Every Friday evening, a group of students meet in a computer lab in the basement of Darwin Hall. These students aren’t just computer science majors – they’re a mix of artists, programmers, and gamers. They’ve come together with a niche yet exciting shared interest – video game development.

This mix of interests is what makes up the Video Game Development Club, which began in the Fall Semester of 2024. Now going into its second semester, the club has acted as a space for students to dip their toes into the complex and creative process of making their own video games.

The idea for the club came to be when Junior year CS major Meaghan Boykin, noticed how the Computer Science clubs weren’t as active on campus.

“It started with myself and the other club officers noticing that the CS club and the Women’s CS Clubs weren’t really active,” Boykin said. “We were looking for a way to do some extracurricular CS stuff, and we had this common interest in video game development. We realized it was not only a good way to do some computer science work, but also to include people of other majors too.”

The club wouldn’t be a space for just CS majors – but also for artists, musicians, writers, and gamers, all of which play a role in game development just as much as the technical aspects. To Boykin and the other club officers, this came from a shared understanding of game development not just as a technical hobby, but as a creative one as well – a form of art.

“I’m of the mind that art is anything that a human makes, one way or another, and everything that goes into game development is art,” Boykin said. “The writing, the visual art assets, and the programming too… one hundred percent, it’s art.

With so many interests and skill sets coming together, it’s Boykin’s goal for the club to come together and actually make a game.

“The biggest goal right now is to get us to produce at least one project as a club,” Boykin said. “Even just a small, week-long project is a win”

This hope is shared by club member Ben Jennings,  friend of the club officers, who has worked in the video game industry as an environmental concept artist, visual effects artist and quality assurance tester. As someone who has experience with the industry, he hopes that aspiring developers will be able to use the club as an opportunity to dip their toes into game dev, no matter how small the project.

“As long as you have a short game that plays really, really well, and has good art for what it is, people will keep wanting to interact with it,” Jennings said. 

He also noted the importance of quality vs quantity in game development.

“It’s the number one thing: smaller scope games. Make them functional but small,” Jennings said.

While the club may still be in its early days, Boykin and the other officers have high hopes for what it could become – in the future, they hope to attend educational events and potentially volunteer at game development conferences. The club remains a space for all the artists and programmers of Sonoma State University to put their skills to the test, all while learning new ones and making friends in the process.

“No matter what your major is, what your skill set is, or what your skill level is, there’s a place for you in game development,” Boykin said. “It’s a great way to practice the skills you already have, and to learn entirely new ones. It’s truly a place for everyone.”

The Game Development Club is held on Fridays from 5pm – 7pm in Darwin 25.