Purdue University

Name: Nathan Whitacre
Year: Senior
Major: Computer Science
Position: Student Programmer

Can you introduce yourself and share a little about who you are? Hello! My name is Nathan Whitacre and I’m a senior working at RCAC as a student programmer.

What are some of your main interests or passions? Some of my interests include video game development, learning Spanish, and listening to EDM.

Can you tell us about your role at RCAC? What does your job entail? I am a Student Programmer at the Envision Center, where I create applications and solutions for our clients that normally involve computer vision or data visualization technology. I’ve also organized several game jam events on behalf of the Envision Center and SIGGD, a game development club here at Purdue.

What do you enjoy most about working at RCAC? I love the people and culture at the Envision Center. I’ve gotten the opportunity to learn so much from the awesome people that I work with, and they really make me feel at home there. It’s also just super cool that not only do I get to learn new technologies and skills, but I get to use what I learn to make things that provide real value to people.

Tell us more about your favorite project you like to show off!

Project title: SIGGD's "Echoes of Isovios: A Legacy Undone"

Project description: Echoes of Isovios is an action-packed story-driven roguelite game with a supernatural twist: You can let ghosts of the past possess you to gain their unique game-changing abilities. In the game, you play as Orion, a tyrant who has driven humanity to extinction using the mythical sword, Isovios. After eons of isolation, you are granted the power to go back in time and right your wrongs at three distinct points in history, each taking place at a pivotal moment of your tyrannical reign. Echoes of Isovios was developed over the course of a year by Purdue ACM’s Special Interest Group for Game Development (SIGGD).

What did you learn from this project? This project took a diverse team of very talented people to complete, including programmers, gameplay designers, artists, composers, audio producers, writers, and voice actors. I was the lead gameplay designer for the project, so along the way I learned many skills required for managing a project of larger scope and collaborating on a multidisciplinary team. The biggest lesson I took away from this project is that, on large teams, communication is everything. Having more people working on a project can lead to increased productivity, but only if everyone on the team is on the same page. Making sure everyone on the team is on the same page is so important for making these large-scale projects work. When they do work, it’s the coolest thing to be a part of.

Did you get to showcase this anywhere?
We were able to showcase a demo of the project at Fractal 2025, a student-run CGT expo, and the game is available to play on SIGGD’s website at https://purduesiggd.github.io. The game will soon be released in an updated state on Steam!