March 21, 2024
ArtCenter College of Design student team earns invitation to prestigious Game Developer Conference
Game design student team sweeps Audience Award at “alt.ctrl.GDC” exhibit with their immersive experience.
A team of student game creators from ArtCenter College of Design showcased an innovative and interactive game and competed against professional game designers at this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco from March 20 to 22, 2024. This year, the conference is expected to bring more than 30,000 attendees to connect about the future of gaming.
Exhibitors at alt.ctrl.GDC are chosen through an open submission process. The showcase specifically looks for games that use alternative controllers in interesting, unique, or groundbreaking ways that push boundaries and improve accessibility for gamers and the industry at large.
"GDC has been noted as the game industry's premier professional event,” said ArtCenter instructor Justin Andarza, who teaches the course “Game Design for Themed Entertainment.” “For students to participate so early in their careers and share the spotlight alongside industry veterans is definitely an honor.”
The ArtCenter student-created game “Chú Mó" combines aspects from escape rooms and traditional video games while exploring themes of East Asian exorcism. Players are given the challenge of sealing demons away by completing a series of interactive tasks.
“Students are encouraged to explore different ways to create immersion and reimagine the screen in unique ways,” explains Andarza of the course in which “Chú Mó” was created. “In this game, projection mapping was used to allow the antagonist and their curses to break the boundaries of the box that imprisoned them.”
The game is a three-player experience in which players work together to “reverse curses, master magical tools and seal demons,” via a variety of cooperative, hands-on actions. To complete the game, players must work together to pass a special test called the Exorcism Exam "Chú Mó" (除魔) and become exorcists.
The Chú Mó team, which won the Live Action award at last year’s IndieCade, followed the success of ArtCenter student game "Kitchen Kauldron" and won the “Audience Award” among all entries at the “alt.ctrl.GDC” exhibit. This marks the second consecutive year a team from ArtCenter has won the recognition.
Inspired by their predecessor, “Kitchen Kauldron,” and Two Bit Circus' story rooms, game design student Demi Liu said “Chú Mó aims to blend gameplay mechanics and station setups seamlessly into the game's setting for a fully immersive player experience.”
Liu goes on to note that her favorite aspect of the game is how the furniture within the room, when manipulated by the game’s demons, comes to life with effects “such as flickering candles, activating fans, and breaking chains during key moments. These surprises not only fit our exorcism theme but also elicit delightful shock from players, which I love witnessing.”
“We aim to lead the audience in experiencing the ancient and fascinating culture together.” said Xiaoyang Ma, an ArtCenter student involved in the development of the game concept.
The Chú Mó game is set in ancient China, a culture in which a prevalent belief in spirits, ghosts, and demons was deeply rooted.
Chú Mó’s design cleverly draws references from traditional Chinese lore and artwork with the use of ink paintings, calligraphy, and stamps. The game also incorporated the concept of Taoism, emphasizing the restoration of balance and harmony through exorcism and recreating relics resembling ancient Chinese magical instruments used by Taoist priests.
In the game, players neutralize and seal away unsettling spiritual entities through careful observation of changes in sight, sound, and physical objects. The challenge requires communicating as a team to cast the correct talisman, activate relics needed in a specific sequence, and play just the right rhythm on magical instruments to counter the curse.
The student creators of “Chú Mó” include:
Game Design: Connor Zhang, Demi Liu, Jingyi Chen, Kevin Slackie, Shawna Zhou, Tianrui Zhang, Zifeng Ding.
Game Concept: Aigul Nugumanova, Isabella Zhang, Jacob Yi, Robin Wong, Xiaoyang Ma
These student creators were advised by ArtCenter faculty members Justin Andarza, Forrest Lucas and Simon Smith.
Game Design is a curricular track in ArtCenter’s Entertainment Design department, which also offers tracks in Concept Design and Animation. ArtCenter’s Game Design program prepares students to create and convey game concepts through prototyping and production for multiple platforms. Students explore all aspects of video game design with training in user experience, programming, design languages, and the production process. With a focus on hands-on experience, the program provides students with the opportunity to practice navigating artistic expression, worldbuilding, storytelling and level design.
ArtCenter’s Entertainment Design program uniquely culminates in a Bachelor of Science degree, versus a Bachelor of Arts. This distinction underscores the confluence of storytelling, gameplay and visual development alongside the technical rigor required for success.
Graduates of the program are sought out by leading companies such as Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks, Sony Pictures Animation, Blur, 343, Riot Games, Paramount, Activision Blizzard, Santa Monica Studio, Netflix and Marvel. ArtCenter alumni are leaders in the video game, animation, theme park, live-action film/television and toy design industries.
About ArtCenter: Founded in 1930 and located in Pasadena, California, ArtCenter College of Design is a global leader in art and design education. ArtCenter offers 11 undergraduate and 10 graduate degrees in a variety of industrial design disciplines as well as in a range of visual and applied arts. In addition to its top-ranked academic programs, the College serves members of the Greater Los Angeles region through a highly regarded series of year-round extension programs for all ages and levels of experience. Renowned for both its ties to industry and its social impact initiatives.
ArtCenter is the first design school to receive the United Nations’ Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) status in recognition of its commitment to social impact design through Designmatters. Throughout the College’s long and storied history, ArtCenter alumni have had a profound impact on popular culture, the way we live and important issues in our society.
Contact:
Keith Wang
Coordinator, Marketing and Communications
ArtCenter College of Design
keith.wang@artcenter.edu
626 396-2338
