The six-month Game Development course was, for many of us on the Chase team, one of primary reasons why we chose to attend the Art Institute of Vancouver’s 18-month Game Art & Design program. The goal of the course is to simulate a professional studio environment where students pitch their own game idea, assign and assume roles in a team and take a game from concept to completion. A game team usually consists of 15-25 people using an original or existing game engine, typically Unreal Tournament or Valve’s Source. Student games and modifications of the Art Institute of Vancouver have picked up many prestigious awards over the years. Most recently, Path of Vengeance won the “Best Mod: Unreal Tournament 2004” category at this year’s Independent Games Festival. Our Chase the Chicken carries on the tradition of original concepts and polished games made in the Art Institute of Vancouver.

In Chase the Chicken, players assume the role of Chase, the frantic chicken, who narrowly escapes the blade of an oversized and over-zealous Chef. What follows is a ridiculously chaotic pursuit through a South American village with Chef and fanatical villagers clipping at Chase’s tail-feathers. Inspired loosely by the opening sequence in the film City of God (Miramax, 2002), the idea was a bit of a tough sell to a team of students… but that’s a topic for later.

Chase is not impressed.

Laden with as many morsels of silliness as we could muster, Chase the Chicken features an effective rear-view camera dubbed the “Chase Cam”, diving villagers, explosive eggs, a “Level Objective Locator” or L.O.L., and a city covered with chicken and Chef-related paraphernalia.

This post mortem is an account of this project, the challenges, the successes, and the chicken-related jokes faced by the developers, Team Speed-Force Alpha.