Welcome to the Fifth Dimension

Remember Nicholas? He teamed up with instructor Mike M. as part of our Accelerate program here at Game-U. Usually, Nicholas uses lesson time to work on his platformer game, but today, he and Mike M. took a break from that project to try something new.

On Star Trek, the crew plays three-dimensional chess. Time travelers in Doctor Who wander  the fourth dimension. With Project Spark, Nicholas blasts into a fifth dimension. One world wasn’t enough for him, so he created a giant workspace and layered it to create a multi-biome environment, each with complex, layer-specific objects. Project Spark calls objects (including characters and other creatures) “props.” Nicholas gave free reign to his imagination by combining props to create new objects. For instance, Project Spark might not have a complete skeletal monster in its libraries, but it does have rib cages and giant, mutated skulls, which an enterprising game developer can connect and electronically glue into a monster fit for a nightmare. Nicholas, with his eye for detailed world design, manually selected, placed, and rotated different props to create the custom scenery he envisioned. Pillars support his layered biomes and his player can jump from world to world. (Nicholas seems to like jumping.) Now that’s a great game setting!

Check out the video for a peek into Nicholas’ amazing imagination. Next up, he’s got his heart set on finishing his platformer game!