Trailing by a goal in the final minute of the third period, the Golden Knights' offense broke loose on the ice for a one-on-one with the goaltender. Just when it looked like the home team could even the score, a loud whistle echoed from the walls of Cheel Arena.

An offsides penalty drew resounding boos from the Clarkson fans.

Sounds real, right?

Well, it is. Sort of. In The Genre, a two-dimensional game in which the players' objective is to save the Clarkson University hockey team from an evil referee.

Created by Kyle Pulver '08 (Digital Arts & Sciences), The Genre is a platform game where the player operates one hockey player in the virtual world and has to save the rest of the team by running, jumping and in this case, fighting off referees with combat movements and bone saw weapons. "At real Clarkson hockey games, student fans build and use makeshift bonesaws to celebrate Clarkson goals," explains Pulver.

Inspired by other platform games, particularly Kirby, Pulver used a developed software called multimedia fusion to visually program the game.

"Instead of writing code, there is a visual interface so you can drag and place things where you want them," Pulver says. "You don't have to be a master programmer, you just have to possess the creativity to develop characters."

Pulver not only wanted to create a game for his own enjoyment, but also wanted to develop a project that would propel him into a career in gaming. For Pulver, a moderator of bonesaw.org and an unwavering hockey fan, creating the game based on the bone-saw premise served both purposes.

Although the game is not entirely complete, there is enough content for application, Pulver says. He expects to have the game completed by December, as he is using the game as part of his digital arts portfolio.