California Lutheran University students enrolled in the Content Creation for Digital Platforms class have been working on building an online version of the game “Two Truths and a Lie.”

Traditionally, “Two Truths and a Lie” calls for a player to give three statements about themselves. Two of the statements must be true, and the other statement must be false. It is the listener’s job to figure out which of the three statements is false.

Senior Amanda Marston and senior Dixie Gladbach are currently enrolled in the class, and have been part of the creation process. The course is taught by Jean Sandlin, an associate professor of communication.

“Dr. Sandlin, our professor, came up with the idea over summer,” Gladbach said. “She always implements real-life situations in her classes, and this semester she wanted us to create something to bring the Cal Lutheran community together.”

Target audiences of the game are the freshman class and commuter students.

“The game is a way to make a more unified campus because through the game, students can get to know other students that they probably would not have normally gotten the chance to interact with,” Marston said.

Members of the content creation class have been interviewing other Cal Lutheran students to create profiles for the online game. One of these students is junior transfer student Sarah Harber. She was interviewed for a game profile by her friend, Daniel Dannas.

“The process was really simple and easy,” Harber said. “I was sent a consent form for the usage of my information to be used before giving my three personal statements.”

Harber said it was difficult for her to come up with a lie about herself, but the online game “can teach people that others are more than just surface level, [and] that people cannot just be depicted by how they appear.”

The logistics of assembly for the game have been handled by the content creation class, while students enrolled in Principles of Advertising have been building promotional campaigns to represent and publicize the game once it is released. Principles of Advertising is a course also taught by Sandlin.

Senior Rachel Holroyd is currently enrolled in the advertising class, and said the game will be running for two weeks.

“The game will be launching sometime between Nov. 1 to Dec. 6,” Holroyd said in an email interview. “There was a tie [in deciding the winning campaign], so both winning campaigns will be incorporated into the implementation.”

The project is completely student-driven. Students from both courses have added additional multimedia components in the game so far. It is still being determined what the advertisement campaigns chosen to promote the game will include.

“I think it is cool that both classes are collaborating together on this,” Gladbach said. “While it was Dr. Sandlin’s idea, she did not just direct us on what to do. We as students have had a lot of control and say throughout the process and have appreciated Dr. Sandlin really listening to our opinions on what we feel will interest other students.”

According to Gladbach, the longevity of the game in the future will be based on the overall popularity.

“I could see how it could work in the long run,” Marston said. “Our professor’s goal is to have it accessible to be used in future semesters, and our class is in the process of creating a streamlined process for other classes to use it.”

Krystal Rhaburn
Reporter