The WVU Game Developers Club worked with the WVU Libraries this semester to beta test their game on the evening of November 15th. The main goal of the game was to eliminate library anxiety in freshman students.
Basicly, what they had done was make a simple game that allowed students to explore the library at their own pace following a fun story, where they would learn some of the history, as well as where to find certain things in the building. It involved entering codes found hidden on walls also and taking selfies a few times. They had made two separate stories for both the downtown and Evansdale libraries, we physically walked through the downtown one and worked through the Evansdale one to see the questions/activities. My favorite part I think was where we had to search for an alien by the front desk but it was actually on the ceiling, which I thought was great because I’m sure so many students have gone by there just on their phones and never looked up to even notice it being there.
After we walked through them both, we were able to discuss the experience with the librarians that created it and they showed us behind the scenes how it was made and how the questions could be randomly ordered so that not everyone playing the game was always following the same path. It was a great experience for our club and I was excited the library had done something game related, as I had never heard of it before they asked us to test it and I wish they would have had it my freshman year!
We really enjoyed working with @wvuLibraries giving feedback on your #LibCrawlr game to help with library anxiety! https://t.co/epFxGzx58d
— WVU Game Developers (@wvugdc) November 16, 2016
Link to Game: