Provided

Jia, an anime style game from an earlier showcase, pits a Cornell student against, among others, the Ithaca police and Ezra Cornell. The game has been enhanced since its introduction and now offers a universe in which other games might be created.

Help inept Munchkins avoid the pits, walls, traps and monsters in their path. Play cooperatively with friends, then eat their brains. Play the role of a Terranovan, Muru or Alphanovan in the universe of Theia, and rise to the status of Legendary Hero. Throw squirrels at annoying students on Ho Plaza.

It all happens in the world of computer games created by teams of programmers, artists and musicians in the computer science courses CS 300 and CS 400. You can see – and play – the games at the 2006 Game Design Showcase, 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, in 361 Upson.

The semiannual event is presented by the Game Design Initiative at Cornell in cooperation with the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computing and Information Science, Cornell Engineering Communications Program and Cornell University Library.

The initiative, launched in 2003, seeks to pursue game design as a rigorous academic discipline, use gaming as an outreach tool to educate junior and senior high school students and prepare Cornell students for careers in the entertainment software industry.

After the showcase, the new games will be available for download on the Game Design Initiative Web site at http://gdiac.cis.cornell.edu/, along with refined versions of games created in previous years. One simple (but frustrating!) game, Train Attack, can be played online.