Ahead of the Game: Leveling Up to Lehigh Life Helps First-Year Students Adapt to College

Three years ago, a group of students in a first-year engineering course were learning how to build video games. They discussed things they didn't know as they arrived at Lehigh, including how to make appointments at the wellness center, pick up mail in the mailroom and navigate class schedules. During the process, an exciting idea emerged: they could build a game for incoming first-year students that would teach them about life at Lehigh.

Through the Office of Creative Inquiry, the immersive video game Leveling Up to Lehigh Life has been developed by groups of interdisciplinary students. Infusing intensive programming and research with humorous script writing, intentional background music and graphic design, Lehigh comes to life onscreen through the game. The current cohort will launch the game in August for the incoming Class of 2030.

Tutorial: Meet the Team

Sarah Taylor ’29 vividly remembers her first time doing laundry in a Centennial II Complex residence hall. She loaded her clothes in the washing machine and poured in the detergent, but soon discovered she needed quarters to complete the cycle.

“I didn’t realize I had to pay for laundry with anything other than an app,” Taylor said. “So after that moment, I was thinking, ‘Does anyone talk about this?’ Now in building the game, my goal is for students to feel less scared and less stressed.”

Like Taylor, James Goodwin ’29, Theodore Spear ’28 and Anam Ahamed ’27 said their first few weeks on Lehigh’s campus brought new experiences to navigate, from finding the courage to meet at the flagpole for Pace the Prez, weekly community runs hosted by President Joseph J. Helble ’82, or learning building acronyms and locations of classes.

Looking back on those days following incoming-student orientation, the students wish they could go back and give advice to their younger selves and other first-year students. It’s partly what led them to join the current cohort of Leveling Up to Lehigh Life.

Each student brings their own passion. Spear, a biology major, engineers the music and sound effects, including incorporating Lehigh’s Alma Mater. Goodwin, majoring in computer science and engineering, develops the gameplay, but works in tandem with Taylor, a student in the Integrated Degree in Engineering and Arts and Sciences (IDEAS) program with a concentration in computer science, graphic design and fine arts, who sketches all of Lehigh’s buildings to scale.

Ahamed collects data points and research to evaluate the game’s effects on personal and emotional well-being. Her perspective as a computer science and math major through Lehigh’s partnership with Ashoka University in India was integral to the game’s evolution.

“This is more than a virtual tour,” Goodwin said, noting that the game fully immerses incoming students into the campus experience.

Through the game, students are introduced to Clutch, Lehigh’s mascot, Asa Packer and President Joseph J. Helble ’82, who make cameos along the way.

Quest One: Learn the Missions

Michael Spear, associate professor of computer science and engineering, is the team’s project advisor. Leveling Up to Lehigh Life, he said, has always been “creative and open-ended.” This approach allowed the team to build on nine specified “quests” or missions in the game. Incoming students can customize their character, journeying through a range of scenarios, including walking to buildings to find their classes.

While the team constructed the “Find Your Buildings” quest, they reached out to the office of the registrar, who manages Compass, Lehigh’s class scheduling system. After draft schedules are sent, class locations often change a second time to ensure campus accessibility and accommodations for all students.

To account for this, the game directs the user to open their class list in Compass for the most up-to-date location information.

“While you’re playing, pull up your class list on Compass and we’ll help you find those buildings, but don’t forget to check again because it will change,” Michael Spear noted. “That’s an important learning outcome.”

The game not only provides important learning opportunities for incoming students, but also for the current team. Working with others across campus sparked “powerful and useful transformations” to the game, Michael Spear added, illuminating areas where the team could focus their attention.

“The game isn't meant to replace our orientation programming—it's a fun, engaging way to reinforce it while helping students navigate some of the common challenges they face,” said Stefanie DiDomenico, assistant dean and director of the office of first year experience (OFYE).

DiDomenico has met with the current team five times this past year to discuss where the game fits in with OFYE’s orientation process.

“Peer-to-peer learning like this is incredibly valuable,” DiDomenico said. “Part of our goal is making sure students understand all the amazing opportunities that are here at Lehigh, to be lifelong learners, to be curious, to problem solve. This is a great example of how to make the most out of your education.”

Quest Two: “Go, Lehigh!”

Another quest takes incoming students to Goodman Stadium for a football game. The quest helps first-year students navigate taking the bus to a game for the first time.

Through the virtual experience, the user is asked to select the Packer Express, the Goodman Connector or the Mountaintop Connector to get to the football game. After choosing the correct bus, the Goodman Connector, there’s a fun reward on the other side.

“We built in a mini game where the player earns points by cheering for the Lehigh team,” Goodwin added.

“There’s that Lehigh attitude we’re bringing in: caring about each other, helping each other, being on the same team,” said Spear.

Ending the Game: What it Takes to Level Up

DiDomenico noted that the transition to college can be difficult, and some students struggle with academics, mental or physical health or time management.

One of the most prominent messages the game provides is that no student is ever alone. Asking for help and seeking support are key components, with each quest requiring a conversation with a non-playable character (NPC) to move forward.

After the Class of 2030 arrives on campus, the game will be closed to promote creating in-person connections, community building and learning in real time. The current team is eager to hear user feedback, from comparisons of campus building graphics to their real-life counterparts and reactions to creative sequences, knowing the game is a work in progress that they can continue to tweak.

In the future, the team plans to collect and analyze data to determine how the game helps students adjust to life at Lehigh.

“It takes a lot of love and effort to make something like this,” Spear said, “and we’re really lucky at Lehigh that we have students who have that love.”