Games

Team: Albert Yang

Advisor(s): Chris Swain, Rob Pardo

AquariYum! Is a fun and accessible RTS game for players of all skill levels played across the iPhone asynchronously, much like Scrabble for Facebook. AquariYum! is best described as a... »

Team: Josh Green, Phillip Gregorchuk, Uel McMahan, Nayan Savla, Mariantonieta Madrid, Emmanuel J. Mitsinikos, Mike Rodgers, Jamie Green, Rob Livingston

Advisor(s): Peter Brinson, Erik Loyer, Andreas Kratky

In his thesis project, Barfly, MFA candidate Josh Green meditates on a real-world theme rarely addressed on in digital games; the search for love. Barfly is an original PC role-playing... »

Team: Brad Newman, Noah Keating, Erik Nelson, Aaron Meyers, Jess Rosenblatt, Herb Yang, Vincent Diamante, Doo-Yul Park, Mihai Peteu, Yuechuan Ke, Josh Green, Justin Hall

Advisor(s): Bernie DeKoven and Tracy Fullerton

The Big Game is a massively multiplayer offline game using giant cards in public spaces, conceived by the students of CTIN 534 in Fall 2005. The course was taught by... »

Team: Mike Rossmassler

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton, Peter Brinson, Richard Lemarchand

A game about balance, By Nature is a puzzle game with a goal of restoring life to a ruined landscape. The player guides the return of plant life to the... »

Team: John Brennan

Advisor(s): Peter Brinson, Andreas Kratky, Gary Goldsmith, Eddo Stern

An exploration of modding and machinima towards the ends of social satire and personal expression. Project consists of a variety of interactive vignettes and non-interactive video created from the Half-Life... »

Team: Jenova Chen, John DeWeese, Vincent Diamante, Erin Dinehart, Aaron Meyers, Erik Nelson, Kellee Santiago, Glenn Song

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton

Cloud combines an experimental game mechanic with a moody, surreal environment. The player is Yun, a "cloud boy," who can soar through the sky gathering and shaping the clouds. Clouds... »

Team: Jason Poss, Danita Ng-Poss, Ben Moise, Glenn Song, Mac Phair, Garen Torikian, William Khoe, Andrew MacNamee, Taylor Fort, Erin Reynolds, Yoom Thawilvejakul, Mihai Peteau, Scott Arnold, Brad Newman, Brian Coffee

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton, Chris Swain, Jeff Lander, Scott Fisher

Clownerstrike is a multiplayer team game played from the first person perspective. Playing as a circus clown, it is your job to entertain the audience and make them laugh. In... »

Team: Bradley Newman, Rick Nelson

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton, Perry Hoberman, Jarrell Pair

Bradley Newman's MFA thesis project, Communio, is a 3 person cooperative game / art installation designed to combine the socially transformative power of play, and the perceptual manipulative powers of... »

Team: Susana Ruiz, Ashley York, Huy Truong, Alexander Tarr, Noah Keating, Mike Stein, Kellee Santiago, Corey Jackson, Ramiro Cazaux

Advisor(s): Steve Anderson, Peter Brinson, Adrianne Wortzel, Peggy Weil

In the Darfur region of western Sudan in Africa, a genocide is occurring. Hundreds of thousands of Darfurians have perished and approximately 2.5 million have been displaced. Each day, more... »

Team: Mike Brinker, Jenova Chen, Vincent Diamante, Todd Furmanski, Erik Nelson, Glenn Song

Advisor(s): Chris Swain

Dyadin is an action game that explores the potential of cooperative play mechanics in a 2-player puzzle environment. The story of Dyadin involves two parallel worlds and two characters occupying... »

Team: Noah Keating, Jessica Rosenblatt, Kellee Santiago, Jesse Vigil

Advisor(s): Chris Swain and Peggy Weil

E.L.E.C.T. Enhanced Learning Environment with Creative Technology This project aims to design an application to assist U.S. Army training in cultural awareness and bi-lateral engagement skills within a compelling scenario... »

Team: Mihai Peteu, Marc Tuters, Paul Bellezza, Noah Keating,

Advisor(s): Perry Hoberman, Marientina Gotsis

Food Chain is a two-person mixed reality experience currently in development in collaboration with the Mixed Reality Lab at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. SnapShotMapPlot is an early prototype... »

Team: Peggy Weil

Advisor(s):

GONE GITMO, a project by Peggy Weil and Nonny de la Peña, is an installation of Guantánamo Prison in the virtual environment of Second Life. The work provides a virtual,... »

Team: Mike Brazil, Vincent Diamante, Matthew Korba, RJ Layton, Ken Leung, Martin Middleton, Bradley Newman, Jess Rosenblatt, Mike Rossmassler

Advisor(s): Peter Brinson, Tracy Fullerton, Chris Swain

Team GD3 presents Good Night Elysium, an ambitious and experimental game built on the student-developed Bushido Engine and BitTorrent technology. In this game, players control Ben, a middle-aged man who... »

Team: Todd Furmanski

Advisor(s): Peggy Weil, Tracy Fullerton, Bruce Damer

Here Be Dragons is an experiment in using emergent and genetic algorithms in generating virtual spaces. Through use of digital “genes”, Lindenmeyer (“L”) Systems, cellular automata and other procedural methods,... »

Team: Steve Prust, Joni Cheng, Peter Van Dyke, John Lund, Todd Caranto, John Banayan, Sola Aiyegbusi, Justin Perez, James Miao, Mike Brazil, Max Geiger

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton, Peter Brinson

These game projects were created in the intermediate game design and development course, which introduces students to concepts in game design and development such as ideation, digital prototyping, interface design,... »

Team: Jamie Antonisse, Nic Bellerophon, Andre Clark, Andrew Corpuz, Ryan Dumouchelle, Dan Howard, Diana Hughes, Jeff Jew, Devon Johnson, RJ Layton, Michaela Morris, Logan Olson, Mike Rossmassler, Nic Sager, Lauren Schneider, Jamie Vann, Al Yang, Jonathan Zabel

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton, Peter Brinson

These game projects were created in the intermediate game design and development course, which introduces students to concepts in game design and development such as ideation, digital prototyping, interface design,... »

Team: Brian Abrams, Nathaniel Anderson, Rowan Belden-Clifford, Adam Berkett, Ben Chang, Mike Grattan, Jared Greiner, Bryan Jaycox, Noah Macinskas, Nathan McNamara, Erik Nichols, Cythia Nie, Noel Overkamp, Jeff Pfingsten, Brittany Pirello, Harold Vancol, James Ware, Brandi Wilcox

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton, Peter Brinson

These game projects were created in the intermediate game design and development course, which introduces students to concepts in game design and development such as ideation, digital prototyping, interface design,... »

Team: Bryan Haskell, Matt Dabrowski, Tomer Mor-Barak, Shon-Ting Fu, Garrett Rodrigue, Jacob Thompson, Jen Hollcroft, Jesse Vigil, Jay Thornhill, Charles Mallison, Jared Sain, Waylond Fong, Eric Spoerner, Rob Finney

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton, Peter Brinson

These game projects were created in the intermediate game design and development course, which introduces students to concepts in game design and development such as ideation, digital prototyping, interface design,... »

Team: Mike Caloz, Erik Gieszelmann, Katie Johnson, Ethan Kennerly, Justin Lin, Ben Sherman, Sharan Volin, John Theodore, Tim Jones, Chris Hui, Hans Vancol

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton, Peter Brinson

These game projects were created in the intermediate game design and development course, which introduces students to concepts in game design and development such as ideation, digital prototyping, interface... »

Team: David Villatoro, Claire Tenscher, Brennan Roberts, Henry Liu, David Welch, Torin Kampa, Robert Yang, Quinn Riddle, Gary Deeth, Joe Spradley, Andrew Moxon, Kendall Davis, Keith Co, Jeremy Jung, David Slagle, Warren Post, Ryan Hedden, and Pete Zavala

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton, Peter Brinson

These game projects were created in the intermediate game design and development course, which introduces students to concepts in game design and development such as ideation, digital prototyping, interface design,... »

Team: Anuj Aggarwal, Nick Alexander, Sean Bouchard, Bryant Cannon, Chris Chowdhury, Kyle Fujita, Bill Graner, Anna Huerta, Young Kim, Kevin Lee, Jeff Magers, Patrick Monroe, Sean Plott, Akshai Raj, Ben Reese, Jonathan Rosenfeld, Nahil Sharkasi, Michael Silverman, Lisa Takehana, David Turpin

Advisor(s): Peter Brinson, Tracy Fullerton

These game projects were created in the intermediate game design and development course, which introduces students to concepts in game design and development such as ideation, digital prototyping, interface design,... »

Team: Herb Yang

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton, Chris Swain, (USC IMD), Jim Tso (Pandemic Studios)

Traditionally, computer and video games have put players in control of tough, simple, action-oriented characters. Kingpin, a new Massively Multiplayer Online game designed by Herb Yang, attempts to change that... »

Team: Andre Clark

Advisor(s): Chris Swain, Peter Brinson, Robert Knaack

Minor Battle is an immersive 2D multiplayer platform game displayed on multiple screens, requiring players to actively engage in physical play and movement in order to complete team-based objectives in... »

Team: Paul Bellezza, Matt Korba, Mike Brazil, Mike Stein, Duane Dunfield, Sean Nadeau, Chris Collings

Advisor(s): Chris Swain

New New Deal is a USC game research project created with grant funding from the Rockefeller Foundation. The team developed a robust online simulation based on the “New New Deal”... »

Team: RJ Layton

Advisor(s): Peter Brinson, Chris Swain, Vincent Diamante, Michael Licht

On the Shoulders of Giants is a generational adventure game set in a fantasy world where humans have begun to colonize Mars. Players begin the game by controlling one of... »

Team: Jesse Vigil, Nahil Sharkasi, Brandi Wilcox, Ala 'Diab, Vincent Diamante, Diana Hughes, Partners: Activision, Laird Malamed, KCET, Juan Devis, Diego Nunez

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton

Participation Nation is a game for teaching American constitutional history and civics to high school students. Players can play the “Forces of Change” or the “Status Quo” in a debate... »

Team: Justin Hall, Duncan Gough, Alice Taylor, Merci Hammon, Phil Gyford

Advisor(s): Scott Fisher, Tracy Fullerton, Julian Bleecker

Funded by a grant from the BBC, Justin Hall's thesis project, the Passively Multiplayer Online Game, is a vast social meta-game that can be played simply by surfing the Web.... »

Team: Diana Hughes

Advisor(s): Anne Balsamo

Pluff is an experiment in using e-textile technology to develop tactile interface devices for video games. The project consists of a stuffed animal embedded with sensors and wireless communication that... »

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Runesinger is a demo of a PC videogame to speak and spell Korean. The player practices a few nouns and verbs by serving food to hungry villagers during a North... »

Team: Doo Yul (Doox) Park

Advisor(s): Chris Swain, Mar Elpano, Tracy Fullerton

Doo Yul Park's MFA thesis, SONANOS, combines musical and ludological ideas into a unique interactive landscape. The project is a prototype for Park's concept of "Interactive Visual Music", in which... »

Team: Michael Bedernik, Chris Berber, Paul Brobst, Robert Buerkle, Paul Carpenter, Lawson Deming, Robert Donovan, Shon Fu, Scott Gillies, Melissa Harrison, Benjamin Johns, Jon Kondrath, Charles Mallison, Tomer Mor Barak, Garrett Rodrigue, Andrew Sacher, Kellee Santiago, Glenn Song, Ted Stanley, Jacob Thompson, Josh Traywick, Nathaniel Yun

Advisor(s): Chris Swain, Peter Brinson, Bing Gordon, Mike Lawson, Tim LeTourneau, Charles London, Sinjin Bain

Strange things are afoot in your Sims’ household. Mom doesn’t quite seem herself today. Junior’s been fiddling with the occult. Grandpa’s building something strange in his basement laboratory. And Dad’s... »

Team: Alice Kim, Devon Brooks, Chris Swain

Advisor(s): Chris Swain

Social Work Simulator is a USC game research / prototyping project created as part of a larger university grant from the National Insititutes of Health to the USC School of... »

Team: Erik Nelson, Mike Rossmassler, Brad Newman, Martin Middleton, Vincent Diamante, Robert Layton

Advisor(s): Peter Brinson, Tracy Fullerton, Erik Loyer

In most Real-Time Strategy games, music is a a superficial accessory, meant to set the mood or create a sense of immersion. In Sonorous, Erik Nelson's MFA thesis project, music... »

Team: Jamie Antonisse

Advisor(s): Steve Anderson, Tracy Fullerton, Jacki Morie

One winter night, staring up into the snowfall, Joseph Wheeler looks back over the moments that shaped his life. As the player, you walk through Joseph Wheeler's memory and relive... »

Team: Michael Steffen, Jessica Rosenblatt, Erin Reynolds, Ken Leung

Advisor(s): Chris Swain, Peggy Weil, Scott Ruston

Telmahre, an interactive character drama in the tradition of Myst, is the thesis project of MFA gradute Michael Steffen. The player is free to explore Telmahre, a late medieval... »

Team: Peter Brinson, Kurosh ValaNejad, Hyunjung Rhee, Jim Taylor, Bryan Jaycox, Jeffrey Leonard

Advisor(s):

The Cat and the Coup is an experimental documentary game in which you play the cat of Mohammed Mossadegh, the democratically elected leader of Iran. On the night of August... »

Team: Bill Viola, Kira Perov, Scott Fisher, Tracy Fullerton, Todd Furmanski, Kurosh ValaNejad, Mike Rossmassler, Michael Sweet, Jamie Antonisse, Andreas Kratky, Scott Gillies, Richard Almodovar, Aimee Dozois, Juri Hwang

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The Night Journey project is a game project conceived by Bill Viola, an internationally acclaimed artist and MacArthur fellow, which uses video game technologies to explore the universal story of... »

Team: Aaron Meyers, Corey Jackson

Advisor(s): Julian Bleecker, Michael Naimark

Torrent Raiders, the thesis project of MFA student Aaron Meyers, is an application which serves two functions: it is both a graphically stunning BitTorrent visualization program and a tongue-in-cheek game... »

Team: Tracy Fullerton, Mike Rossmassler, Kurosh ValaNejad, Todd Furmanski, Bryan Jaycox, Michael Silverman, Sean Bouchard

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton

Walden, a game, simulates the experiment in living made by Thoreau at Walden Pond in 1845-47, allowing players to walk in his virtual footsteps, attend to the tasks of living... »

Team: Diana Hughes, Jamie Antonisse, William Graner, Helen Hua Wang, Heather Desurvire, Peter Preuss, Will Carter, Matteo Marjoram, Mindy Goto, Hyunjung Rhee, Sean Manning, Yang Liu, Dhaval Shah, Dheeraj Kota, Hari Kumar Rongali, Ala’Diab, Liset Dondiego, Christine Lee, Natasha Williams, Stephanie Miller, Eric Hernandez, Mona Desai

Advisor(s): Marientina Gotsis, Thomas A. Valente, Maryalice Jordan-Marsh, Donna Spruijt-Metz

This research will assess the effectiveness of a social game as a lifestyle change intervention. The game will employ known effective game mechanics from casual games and features from online... »

Team: Jenova Chen, Nick Clark, Austin Wintory

Advisor(s): Tracy Fullerton, Chris Swain, Michael Licht & Kevin Mark (Electronic Arts)

flOw is a Flash-based game created by Jenova Chen, the lead designer of Cloud and member of the IMD MFA class of '06. It uses an elegant and simple... »