In an article posted on February 7 in the Niagara Dailies, Julie Jocsak writes about “Cat Colony Crisis,” a new COVID-19 inspired video game created by four NC Game Development alumni under their company Devil’s Cider Games.
Paul Boyko, a 2019 Game Development and 2016 Computer Programmer Analyst (Co-op) grad, along with fellow Game Development grads from 2018 Chris Lyons, Christine Harte and Chelsea Saari, recently received a $20,000 game development grant for the game, which promotes pro-social and pro-science concepts such as the benefits of social distancing.
The article also mentions that the former classmates had the opportunity to speak with experts at the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) during the game’s development stage. Boyko is quoted in the article about the experience:
“It’s great to see larger groups of people thinking how games can be a positive experience and help the world. As a game developer you feel you’re the only one that thinks that, and then seeing PhDs at the CDC see that there can be some great value in positive messaging from gaming, it’s a very positive feeling to see that you’re not the only one that has a high opinion of what you do and the medium that you make.”
