University of Texas Students Present Zombeats at the Game Developers Conference This March

Zombeats, a video game developed by Brain Dead Studios (students Camila De La Puente, Garrett Gu, Alex Huang, Bianca Jimenez, Audrey Wright, Julianna (Jules) Valle, and Chinmay Walavaklar), will be showcased from March 20th through the 21st during the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California. 

Set in the apocalypse, Zombeats is a high-octane rhythm game where players shoot zombies to the beat and unlock original songs as they progress throughout the game. Developed in Unity, the game allows players to import custom levels and compete on the global leaderboard as they seek to destroy the constant flood of zombie swarms. With a team representing three different UT disciplines – Computer Science, Radio-Television-Film, and Arts and Entertainment Technologies – there is a myriad of experience demonstrated by Brain Dead Studios in VFX, SFX, animation, UI, game programming, and more throughout Zombeats. 

Developed as part of Dr. Toprac’s 2D Game Development Capstone, the game evolved from an end-of-course assignment to a passion project that “The team will continue to develop post-graduation,” according to Beatmap Programmer Alex Huang. When asked about Zombeats, Toprac commented, “The work these students put into Zombeats truly exemplifies the goal of this program: to graduate career-ready and passionate game design students who will significantly impact the industry.” Zombeats will be exhibited and playable at the Elan Event Venue (March 20th) and the Temple Nightclub (March 21st) during the Game Developers Conference being held at the Moscone Center.  Zombeats is also available to play here.

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The Game Development and Design (GDAD) Program at The University of Texas at Austin is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program between the departments of Arts and Entertainment Technologies, Computer Science, and Radio-Television-Film. The program produces graduates ready to design, develop, and provide leadership for the exploding growth in game, metaverse applications, and creative media agencies and studios in Texas and around the world. For more information on the GDAD Program, please visit gamedev.utexas.edu.