HKU University of the Arts Utrecht has a renowned game degree programme. All the more reason to visit when it organises an exhibition.
HKU's exhibition runs over several days and across several locations. The game programmes display their work in the library on the Neude, a beautiful location that showcases the fourth-year students' creativity even more effectively.
It is naturally interesting to view this exhibition through the lens of The Hague University of Applied Sciences, although it is a comparison of apples and oranges. HKU offers a full games degree, which HHS does not. You can therefore reasonably expect a little more from the HKU students.
The projects on display were made individually or in small groups. That in turn limits the games' scope compared with group sizes at HHS, where a group usually consists of 6–10 students.
The most frequently used game engine is Unity, although we also saw Unreal Engine, whereas Godot is used in The Hague.
Everything we see looks very attractive: the students clearly know how to make things look good! Unsurprising, since it is an art school after all. This is also reflected in the games' themes: things involving paint, music or complex mechanics.
Another striking point is that not all the games are playable. At HHS, students work towards the exhibition as a hard deadline. This works well, because I have never seen a group unable to demonstrate its game. In Utrecht, I encountered this several times. Those students had made their assignment too broad or complex and could not resolve it.
For an afternoon full of creativity and inspiration, HKU's exhibition is a pleasant outing. Even so, I found the turnout a little disappointing, despite extensive advertising across the city and a location that could hardly have been better chosen. Apparently, many people still do not quite appreciate the value of these events.
