WORCESTER, Mass. - A group of Clark University students from the Becker School of Design & Technology are giving new life to steel armor dating back thousands of years through an action-adventure video game.

“We work in games, so working in games you have a lot of moving pieces that are unique to us like weapons and things like that and what better to use something that actually existed and to bring those back to life and then utilize that in the video game,” Irvin Rivas, a Clark senior who helped develop “The Armory,” said. 

What You Need To Know

  • The game is inspired by the Higgins Armory collection at Worcester Art Museum
  • The video game was recently featured at PAX East
  • The team is hoping to release "The Armory" by the end of May

 

The idea to create a game featuring the Higgins Armory collection at Worcester Art Museum was pitched two years ago by two former professors. Since then, students took over the project and created “The Armory” video game. For inspiration, they visited the museum to see the weapons and armor up close, which they then turned into game graphics. 

“I set up the trip basically to go and actually have our entire studio go in and see the weapons in person which was very valuable because from there because we had the whole studio there we were able to get all these different pictures and models of the weapons,” Jack Freni, a Clark student who helped develop “The Armory,” said.

They recently featured the video game at PAX East, which is the biggest video game convention on the East Coast. Interactive Media Design Professor Ezra Cove said he’s played the game and describes it as “polished.”

“They ended up with very smooth animations, nice flow to the levels where it made sense for a new player, very easy to jump into the game and kind of navigate from one part of the level to the next and they’ve got actually other levels as well so there is some room for expansion,” Cove said.

The team said a lot of hard work went into getting the project done, and there’s still more work to be done and they have some advice for players.

“I definitely would say test out everything. Despite the fact we have limited things to do such as the arena mode, the there main story missions or our current game, there’s always something to do just take your time enjoy it and feel free to replay it and let us know what you think about it,” Brandon Mallory, a Clark student who helped develop the game, said.

The team is hoping to release “The Armory” on gaming website by the end of May.