Video Game Students Unveil Latest Capstone Game ‘Pest Control’ During Virtual Showcase Event
Toronto Film School’s latest Video Game Showcase saw this term’s graduating class unveil their capstone project, Pest Control.
Set in the year 2150, Pest Control is a first-person shooter/tower defence hybrid that sees players step into the shoes of one of four characters tasked with saving humanity by protecting Earth’s Power Core from a horde of insectoid alien invaders.
“The cores you’re protecting are renewable energy sources that led humanity into a new age of technology,” Jenny Ann Soriano, the game’s art director, explained of the game’s backstory.
“It was a mineral first harvested off Planet X12 that humanity has now become completely dependent on. But little did they know that they had stolen it from an alien race whose queen has now bred an army to seek revenge.”
Each of the four “dynamic” characters – Aeon, Alice, Eve and Ryder – is armed with a set of unique skills that have the power to shape the battlefield to the players’ needs, added Kevin Vicker’s, Pest Control’s Character Lead and QA Lead.
“Aeon is a mercenary for hire who uses gravity manipulation and portals to teleport around the battlefield; Alice is a choirmaster whose cool personality is as sharp as her frost powers; Eve is a martial artist with cybernetic advancements, and Ryder is a boy genius with a liking for tinkering and using nanomachines,” he said.
“Players are able to use their powers and abilities alongside their weapons and traps to try to keep the alien menace at bay.”
The ultimate goal of the game is to take on the Alien Queen’s hordes before she depletes Earth of its energy fuel and purges it of its inhabitants.
In total it took the team of 16 Video Game Design & Animation and Video Game Design & Development students involved in the Pest Control project a full year to bring the game from conception to fruition – a process they completed entirely online.
“You are our first capstone project at Toronto Film School that’s run its entire production cycle – from preproduction and concept, all the way through to the finish – through the online format,” remarked professor Brad Furminger, the Video Game Showcase’s emcee.
Pest Control is available for download and play here.
The Isolation Studios team behind Pest Control:
– Maria Gabriela (Gabi) Tapia – Design Lead
– Jenny Ann Soriano – Art Director
– Ryan Salam – Tech Director
– Kevin Vickers – Character Lead/QA Lead
– Joshua Smith – Audio
– Shohra Adel – Art
– Nicholas Colaneri – Art
– Harrish Easwar – Art
– Santhosh GR – Art
– Roosevelt Phillip – Art
– Duncan (Alex) Clark – Programming
– Cameron Clark – Programming
– Dylan Homer – Programming
– Dogan Can Kara – Programming
– Marko Romic – Programming
– Nayeem Siddique – Programming
– Nik Fults – Writing
– Éloïse Lavoie-Dufour – Writing
Isolation Studios is an indie-game developer studio based in Ontario, focused on creating a benchmark for student development. We aim to develop unique games to inspire passionate gamers and push the envelope for fun and creative gameplay, with an emphasis on prioritizing user experience. You can find Isolation Studios on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
