17-05-2025
Ballito university student designs fully-function computer game in just 72 hours
Ballito's Asher Gray pushed creative boundaries with his cat-brain horror game at one of the world's leading game development events.
The first-year student at The Independent Institute of Education (IIE) Vega Durban campus made his debut at Ludum Dare an international game jam, where participants have just 72 hours to develop a game from scratch.
Gray has been creating game demos since the age of 11. Now studying for a Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences in Game Design and Development, he entered the global competition as a solo developer and produced Animalia Memories, a PlayStation 1-style horror and walking simulator.
Inspired by this year's Ludum Dare theme, 'Depths', Gray's game takes players on a surreal journey through the neural pathways of a cat's brain, slowly uncovering the mysterious cause of its death.
'The cat is an employee at a mysterious company called Cat Scan,' said Gray.
'At the beginning of the game, you interact with a television set. A short video plays, vaguely explaining why you're there. It's all intentionally mysterious, which suits the aesthetic I went for, first-person, dark, dingy, pixelated, and old-school graphics.'
Gray was one of many students from four IIE-Vega campuses in Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria, and Johannesburg who took part in the game jam.
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