PROVO, Utah — BYU students received an international award for a new video game it produced, and with it a designation as the number five school in the world for game design and development.
Their video game, Liminus: The Silent Guard garnered a "Highly Commended" designation from the Rookie Awards, an international board that ranks top video game design schools around the world.
Their winning entry is an interactive computer game directed and produced by BYU students Emily Ellis and Gabe Reed, with approximately 50 other students serving as collaborators and bringing the game to life.
“There’s a lot of moving parts, and there’s an order to designing a game like this, said Reed.
“The concept art had to be done before the models and the models had to be done before the animation.”
In the game, players act as the Shepherd, an eternal being that rescues and protects lost sheep in a mythical land called the Inbetween.
The game is available for free and can be played on a PC.
Ellis said the idea for the game came from her wanting to tell a new version of the Grim Reaper.
Reed and Ellis say the experience of being able to work in a real-world type studio with lots of support from the animation program has prepared them well for their future careers.
“The real value comes because of the great professors who have worked in the industry and who give us the space to develop our skills and give us the confidence that we can solve problems, said Ellis.
"We learned so much on the job."
