KSU Game Studio levels up with new release, Chiba

KENNESAW, Ga. | May 30, 2025

Chiba is the second game released by KSU Game Studio

A game that began as a class project is now headed to digital storefront as the most recent release from the Kennesaw State University Game Studio.

Chiba, , is a 2D box-pusher style puzzle game where the user plays as a “chef dog,” traversing different culinary-themed levels and pushing food-themed boxes around until players solve a puzzle allowing them to progress to the next level. 

Chiba is the second game released by the KSU Game Studio, following Corporation Inc., .

“I first played an early version of Chiba a couple of years ago, and I found it incredibly entertaining,” said Victoria Lagrange, an assistant professor of English who directs the KSU Game Studio. “So, when the team later submitted it for publication through the KSU Game Studio, I was struck by how much the game had evolved, and how much fun I had playing it.”

The team behind Chiba is comprised of five KSU students: Aidan Fushimi, Mikail Miller, Reid Autry, Katelyn Buell, and Austin Lothman. The students originally developed the game for an assignment in Henrik Warpefelt, PhD’s, class.

“We had sort of the bare bones in his class, but you could tell he saw the potential and was excited,” Fushimi said. “Obviously, every project in the class was incredible, so for him to see the potential in ours was pretty cool.”

The team then took the game to Lagrange and the KSU Game Studio for polishing. 

Lagrange praised the team and described the concept, mechanics, and user interface as top-notch.

“The team was consistently responsive and professional throughout the entire process, taking feedback seriously and addressing suggestions promptly.” Lagrange said. “It’s a fantastic game developed by a truly impressive team.” 

One of Chiba’s main inspirations is a game called Sokoban, a video game developed and released by Hiroyuki Imabayashi through his company Thinking Rabbit. Sokoban is widely considered to be the original box-pusher game, having been released in 1982. Sokoban mainly focuses on pushing boxes around a warehouse until the level’s puzzle is solved.

In Chiba, each time the player pushes a cuisine-themed block, it receives a cut, which is essentially meant to simulate food prep. Each box has the appearance of a food idea like salads, tomatoes, and meatballs. The main goal is to get each food item onto a plate with the correct number of cuts. 

“There's been a lot of different tweaks made along the way from incorporating player feedback,” Miller said. “It was really neat. Since the creation of the game was part of a digital media interaction class, we had a lot of iterative feedback each play session.”

Each student served the team in their own way, some working on the programming and coding while others developed the artwork and story. The team credits Buell as the person who hatched the idea and created the aesthetic of the game.

“We were inspired by a more retro feel for the game,” Buell said. “I drew a lot of art inspiration from both Stardew Valley and the Cooking Mama games for the Nintendo DS.”

Each team member credited a different video game for sparking their passion for gaming, from Minecraft to Overwatch, illustrating that video games have potential to connect and inspire communities through individual experiences. 

—  Story by Alyssa Ozment

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