The video game industry: Aragón Valley The Game

Computer Engineering students manufactured Aragón Valley The Game, to commemorate 45 years of FES Aragón. This sector is an opportunity for professionals in this field. There are several platforms of this type that contribute to generating learning strategies.

Mexico is the second country in the world and the only one in Latin America with the best computer developers, according to the SkillValue 2019 report, based on more than 550 technical evaluations; it also includes Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Ukraine.

There are several areas in which professionals in this field can work, one of them is video games. In this sense, students from the Faculty of Higher Education (FES) Aragon made the video game Aragon Valley The Game with scenarios of the Faculty, through which gamers enjoy three mini-games: Preventing aliens from invading the Faculty, Cleaning it of ghosts, and Helping Goyo to harvest the crops from the greenhouses.

This is a proposal designed and launched into cyberspace to commemorate the 45th anniversary of this multidisciplinary unit, in addition to applying the knowledge and tools generated during the Computer Engineering course, through the Complementary, Academic, and Professional Training Program.

The team is made up of Fernanda Vidkar Siordia Olvera, Luis Alberto Martínez Ramírez and Omar Arreola Jiménez, who were directed by Professor Jorge Luis Candelario Alavez, an expert in the development of video games for learning.

The interface of this resource is an animated aerial image of the architectural complex of FES Aragón; through the mouse, users can access each one of the mini-games, whose background music and special effects were in charge of Omar Arreola Jiménez; the design and drawing were by Fernanda Vidkar Siordia Olvera.

Candelario Alavez pointed out that in recent years the video game industry has surpassed cinema in terms of profits. Globally, it is a sector that generates more economic income than the film industry. "Luckily for us, it is one of the areas where it is much easier to work, compared to others, and dedicate a few hours a day during the week and obtain achievements like these".

According to MarketWatch, a website that provides financial information, business news, analysis, and stock market data, as of 2020 global revenues from video games increased 20 percent, just over $174 billion, making it a huge source of revenue.

When elaborating on the work, he detailed that these are three mini-games (an online game that is integrated into another larger game) with different mechanics, designed to work, in the first instance, on personal computers -although they are intended for mobile devices in the future-, "we do not want to focus on the use of the keyboard and mouse, but to make it as simple as possible to interact with them".

There is always an opportunity for improvement, only minimal details, small technical adjustments to also interact with the touch of mobile devices and add new content. It can be accessed from any computer; however, they will seek to take advantage of the knowledge and experience of the work team to generate new initiatives, said Candelario Alavez.

As part of the Complementary Training Program, students are involved in various cultural, sports and academic activities, one of these was the creative development with video games that served as a way to apply their skills, the challenge was to overcome, and was achieved, the lack of experience of students in this area.

Creative contributions

Fernanda Vidkar Siordia indicated that this is a project that began as a class to learn how to make video games, and little by little we contributed ideas until we reached this result. In Computer Engineering, he said, what is most difficult for professionals in this discipline is design and art. "But this has been an opportunity to explore the area of video games and design." In turn, Luis Alberto Martínez recalled his love for video games, "in a way I love platform games, such as Mario Bros, so collaborating in this project gave me an idea of how to apply practically what I learned in my career".

Omar Arreola Jiménez was in charge of the musical aspect, some pieces he created and others he took over; also the special effects and the texture of the video game; the project has grown and is on the right track, the university student emphasized. Meanwhile, the head of the Computer Engineering career, Jorge Arturo Lopez Hernandez, added that as part of the Training Program students must cover 480 hours during their academic training and these ventures integrate it.

"It is not only about having fun with video games, these are always perceived as something to procrastinate. However, there are several platforms of this type that contribute to generating learning strategies. It is satisfying to see that the students of this career have these successes before concluding it and that they are already analyzing if they dedicate some time to this activity; if so, they would have positive results", he affirmed. The video game is freely available and can be accessed through this website:

https://www.aragon.unam.mx/mapeofes/