What started as a passion project for a group of professors will soon be a full-fledged video game development company spanning Purdue’s West Lafayette and Indianapolis campuses.
Pictured: Two students sit in the Games and Innovation Lab in Knoy Hall
Fledgling Games, a faculty-led commercial studio, provides students with real-world experience in the game development industry. In Spring 2020, the organization worked diligently with first responders to develop training simulations using video game technology. But midway through the project, first responders had a more pressing priority: the global COVID-19 pandemic. That put Fledgling Games on hiatus as they figured out what was next.
In Fall 2023, this student-powered operation will start up again with the help of passionate educators, excited learners, and an Experiential Education Program Development Grant.
Pre-Pandemic Success
From its inception in 2018, Fledgling Games was a cohort of undergraduate and graduate students in Computer Graphics Technology, Computer Information Technology, and Computer Science supported by the Computer Graphics Technology Department in Purdue Polytechnic Institute.
The studio’s first project was the co-development of training simulations for first responders with the Lafayette-based company Crisis Response Leader Training (CRLT). Twenty-four students were hired to work on-site at CRLT, but unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic forced most of the students to transition to remote work. However, they continued to produce exceptional work, with eight students being hired as full-time employees at CRLT immediately after graduation and nearly every other student leveraging their experience to land jobs in the ultra-competitive games industry.
Building on its early success, Fledgling Games is ready to relaunch and provide more students with this high-quality industry experience and invaluable learning opportunities.
A New Chapter
The newest cohort of students will pull from the same traditionally games-interested programs—Computer Graphics Technology, Computer Information Technology, and Computer Science. But this time, Fledgling Games also hopes to recruit more artists, storytellers, and quality assurance testers.
Picturd: David Whittinghill, founding member of Fledgling Games
“Fledgling Games is a catalyst for learning that goes well beyond what can be taught in a traditional or even an active learning classroom,” shares David Whittinghill, an associate professor of computer graphics technology and computer information technology and founding member of Fledgling Games.
“In our exit surveys, most students reported feeling that they had learned more practical knowledge in the short time they spent working at Fledgling Games than they had during their entire college career,” Whittinghill continues. “As an instructor, I saw the growth of each student first-hand and agree with them—this experience is transformational.”
Pressing "Play" On Experiential Education
Fledgling Games’ relaunch is made possible in part by an Experiential Education Program Development Grant through the Office of Experiential Education, part of the university’s Transformative Education 2.0 initiative.
“David Whittinghill and his team are tremendous innovators in experiential education at Purdue,” shares Jennifer Dobbs-Oates, director of the Office of Experiential Education. “We are proud to support the Fledging Games initiative, which will certainly set Purdue graduates apart as some of the best prepared and most sought after in the game development industry.”
This was the first year for the Office of Experiential Education’s new annual grant program, which allocates funds to support existing or new experiential education programs that serve Purdue undergraduate students.
If you are interested in learning more about these grant opportunities, please visit the Experiential Education website.
Emily Jones
Communication Specialist, Student Success Programs, jone1594@purdue.edu