Brown and White Vol. 127 no. 20

              The Brown and White
Vol. 127 No. 20
Friday, November 14, 2014
‘All the Lehigh News First’
On-campus student graphic design firm LU Fusion Design has designed and developed its own Lehigh-Lafayette game web app, Gamelocker, to rally unity, as well as friendly competition, between the two rivals in the weeks before the 150th Rivalry Game.
LU Fusion Design has recently collaborated with computer sci­ence students to create an inter­active online game that can be played on desktop and various mobile devices.
Gamelocker is a web application that the creators hope students, faculty and alumni will play to raise their excitement. As of Nov. 10, Gamelocker can be accessed online at www.gamelocker150.com. The game allows users to play for either school’s sports teams.
The virtual players wear school colors, and each school’s fight song can be heard as users play the game.
When a player enters the site, he or she chooses to either play for Lehigh or Lafayette. Each time a player earns points, the points are added to the larger pool of overall scores for their chosen team. These total scores are displayed on the game’s main menu.
There are four mini sports game players can play within the over­all app: football, soccer, basket­ball and swimming.
“We didn’t just want to have football because that is always
Lehigh works to address complaints, improve accessibility
Lehigh’s continuous efforts to ensure that the registration process flows smoothly are finally paying off.
After making several much-needed improvements to its hardware and servers, Lehigh is fully prepared for a successful spring 2015 registration period.
According to Greg Skinner, Lehigh’s web and mobile services manager, “Connect Lehigh” is one of the main reasons why reg­istration will run smoothly this year.
Launched this past summer, Connect Lehigh is a new and improved way for stu­dents, faculty and staff to log onto Banner, which permits access to personal information and student services, such as registration.
“Connect Lehigh has (fewer) obstacles from a tech standpoint,” Skinner said. “It was developed so that students can navigate directly to Banner without having to go through all the steps on the Portal.”
Connect Lehigh is also mobile-friendly, meaning students can use it to register for their classes on a smartphone or tablet.
This is the first time that Connect Lehigh is being used for registration pur­poses, and Skinner believes that it will make the whole process faster and better overall.
“There are multiple servers behind Connect Lehigh,” he said. “If one fails, the system won’t crash because another would just take its place. Because of this, Connect Lehigh is a reliable method for students to use when registering for class­es.”
Banner itself has also experienced some new developments. According to Manny Pena, director of enterprise systems at Lehigh, the university “recently upgraded Banner’s hardware and installed a new IBM server.”
Those who were at Lehigh during the fall 2012 registration period may remember when the system “crashed,” leaving many students locked out of Banner and unable to get their first pick of classes.
“In 2012, there were problems that we weren’t sure of,” Pena said. “Since then, we have upgraded the system and made sev­eral changes to fix the problems. Now it’s working well.”
Gamelocker web app creates virtual rivalry competition
By EMMA FABER
Associate News Editor
By CARLY NYMAN
Assistant News Editor
Lehigh students developed a game site to promote Le-Laf unity in anticipation of Rivalry 150.
See GAMELOCKER Page 3
See REGISTRATION Page 2
Emily Hu/B&W Staff
Carli Sukonik, ’15 (left), and Jen Mauric, ’15 (right), members of the LU Fusion Design team, meet to discuss plans for the Gamelocker web app Tuesday. The game site was released Nov. 10.
the main focus of the Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry,” said Ayelet Gat, ‘15, a fusion designer. “We chose these four sports because we felt they embodied the largest amount of student-athletes and also were the most fun and inter­active sports to play in an online game.”
In addition to the scores, the main menu displays a link for each school to donate to the Lehigh-Lafayette Giving Challenge, which contributes to the friendly competition of the game and helps raise money for a good cause.
The goal of Gamelocker is to earn points for both Lehigh and Lafayette, and one school will be named the victor at the rivalry game on Nov. 22.
The app’s creators said they hope the final score between the two schools will be announced at Yankee Stadium during the football game and displayed on the jumbotron once there is a final winner.
With such a short timeline, the group said had to meet several times a week and truly live and breathe the project. Designing a web app in just a few weeks was no easy feat for the
Registration gets an upgrade
“We are continuously working to improve the registration process. Expect new and better things to keep coming.
Greg Skinner
Manager, web and mobile services
”