North Carolina State (NC State) launched a new and free game on Apple’s iTunes App Store on August 27. The game is a collaboration between the school’s Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications (DELTA) program and a local gaming company, Spark Plug Games, who hosts interns from the DELTA program.
The application is a simple match-3 game on an 8 x 6 playing field with 17 levels of game play. It’s curiously addicting and is themed on the NC State Wolf mascot (hence the name, WolfMatch).
The game’s theme isn’t just window dressing either, as its matches spell the school’s name, splash screens and marques give fun facts and background on NC State’s history, and more. Future releases will also focus on the various educational disciplines of the college, which obviously appeals to fans, alumni, and current students and faculty at NC State.
Several current students, including David Drews, a senior Art Applications major in NC State’s College of Design: “Over the past few years, we’ve explored various marketing channels,” he says, including a lot of the traditional ones. “We wanted to try something new,” he continues, “and push into mobile app development.” He says that working with the app team at DELTA and Spark Plug Games proved to be valuable experience for him.
Other students interned through NCSU’s Instructional Support Services team on several aspects of the game’s design and build.
Altogether, the game is fun, a great showcase of branded app building, and fun to play. Even those who aren’t fans of NC State might find themselves changing their minds because the game keeps you entertained a lot longer than you’d expect.
WolfMatch can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store or from NC State’s DELTA website.
