The Cheng Shiu University Digital Department's graduation exhibition debuts! Students are leveraging the knowledge and skills acquired over their four years of study. They have employed diverse art-style designs and popular game engines to create and present 29 works, including 2D and 3D animations and interactive games. The exhibition features vivid and lively guided tours and merchandise exhibitions on-site with youthful and passionate creativity. Vice President Pu-Ping Yu stated that the exhibition will benefit students' future employment prospects by providing a platform for observing and learning from one another.

 

The interactive game group's work "Cuffing Monsters/Kào Yāo," led by Mr. Hao Wang, stands out among many works. It has been shortlisted for the Youth Innovative Design Festival in the Digital Multimedia and Game Design category and will be displayed from May 16 to 19 at the Youth Design Festival.

 

The theme, "So Good/Monster Mushroom/Yāo shòu gū," of this year's Cheng Shiu University Digital Department graduation exhibition was derived from an extended concept based on the themes of students' works. It transforms the Taiwanese phrase “yāo shòu” 夭壽into the homophones “yāo/ goblin” “妖” and “shòu/ monster”“獸”, flipping traditional negative stereotypes and leading audiences into a space for blue-sky thinking. Meanwhile, it integrates the word “gū/ mushroom”“菇” into the theme. This highlights the analogy that the creation process is like the growth characteristics of the “gū/ mushroom”“菇” while becoming an adventurous experiment filled with surprising experiences. This exhibition showcases students' unique perspectives through various mediums and element changes.

 

The exhibition's visual design features bold and vibrant orange tones, incorporated by the latest Autostereoscopic 3D technology to showcase visual identity animations. This likens the shape of "gū" being associated with an organic carrier that envelopes diverse works. Through various magical transformations elicited by chemical features, the exhibition portrays uncertainty as life's potential, creating societal value.

 

The audio-visual animations utilize practical effects technology to render combat scenes and incorporate foreign cultural elements and characters, such as Baphomet (Satan), Medusa, werewolves, and vampires. The prototype of the story's characters creates a fantasy-style 3D short film animation. One work, "The Conspiracy of the Defense Team," depicts the accidental death of a defense team captain during a circus performance. This leads to two of the team members scrambling for the position of captain. One day, both members suddenly receive an alert regarding a giant owl wreaking havoc in the city; they decide that whoever can defeat the owl becomes the new captain. Ultimately, neither defeats the owl. Instead, another team member, who was uninterested in the position, defeated the owl and unintentionally became the defense team's new captain.

 

The first-place work in the interactive game group, "Cuffing Monsters/Kào Yāo," incorporates Taiwanese elements and local monsters as its foundation. Unlike the past game market, which focused on historical perspectives to conceive and develop games, this game presents a hilarious, carefree style. Players can enjoy the amusing characters and atmosphere with Taiwanese features without delving into the history behind the game. The game's art style is also consistent with the design concept.

 

The Digital Department's graduation exhibition is showcased on and off campus. It will be displayed at the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center from May 30 to June 1.