by News21 Staff | News21 Published Aug. 24, 2013

The “Can You Make It in the VA?” game was designed by students in the New Media Innovation Lab at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. The New Media Innovation Lab is a multidisciplinary lab of journalism, computer science, graphic design and business students who work on innovative digital products for clients, design digital tools for journalists and experiment with innovative storytelling.

In the spring 2013 semester, the students joined with ASU’s Center for Games & Impact to explore how news games can be effective tools for journalists. As part of that research, the students created the VA game as an interactive element of the News21 national reporting initiative that focused on issues facing veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The game was written and designed by students Kirsten Adams, Cortney Bennett, Josselyn Berry, Christina Silvestri and David Sydiongco. NMIL Executive Director Retha Hill, Games & Impact Director of Innovations Adam Ingram-Goble and Games & Impact’s Juli James, senior coordinator, were the faculty advisers. Big Island Publishing of Minnesota created the game graphics and animation. Programming was done by the NMIL’s Micah Jamison.

Support for the game was generously provided by the Public Insight Network from American Public Media.