Ready, set, game! On May 17, 21 student teams will present their video games at the annual Game Design Initiative at Cornell’s (GDIAC) 2025 Games Showcase in Clark Atrium in the Physical Sciences building from 1-4 p.m.
The showcase will feature teams from courses on computer game architecture and design in the the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information, as well as games from the Cornell Development in Games Association (DGA) and independent student projects. The mix of desktop and mobile games will be available for download.
In the courses, students build their own games with the goal of presenting them at the showcase to an audience beyond Cornell students, said the instructor of the classes, Walker White, M.S. ’98, Ph.D. ’00, senior lecturer and director of GDIAC in Cornell Bowers CIS.
“It’s always been crucial from the very beginning to have people from outside of Cornell playing these games because that’s the only way we can determine whether or not they are fun,” White said. “If you think I am a harsh grader, wait until a 12-year-old gets a hold of your game, because they have no filter whatsoever. And they will tell you exactly what they think.”
Since their creation in 2002, the two gaming courses – Introduction to Computer Game Architecture/Introduction to Computer Game Design and Advanced Topics in Computer Game Architecture/ Advanced Topics in Computer Game Design – have grown substantially. The intro course has ballooned from 15 to 20 students to 100, and the advanced course has expanded from around 40 to 80 students.
The courses bring together people with different skill sets, which is how product development works in the real world, White added.
This year, Rocket Penguin, the winning team for the Most Innovative Game Award in 2024, will be presenting a sequel to their game, Le Petit Raccoon, called Le Goosery Store.
“I think it’s guaranteed to be an audience favorite this year,” White said.
Members of Rocket Penguin, Liam Giraldo ’26, Zachary Seidner ’26 and Amy Li ’25, are enrolled in the advanced game design course.
In Le Petit Raccoon, which is a cooking-memory-stealth game, the user plays as a thieving raccoon chef opening a new restaurant who must steal ingredients from a grocery store guarded by geese.
In their sequel, Le Goosery Store, a real-time strategy and tower defense game, the user plays as the geese defending the grocery store.
“I’m excited to see people try our game,” Giraldo said.
Dina Shlufman ’27 is a student writer for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.
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