{"id":27537,"date":"2026-03-19T10:53:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=27537"},"modified":"2026-03-19T10:53:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:53:59","slug":"becker-school-of-design-technology-students-lean-into-nostalgia-to-create-interactive-tv-game","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2026\/03\/19\/becker-school-of-design-technology-students-lean-into-nostalgia-to-create-interactive-tv-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Becker School of Design & Technology students lean into nostalgia to create interactive TV game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

\u2018It\u2019s a kaleidoscope of our childhood experiences\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chase Soucy \u201926 and Summit Smoker \u201928 are looking back in time. Their project \u201cI Dream of Saturday\u201d transports viewers back two decades to the simplicity of watching Saturday morning cartoons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI Dream of Saturday\u201d is made in the Unity game design program and includes mock commercials, advertisements, and mini games all played with a cable remote on a cathode ray tube (CRT) TV. The project was born when Soucy took the Serious Games course in Clark\u2019s Becker School of Design & Technology<\/a> and it has since evolved. Soucy, who leads the project, has teamed up with 13 other Clarkies to experiment with multimedia level design, skit scripting, and the art of recreating the media world of the early 2000s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe wanted to bring interactive experiences to art spaces. Along the way, we came up with the idea to fully emulate the act of flipping through TV channels 20 years ago,” says Soucy. \u201cWe\u2019re currently working on a watercolor level, one of our artists is creating sock puppets, and we\u2019re 3D modeling characters so we can do a mascot race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"student
Chase Soucy \u201926 with “I Dream of Saturday” while the game was recently on display at the Jean McDonough Arts Center in downtown Worcester.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Smoker is the team writer. \u201cI\u2019ve helped plot out the symbolism and characterization throughout the story, but the most fun bit was the comedy writing. We filmed a parody of \u2018Hot Ones,\u2019 complete with Chase in a bald cap, emulated Geico commercials and even a MythBusters skit,\u201d says Smoker. \u201cThere are characters across multiple sketches, as well. You can loosely follow their story as it goes along.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This style of television is finding renewed life through gamers seeking an authentic feel for retro play. The team wanted to create something that stood out in the video game industry, which Soucy said often focuses on commercial success rather than creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding and securing a CRT TV was a challenge. Soucy scoured the internet and found one for sale on Facebook marketplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first CRT I found was unwieldy. The seller told me to bring at least two people, but even with four of us, it took an hour and a half to move the 300-pound TV from the guy\u2019s basement. There were some casualties,\u201d Soucy recalls. \u201cWe ripped a tarp and I fell on his stairs. It reminded me of my friends\u2019 houses growing up, going over to play games or watch TV.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a player turns on the \u201cI Dream of Saturday\u201d TV, the media is initially catered to an elementary school age group, but as the player continues to click through, the activities age with them all the way into adulthood. Soucy notes that nostalgia is popular on social media, and he and his group wanted to bring that romanticization of the past into the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was weird to create the media designed for the high school age group. I\u2019m only a few years out from that experience, but even the oldest of us are only four years removed. I created a college advertisement for the latter half of the game. That period in someone\u2019s life can be so stressful. You\u2019ve got so many different things flying at you, and yet for many people, you still look back on it with nostalgia,\u201d says Smoker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described an orthodontics advertisement directed toward middle school-aged children, noting that middle school can be such an awkward time for kids\u2019 development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a formative time, and we\u2019re trying to balance the impact of these mundane snippets with the more intensive minigames throughout. We want to recreate the way people felt when they were growing up \u2013 one minute carefree, the next tense, or embarrassed,\u201d Smoker adds. \u201cWe spend a lot of time considering the arrangement of the games, the videos, and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soucy says making the game reconnected him with his childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen looking for inspiration, I went through my old family\u2019s camcorders. I saw my grandparents for the first time in years and watched my sister\u2019s third birthday party,\u201d says Soucy. \u201cIt was crazy to see things I didn\u2019t remember and notice how I\u2019ve changed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soucy says that gaming brought him closer to friends and family, particularly during the pandemic, and he hopes that he can one day recreate this joy for future gamers. He was pleasantly surprised to find that leading a team has allowed him to help his peers fulfill their goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen firsthand the impact of my work on players and team members. Leading a team is a huge task,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s important to me that every person\u2019s opinions are valued, and watching people play-test and enjoy the games is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most enjoyable parts of the experience, he said, was getting to learn about everyone else\u2019s childhood memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the beginning, we all made mood boards about what nostalgia meant to us,\u201d Smoker says. \u201cThere were so many times we\u2019d say, \u2018Oh, I forgot about that!\u2019 reconnecting with things from our childhoods. It\u2019s a very personal project to all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way each individual processes nostalgia will impact what users take away from the experience: reflection, reminiscence, possibly reconnection with one\u2019s younger self. Soucy says making this project has been everything he envisioned when enrolling in Clark\u2019s game design program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a kaleidoscope of our childhood experiences,\u201d Smoker says. \u201cIt allows players to reflect but also to step back in time, to melt back into childhood and escape for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI Dream of Saturday\u201d will be on display during this spring\u2019s ClarkFEST.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The project \u201cI Dream of Saturday\u201d transports viewers back two decades to the simplicity of watching Saturday morning cartoons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":27540,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"var(--clarku-color-dark-teal)","story_headerImg":27540,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[225,223,227],"displayed_author":[590],"featured":[494],"topic":[574,238,144,145,121],"class_list":["post-27537","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-humanities","category-clark-community","category-science-technology","displayed_author-faith-field-26","featured-secondary","topic-becker-school-of-design-technology","topic-becker-school-of-design-technology-at-clark-university","topic-interactive-game-design","topic-major-in-interactive-media","topic-undergraduate-students"],"yoast_head":"\nBecker School of Design & Technology students lean into nostalgia to create interactive TV game 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