The Rat Room is a small team of high schoolers that produce animations, games, and other digital media at The Governor's School for the Arts
ELECTROBASIS by Rat Room Games is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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CREDITS
motto
website
Flora
Malyshka
Phantasium
Route 13
Valeria and Edwin are newcomers to Castle Kersia in the botanical city-state of Flora, bathed in eternal sunlight. Joining the staff as a handmaiden and a squire, the two discover the fragile peace of their city that they never thought possible; now entrenched in the dark shadows cast by the sun, they’re faced with choices that will alter the very course of history.
Explore the village to your heart's content and meet its inhabitants: from kindly priests to eccentric toy collectors, the community is full of endearing characters to help you on your journey. Engage in their quests to retrieve the mysterious dolls, unearthing the enigma of your lost memories as you help the people of Tikyihavoda with their daily woes. Between puzzles, conferring, errands, and hunts, it all starts to come back to you... your wistful feelings may hold more water than you think.
You are a lost soul on a 1940's vessel attempting to help ghosts get out of limbo to win a bet against a mysterious woman with unknown motives. Speak to characters on the ship to learn about them and learn what item they need found to be released from limbo. Explore the ship and find all the items. Avoid the mysterious lady, as she occasionally hunts for you. Avoid her or find Some Poor Soul to distract her.
Citizens along a barren highway are being secretly surveilled by unknown entities. It is your job as Miles to enlighten these people and uncover the truth of Route 13. Attack or avoid the roadkill monster, discover and document anomalies, and uncover the truth to free the town from the entities brainwashing.
Including assets from Phantasium, Malyshka, and Route 13, this card game available in-person at the Rat Shoppe lets you collect characters, concepts, and settings from beloved projects that you can physically hold in your hand! You can craft your own personalized deck to put to use, or just keep as a memoir.
The Rat Room is a team of high schoolers at GSA, Governors School for the Arts, that produce animations, games, and other digital media. We all, students and teachers, work under three pillars:
NO EGO
No ego; the Rat Room has no power structure. Your teacher is just as important as any student. Every artist is as important to the class as any other. No one runs this class. No ones vision takes priority. We come to conclusions through agreement and sacrificing our personal beliefs for a common feeling. Our personal identities make us who we are. Our combined collaboration makes rat room what it is. We will strive for diversity in teaching and include each other in our processes and sharing what we learn, which brings us to:
NO SECRETS
No secrets; art is meant to be shared in Rat Room. If you know a trick, don't keep it for yourself to stay above the competition. There is no competition. We are all in this together. It's us, artists, versus the world. We can not be divided. Further than that, if you have plans, the sooner you express them the better. Even if they're simple or just in the starting stages. Share your ideas. Don't plan a scheme for three weeks then spring it on the room. We can surprise the audience, but in Rat Room there are no surprises.
NO PROFITS
No profits; we make art for expression, for information, for sharing, not for money. Money can be made from art but it is never the sole purpose or even the primary purpose. Never ask yourself "'who would buy this", "who is the audience for this"; instead ask yourself "do I want to make this" and "how does this speak for me".
warning: quiz does not work on mobile
Which mythical portmanteau critter represents your artist identity?Answer questions honestly and share your results with your friends!
Squibee
Whimsy Altruist
You take fun seriously. The smiles and glee you give others is more important than money or success.
Art is about sharing goodness.
Cubink
Indulgent Whimsy
Your work is your escape. You may feel its a social thing between close friends, letting others into your worlds.
Art is about living fiction.
Buzzcaw
Altruist Conceptual
You want to be self-sufficient through your art. The dream is doing what you love, sharing a message, and living sustainably.
Art is about dedication.
Bearigold
Indulgent Conceptual
A leader, in projects or your life. Decisive, with a story to tell. Yours, specifically.
Art is about feelings.
LOCAL MYTH OR REAL MONSTER?>Nearby The Electrobasis in Vegas a trinket of power was unearthed at a small archeological dig. The legend says this token broke the mind of its user.Ms Eckhart was interviewed in '95 about her missing husband. Trauma had distorted her features, a sunken portrait of a once lively lady. Reportedly Ms Eckhart spoke nothing until the interview concluded. 'Don't go looking.' The reporter said he saw a groove in her forehead behind her bangs as she retreated behind a wall. There is no evidence of this and she hadn't been seen since.
WHO ARE YOU?
Hello Innersloth!
My name is Ian and I'm a teacher at an afterschool gifted arts program. I run a class for highschoolers called 'Game Dev' where we make unique experiences as a team.I'm the sole programmer and educator. A student is chosen as creative lead, and for all intents and purposes we run this as an indie studio under the name
'Rat Room Games'
PROVE IT, please :)
Since 2020, we've worked on 5 projects, two of which made it to Steam!
Each one comes from the mind of a highschooler, every art asset and word. Concept art and 3d model. As devs, I'm sure you can see how impressive this is!
why do you need us?
I also teach animation and other digital stuff. This video is a sort of portfolio for 2023.
You're the only one that can help us.1. Publishers aren't going to support devs that don't make money.2. Grants rarely support a program that falls under the public school system.3. Public school isn't going to support something that they don't see value in.I've tried all three of these avenues and ran into road blocks with each one.
whats $ gonna do?
Teaching is not a lucrative career. I make roughly ~$20k a year, and a lot of that is returned into my passion which is education and game dev. Steam fees, software expenses, experiments like the RRG Trading card game, and so on.I am in the building teaching 15 hours a week, but have clocked 700 hours in UE5 for the past 2 projects. A lot of my time outside the school is programming or doing free virtual art camps and my job can not compensate me for that.Money wouldn't be just used to pay myself. I want to buy new computers, rent space, and pay alumni for their time with future projects.
why is this important?
I feel this is a very special program. I would have loved having a game dev class when I was in school. I couldn't afford to go to college for a career in game dev either, so I love providing something at that level to younger folk.You don't see games made by highschoolers and their voice is unique and worth hearing. Our socials are ran by students and have gathered a small community of fans. ELECTROBASIS, for example, has tons of fan art on tumblr.
In 2020, this program was virtual. We ended our faceless classes with games of Among Us. I asked one of my seniors who just graduated what they remember about covid classes and they said the time their teacher got them ejected.
I can only keep this up with your support.I'm available to chat all Summer <3
Thanks for reading.
