A CAMPUS map for the game “Monopoly,” developed by three juniors in the computer science department of Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), went viral on the Internet recently, according to a Chinese-language newspaper report.

A video published online shows that the map is a miniature of the SUSTech campus, including typical elements such as a library, dormitory, teaching buildings, and cafeteria.

Ouyang Yicheng, one of the three developers, told the Beijing Youth Daily that the game was actually a design task for one of their classes and had not been published.

However, due to the background, the game has had a huge resonance with students and teachers, especially those at SUSTech who said they immediately recognized the university, according to the report.

According to Zhang Yuqun, a teacher for the class, “Monopoly” was actually one of the choices for the design task. They could also choose a website to design.

“In terms of the game design task, we offered two choices for them. One was “Monopoly” and the other was a card game. But we demanded that all the designs include campus elements,” said Zhang, adding, “Ouyang and his team made the best design based on our standards, such as the rules of the game, the integration of those elements and the operation of the game. As a result, we presented their work on our school’s official account.”

The game accommodates three players to set up their own room, just like popular Chinese card game, Doudizhu. When the game starts, players enter the map featuring the real SUSTech, according to Ouyang.

“As our university has many zones in reality, we also divided it into several different maps in the game,” said Ouyang.

He also explained that the game adopted the idea of a four-year bachelor’s education. Each year has 10 rounds, so there are 40 rounds in total. After each year, the game works out a score based on a weighted sum of health, intelligence, credit and money points. After four years, a final score will be calculated, and the player with the highest score wins.

Ouyang told the Daily that he had not considered the influence it would have while designing the game, but he expressed that he might want to work in the game industry in the future.

(Wang Jingli)