University of Advancing Technology's Official Technology Blog

At University of Advancing Technology (UAT), one of our most cherished traditions is kicking off each fall semester with the Provost Challenge. Hosted by UAT Provost Dr. Dave Bolman, this event gives new students an exciting opportunity to dive into creativity, building, and innovation from their very first day on campus. During CONNECT, our new student orientation, participants are grouped together, fostering connections and helping them explore the campus. In those groups, over the course of just six days, these teams take a project from initial concept to final presentation. Every year Dr. Bolman gives the students a few themes to base their projects around, this years themes included, finding fix for a tech disaster, gravel, and everyone's favorite UAT catscot, Max! 

As expected, this year's students were excited for this challenge and they did not disappoint. Every group excelled at their projects, using each team member's unique skills to their advantage, leading them to create some amazing games and innovative projects. At the end of the six days, each team stood up in front of a crowded theater that includes Dr. Bolman, their peers, and esteemed faculty, to present their projects.

The Projects:

Team 1 : Project Max - This team showed up in matching t-shirts showcasing their art skills utilized in the creation of their project. They explained a web based game they created that focused on Max. Not only was their project digital they included physical trading cards with their max art on them, to go along with it. 

Team 2 : UATtack - Utilizing Max and a robot named Rollo, this team created a board game. The concept included Rollo going rogue and taking over the school and Max has to rescue the students. They went on to explain how to set up the game that includes cards, and dice to move across the board. Additionally, they use Rollo placed around the board to prevent Max from achieving his goal of saving all the students. 

Team 3 : Max and Cheese - Another board game creation, centered around Max and the spaces on UAT's campus. Team 3 used 3D modeling to create their pieces that included Max and different cheeses. The concept of this game includes drawing cards to move throughout the board, no more than two players can occupy a space, and don't forget the action cards, stay away from catnip and angry professors.

Team 4 : Max Crossing - A video game created with a similar concept of Crossy Road. This team chose to use pixel art as the art for this game and programmed it in Unity. They came to the presentation with a video demonstration as well as their art concepts from beginning to end. The team said " The hard parts were the programming, many bugs were found and fixed in time... The simple was implementing Max into the game."

Team 5 : Max's Museum - Max's Museum is a game created with the purpose of showing what a creative team can accomplish in an engine none of the team have ever worked in. The concept of this game is to rob Max's Museum and every piece of Max's are you swipe, will increase your score, but watch out, there security cameras to be aware of! 

Team 6 : Max's Chase - In this video game, the player is Maxwell the cat collecting as may treats as possible, while running away from the student trying to pet you. As you level up, the students get faster making it harder to avoid them. This team originally planned for this game to be a social deduction card game, but they wanted a game that would show more of the teams skills leading them to create this game in Unity.

Team 7 : Murder Max-tery - A board game based around UAT's on-campus Student Housing, Founder's Hall and Max the catscot takes the players through different areas and floors in the dorms. Using inspiration from CLUE and Mafia, players explore Founders Hall to find clues to solve the mystery. The rules of this game include aspects like players only being allowed to move linearly, landing on certain tiles and entering rooms trigger events, and each team is only allowed one opportunity to guess the murder weapon, just to name a few. 

Team 8 & 10 : Midnight Stray - This combined team developed an adventure game about a cat named Max trying to find a home. They took inspiration from catscot Max's backstory of how he came to UAT. This game was coded, designed and had original music composed by the team members, and not only did they come up with this great concept for the game, their presentation included a trailer of how the game looks! 

Team 9 : Maxwellness - The only non-game project this year, Team 9 chose to take inspiration from Max and solving a potential problem. They created and manufactured a sealed food and water container that has a time, opens within a set range and only opens to a specific pet, in this case, Max. Their presentation included progress pictures, model designs, a demonstration video, and a fully functioning prototype. 

Team 11 : Max's Time Twist - A board game styled after Candyland after they originally had ideas for a Monopoly style game, this team overcame stylistic challenges that led them to their final project. They used 3D modeling for their game pieces and Max for inspiration. Though this team initially wanted both a virtual and board game, ultimately due to time contestants and other issues, they settled on just a board game, and presented their board and 3D printed pieces, while coordinating their wardrobes for a cohesive presentation.

While every team this year developed some amazing projects, the judges determined Team 9's Maxwellness was the winning project this year. Congratulations to Team 9 : Alexa Tuchtenhagem, Amara Hill, Brie Bojorquez, Boone Stewart, William Jones, Xavier Bojorquez, Zachary Fields, Duane Hamilton, Rafael Gonzalez Rangel, and Tristan Pellum! 

Check out more UAT Student Projects, and learn more about our innovative technology degrees today!