Computer Science major Bill Brock has taken a liking to video games and drawing for most of his life. For the past several months, he’s been coding a game with the working title “Project Fuse,” which he hopes to sell nationally.
“I’ve always thought about how games were made ever since elementary school, and I’ve done a little research here and there about (game design) since then,” Brock said. “A couple of years ago, I attempted coding and it didn’t go well, but I tried it again a few months ago and I think I can actually go somewhere with it.”
“Project Fuse” is planned to be a role-playing game with a pixelated art style reminiscent of consoles like the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy Advance.
Players will explore a fantasy world, meet new characters and solve puzzles in between combat encounters. These battles will require real-time inputs from the player alongside turn-based strategy, inspired by other RPGs like “Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga” and “Undertale.” The game will take players roughly eight hours to complete, Brock said.
“When I was in fourth grade, I was bored in class and would draw pictures inspired by the games I played back at home but with myself as the main character,” Brock said. “As I got older I played more and more different types of games and it inspired new ideas for my own thing … and now here we are with this work-in-progress video game.”
It is planned to be a story-driven game, with its central focus involving a bomb planted at the center of the Earth. Protagonists will have three days to stop it from exploding and destroying the world, and will use unique abilities to do so.
Keegan Lippert, sophomore at BGSU and one of Brock’s roommates, is a Film Production major with experience in screenwriting. He is helping to write some of the game’s dialogue and story progression.
“I have a lot of faith in (Brock) as a game developer,” Lippert said. “I think that his output would be a lot more large if he had more help, but considering he’s mostly doing it by himself I have a lot of faith that he will eventually get this project done.”
Brock is designing this game along with his sister’s boyfriend, Quinn Martin, a 23-year-old who studied Information Technology at Miami University. The two decided to work together after bonding over a common love for RPGs and coding.
“We’ve been working on the project since July of 2021, so it’s still very early in development, but there’s a synergy between (Brock)’s vision, and the topics I’ve studied for the past few years.” Martin said.
They are currently the only two programming the game, but the development team may expand as more progress is made.
“(Brock) showed me a massive sprite sheet full of concept art that he’s been working and dreaming on for years,” Martin said. “I had already been working on a side project with bones that fit perfectly for what he wanted to do. After seeing the skin and bones next to each other, we knew that we were supposed to do something with it. So we started throwing ideas together and got to work.”
The core engine for the game is currently in development. Once it is finished, Martin and Brock optimistically await the game’s completion.
“There’s a semi-playable version in the works right now. There are a few mechanics that are under construction, which we’re testing, fixing bugs and all that,” Brock said. “Hopefully we’ll get all the mechanics done soon, and hopefully after that it’ll be godspeed and we’ll have a demo out.”
BGSU sophomore Jacob Fullenkamp, one of Brock’s roommates, has followed along with the game’s development for the past couple of months.
“(Brock)’s shown me the pixel art he’s done in Microsoft Paint, and I was very impressed with what he showed me,” Fullenkamp said. “He spends a lot of time working on it every night.”
“Project Fuse” is planned to be available for purchase via Steam for $10-20. If the game gets enough traffic, Brock would also like to release it on the Nintendo Switch eShop and PlayStation Store. He has also expressed interest in developing other types of games after this project is completed.
