Visual Story & Nonverbal Narratives (1st-Year Course)
5208 (Cluster) – Student Films & Presentations
Visual Story and Nonverbal Narratives explores techniques that play a crucial role in media that evoke and manipulate emotions within audiences. These techniques are strategically employed in films, games, and other immersive media, to engage viewers on a deeper level, create memorable experiences, and convey messages more effectively. Students are showcasing:
Video Self Portraits that gave the students the opportunity to visually introduce themselves
A Traditional Linear Video Production where they were working with rules and guides of composition within a frame.
Promos for Immersive Productions that they created which explored how to approach composition when the audience participates in how they perceive their own experiences
Credits and additional information about student work can be found on this slide deck.
Building Virtual Worlds (1st-Year Course)
5105 – Light & Shadow
Light and Shadow is a 3 vs. 1 experience where a mother ghost looks for her kids hiding around the graveyard using the eye tracker. The kids are trying to get out of the graveyard and party and it’s up to the mother to prevent them from getting out.
TEAM: Ean McFadden (Producer/Sound), Emily Zhang (Artist), Ling Lin (Artist), Dennis Sun (Programmer), Josh Kaplan (Programmer)
TECH: Eye-Tracker, X-Box Controllers
5212 – Late Night Lost Way Home
A horror comedy that the player is trapped in a phone booth and finding a way to escape. The player starts out in a dark forest with a monster approaching, and tries to get help from a hotline with annoying AI customer service. Then, when players think they are safe, they will be teleported into deep ocean with water leaking into the phone booth. At the end, the player will be able to get to a lovely flower field after answer a series of questions by typing numbers.
TEAM: Malaya Heflin (Producer/Programmer), Yuchen Xue (Programmer), Harley Xu (Artist), Zhanqi Yang (Artist), Cynthia Li (Sound)
TECH: Quest 3 VR
5212 – Nyctophobia
Welcome to the MOST FRIGHTENING world of the Festival! Nyctophobia is a 100% horror game designed to scare every guest. As a little girl, you must survive in a twisted, haunted bedroom armed only with a flashlight with limited battery power.
TEAM: Boreas Yang (Producer/Sound), Yifan Chen (Programmer), Terry Lim (Programmer), Xiaofan Zhang (Artist), Enn Ruan (Artist)
TECH: Quest 3 VR
5321 – GPT Battle
In a 2v2 wizard duel, each team has a “prayer” and a “caster.” The prayer speaks to ask for spells, while the caster controls the character. The goal is to take your opponent team down by discovering powerful spells, combat skills, and teamwork.
TEAM: Jerry Zheng (Producer/Programmer), Jialan Dong (Producer/Sound), Alivia Park (3D Artist), Enn Ruan (2D Artist), James Huang (Technical Artist)
TECH: Playstation Controllers with Microphone Voice Input, ChatGPT
5416 – Jelly Kings
Race across a delectable obstacle course to collect coins and make you and your teammate the richest jellies! But – you control your teammate’s size, and they control yours, so you must communicate and work together to make it through.
TEAM: William Zhang (Producer/Sound), Paige Li (Programmer), Jack Peng (Programmer), Ling Lin (Artist), Xiaofan Zhang (Artist)
TECH: X-Box Controllers
5404 – The Cat Meow Spa
The guests are employees in a cat wash spa shop. It’s a 2-player game with one player controlling the conveyor belt while the other player controls the washing and shampooing etc. They must wash as many cats as possible to get through each round.
TEAM: Samantha Lai (Producer/Sound), Ye Wei (Artist), Isabella Chen (Artist), Devika Santosh (Programmer), James Huang (Programmer)
TECH: Buttons (Adaptive Controller)
5404 – EKEA
A two-guests game where collaboration is key, yet players also have the freedom to take individual actions. Set in a whimsical furniture shop named “EKEA”, guests take on the role of workers tasked with assembling furniture for customers. The game blends rhythm-based mechanics with creative problem-solving, where every action—whether hammering, sawing, or assembling—has a musical component. Players must synchronize their actions to the beat while working together to make the process of building furniture both engaging and fun.
TEAM: Azu De (Producer/Artist/Sound), Joy Lim (Artist/Sound), Jose Mireles (Artist), Terry Lim (Programmer), Jing Chung (Programmer)
TECH: Buttons and Custom Props (Adaptive Controller)
5404 – I Only Have Eyes for You
I Only Have Eyes for You follows the journey of a pair of ghosts – bound by their fateful connection in life – as they ascend from the river of forgetfulness to heaven. In this experience, each guest controls the movement of a ghost using an eye tracker. Because the two ghosts are tethered, the guests must correspond with each other in order to navigate around obstacles and to successfully move upwards towards their destination.
TEAM: Skye Gao (Producer/Artist), Sharon Liu (Producer/Sound), Zhanqi Yang (Artist), Paige Li (Programmer)
TECH: Eye-Tracker
5404 – MELT DOWN
Have you got what it takes to make the best sandwich? At our patty melt shop, customers come to you with increasingly difficult orders. Using the ingredients in front of you, make melts that will make your customers happy—or face their snide remarks and wrath… and is that a spaceship I see? You really don’t get paid enough for this.
TEAM: Nellie Tonev (Producer/Programmer), Grace Rodriguez-Gomez (Programmer), Max Zhang (Artist), Sally Jin (Artist), William Zhang (Producer/Sound)
TECH: Buttons and Custom Props (Adaptive Controller)
5404 – My Last 6 Brain Cells
You are a brain cell and a cell can only complete one function at a time, work together with your fellow cells to complete tasks being asked of you as they come to you. On a conveyor-belt-like setting tasks will emerge and you must reorder yourselves to complete the upcoming challenges.
TEAM: Libby Egan (Producer/Sound), Yingjie Wang (Programmer), Jack Chou (Programmer), Jose Mireles (Artist), Aurora Liu (Artist)
TECH: Buttons (Adaptive Controller)
5416 – Magic Salon
The player is a barber. One day, they gave a really bad haircut to a witch and made the witch very angry. The witch cursed the barber’s scissor, and the only way to break the curse is to give a better haircut to the witch. Players will cut some other hairs for practice before return to the witch. We use adaptive controller to build an interface to simulate the environment in a salon.
TEAM: Michelle Fan (Producer/Sound), Yuchen Xue (Programmer), Yingjie Wang (Programmer), Ling Lin (Artist), Seongmin An (Artist)
TECH: Buttons Attached to Chair (Adaptive Controller), Foot Pedal
5416 – Secret of the Orphanage
Enter the eerie world of Secret of the Orphanage, where your task is simple but crucial: make beds for the children. On Halloween night, an ominous secret surfaces—monsters rise if the beds aren’t perfectly made. With a unique interface on the Xbox Adaptive Controller, you’ll place sheets, fluff pillows, and race against time to protect the orphanage. Will you master the beds and uncover the orphanage’s dark secret, or will the monsters prevail?
TEAM: Lea Shi (Producer/Programmer), Derek Wong (Programmer), Harley Xu (Artist), Felix Choi (Artist), Sharon Liu (Sound)
TECH: Buttons and Custom Props (Adaptive Controller)
5420 – Chibi Church Clash
The succubus wants to get as many people as possible to fall in love with her through her irresistible eye contact. Meanwhile, the priest uses a book to give sermons and convert whoever he can. It’s a battle for control! Get more people in the church on your side than your opponent to win!
TEAM: Nellie Tonev (Producer/Programmer), Yifan Jiang (Programmer), Boreas Yang (Sound), Helen Yang (Artist), Jiwon Park (Artist)
TECH: Eye-Tracker, Phidgets, X-Box Controller
5420 – Seek the Hider
In an abandoned and dilapidated psychiatric hospital, three players take on the roles of escaped child patients (Hiders), who must disguise themselves as objects to avoid being caught by a deranged killer doctor (Seeker), controlled by another player. The Hider players wear heart rate sensors, and the faster their heartbeats, the louder the noises they make, making it easier for the Seeker to detect them. Additionally, if their heart rate reaches a certain threshold, the Hiders will revert from their disguised objects back to their original forms.
TEAM: Wendy Wen (Producer/Sound), Eliana Huang (Artist), Isabella Chen (Artist), Steven Wang (Programmer), Lea Shi (Programmer)
TECH: Eye-Tracker, X-Box Controllers
5420 – Mega Mover
You’ve just signed onto your new job as an intern at Mega Mover, where you’ll be using a giant metal claw to load items onto moving vans. These items seem valuable… we’ll take them, sell them, and keep the money for ourselves! Mega Mover is a simple game where your goal is to load as many packages into the back of a moving truck using a claw. But be careful, there may be some unexpected side effects to dropping these unusual items.
TEAM: Ean McFadden (Producer/Sound), Ethan Zhu (Programmer), Malaya Heflin (Programmer), Enn Ruan (Artist), Helen Yang (Artist)
TECH: Joystick, Adaptive Controller
5420 – Shell Yeah!
This game is a 3v1 adaptation of the classic game Red Light, Green Light. Three players work together to control one crab as it walks across the ocean floor to reach the octopus on the other side. The players press buttons on the floor with their feet in the order dictated on the screen to move forward. The octopus player presses and holds a button to charge up their laser beam to shoot at the crab. The crab players have to hold down their buttons at the same time to shield from the octopus. The crab has three lives to try to make it to the octopus!
TEAM: Jasmin Ali-Diaz (Producer/Artist), Hazel Li (Artist), Jing Chung (Programmer), Yuhuai Huang (Sound)
TECH: Foot Buttons and Adaptive Controller
Food & Drinks
5301 – Food
Nook – Drinks
Map
