Team coordination becomes crucial as the game evolves. Systems, which has historically been the largest team, serves as the link between creative vision and technical execution. 

“We take stuff from design, from art, from sound and we put it all together,” said Cami Lee, a senior studying computer science and the club’s systems officer. 

Lee said she works closely with other teams to ensure the work of the systems team aligns with the overall vision of the project, while also coordinating tasks within her own team to keep communication consistent. Another aspect of her job is to help members learn to program and practice coding ethically. 

“We get a lot of new people who are interested in game development, but who have no clue what game development is,” she said. “That’s just been an interesting challenge.”  

Despite the technical hurdles, collaboration remains at the heart of the club. Davyd Yehudin, a junior computer science major and general member, said the experience has shaped his view of teamwork and creativity. 

“You come (to the club) and you meet a bunch of people who are passionate about video games,” he said.

Yehudin joined the club during his first year at ASU and said it became both a learning environment and a community, adding that he had almost no coding experience before, but has learned many skills through the club.

For many members, balancing the demands of game development with academic life is a constant challenge. The only expectation leadership has is to keep checking in so everyone still gets to be included, no matter how much time they can commit.

“We understand that people are university students,” Lee said. “We don’t expect them to finish everything.” 

While the club’s projects face challenges, like overscoping or limited time, members say the outcome of a fully playable game makes their effort worthwhile. 

Fletcher Pinilla said he hopes that anyone can take away that even with the restrictions of university life, it’s still possible to create something meaningful. He also wants the members to feel proud when they can point to a game on Steam and say, “I made that.”

Edited by Kate Gore, Henry Smardo and Ellis Preston.

Reach the reporter at ngmohta@asu.edu.

Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on X.