Blank Slate: A Development Story
After months of meaning to get to it, I—Professor Akram—finally sat down to edit the interviews from our 2023–2024 Senior Production class. What emerged is a heartfelt, honest look at the making of Blank Slate, the capstone game developed by our graduating cohort. The video, Blank Slate: A Development Story, is a reflective interview piece that invites viewers into the creative, collaborative, and often challenging world of game development through the eyes of our CSG students.
This project represents far more than a final class assignment. It captures the culmination of years of learning, skill-building, teamwork, and growth across the entire degree program. In many ways, the students’ reflections tell the story better than any game design document (GDD) or production timeline ever could.
A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Student Development
The video brings together a series of interviews where each team member discusses their role in the project, the challenges they encountered, and what surprised them along the way. Their perspectives highlight the reality of game development: the mix of creativity and constraint, the pressure of deadlines, and the importance of iteration.
We get a window into:
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How the core concept of Blank Slate evolved
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What went right—and what went sideways—in production
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The way communication and collaboration shaped the final outcome
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Skills each student refined over the course of the project
Rather than presenting a polished, flawless story, the interviews celebrate the real process: the messy drafts, the late-night breakthroughs, the features that didn’t make it, and the ones that suddenly clicked at the last moment.
Learning Through Making
One of the strongest threads running through the interviews is the idea that game development is learned by doing. While classes provide tools and frameworks, the Senior Production project forces students to put everything into practice. That means dealing with conflict, handling scope, adapting when things break, and discovering what it really means to work as a team.
Throughout the video, students reflect on:
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The shift from individual assignments to group-driven creation
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How they learned to balance ambition with feasibility
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The importance of communication—especially when things get hard
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The surprising ways they grew as designers, artists, programmers, and producers
Their honesty provides future students (and fellow game developers) with valuable insights into both the technical and human sides of building a game.
Why This Story Matters
Blank Slate: A Development Story is more than a retrospective—it’s a marker of where these students have been and where they’re headed. It showcases the spirit of our program: hands-on learning, iterative design, collaborative problem-solving, and the courage to experiment.
For incoming students, the documentary offers a rare look at what the Senior Production experience truly involves. For alumni, it’s a snapshot of a shared journey. And for the team who made Blank Slate, it stands as a testament to how far they’ve come.
Play the Game
After watching the behind-the-scenes story of Blank Slate, we invite you to experience the final game for yourself. You can play it here:
https://csgutulsa.itch.io/blank-slate
