Hallam gamer geeks release first ever student made PS4 game

A group of Hallam undergraduates have designed and released the first ever student made PlayStation4 game. 

It was created at the University’s in-house game design studio, by several students studying Game Design and Software Development courses.

After two years of development it was released last Wednesday, and is on sale for just £1.

Originally based on Tetris, PieceFall requires the player to navigate four islands, completing twelve puzzles on each and gathering points to unlock the Zen Island.

Dr Jake Habgood, studio manager and games software development lecturer, said: “This is the first game in the world to be released for the PlayStation4 made entirely by a team of undergraduate students, so it’s a real achievement for the team.”

Wesley Arthur, a Game Design student, came up with the core concept for PieceFall as part of a third year elective module.

He told The Tab: “It’s basically a calm and casual puzzle game. Initially the brief was to create a party game, so it began on a co-operative basis, with two people operating the same block to solve each puzzle.

“After some development we then decided to turn it to single player, for a more polished feel.

“I’ve always been quite an avid gamer, but never realised it was a viable career path until sixth form, as i’d never had any real exposure to Game Design. I’d probably have done something like Computer Science otherwise.”

The puzzle game involves unlocking four islands

Hallam boasts the biggest PlayStation teaching facilities in the world, with an extensive suite dedicated to PlayStation development.

The game studio, Steel Minions, was launched in 2010 and provides students with ‘merit-based’, real world development experience. Several of the students involved in the creation of PieceFall have now gone on to get top grad jobs within the game design industry.

“It’s really nice to be able to give something back to the uni, after they’ve offered so much to us” Wesley added.